Tennis has always been one of the few individual sports that Indians have been good at. Racquet sports are something this country produces good talent in, and the women have actually surpassed a lot of their male counterparts in tennis. In this article, I present to you my top five best Indian female tennis players to have ever played the sport.
Also Read – Top 10 Indian female athletes
Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza is undoubtedly India’s best female tennis player ever and has been an inspiration to millions of women in the country. She has six Grand Slam titles to her name and is the only Indian woman to win a Slam of any type. Mirza was ranked No.1 in her doubles career in 2013. She is also the only Indian to ever enter the top 100 WTA singles rankings, peaking at World No. 27.
Mirza has also done exceptionally well in multinational tournaments, winning medals (in both singles and doubles categories) in the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games and the Afro-Asian Games. Sania’s impact and reputation goes way beyond tennis; having been India’s best female tennis player ever, she has been a role model to all the other players on this list.
Ankita Raina
Ankita Raina is a 29-year-old professional from Ahmedabad and is one of the most successful Indian women tennis players. She has slowly been climbing the ranks and following the footsteps of Sania Mirza as she has also been winning titles in the ITF circuit, with a record of 11 singles and 18 doubles titles.
Raina has also won one title on the WTA tour and one at the tournaments of the WTA 125K series. She is considered one of the best female Indian tennis players as she’s only the sixth Indian ever to break into the WTA Top 200 in singles. She also cracked the Top 100 in doubles in early 2021.
Rushmi Chakravarthi
Rushmi Chakravarthi is a former professional Indian tennis player. She holds the record of winning 52 ITF titles, most by any Indian female player. The 44-year-old started her career in 2005 and has only featured in two WTA tournaments.
Rushmi is considered as one of the best female Indian tennis players due to her feats in multinational tournaments. In 2003, she won four medals at the Afro-Asian Games, two of which were gold. Rushmi also reached the singles quarterfinals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and also won the bronze medal with Sania Mirza in doubles.
Karman Kaur Thandi
Karman Kaur Thandi is a 23-year-old from New Delhi and has been tipped as a future champion and Top 50 player, hence making it into this list. By the age of 21, Karman had already broken into the Top 200 rankings of the WTA. She made her Grand Slam debut at the 2021 Australian Open, and the 6-feet-plus-tall athlete is said to be India’s best female player in the future to come.
Karman’s career has been somewhat stop-and-start due to injuries. However, she has already won a singles ITF title. If she stays fit, there’s a lot we can expect from her and pin on her the nation’s hope for a first-ever singles Grand Slam.
Nirupama Sanjeev
Nirupama Sanjeev is a retired Indian tennis player. She is considered to be one of the best as she became only the second Indian to feature in a Grand Slam main draw. The former India No.1 was a wild card in the 1998 Australian Open main draw and the first person to win a main-round draw against Gloria Pizzichini.
Nirupama won a total of 12 ITF titles, including two singles and ten doubles titles. She also achieved a career-high ranking of 147.
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