November 19, 2024

Small countries are important, too — NCAA individual championships kick off

By Joey Dillon

The IX: Tennis Tuesday with Joey Dillon, Nov. 19, 2024

Howdy, y’all, Happy Tennis Tuesday! I’m not sure if you can call this week the first week of the offseason since the Billie Jean King Cup Finals are wrapping up today — we’ll bring you a conversation with BJK herself next week! — but I think it’s the perfect time to dissect something I’ve been wanting to highlight.

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In the 2024 year-end rankings, 82 different countries were represented, which is great, but I wanted to do a deeper dive. With how global the sport is and the levels of tournaments, I wanted to see who on this list is the only player from their country with an official ranking. I should give a warning that this is just the singles rankings and there could be quite a few more countries with players that have ITF rankings, which offer a different set of points to help roll out their entry lists.

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After quite a bit of data pulling and filtering, I was able to gather that there are 17 countries that have no other players beside their one player. here they are in alphabetical order, along with their Instagrams linked to follow:

  • Algeria
  • Andorra
  • Armenia
  • Brunei
  • Benin
  • Bolivia
  • Ireland
  • Kenya
  • Kosovo
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Luxembourg
  • Malaysia
  • Malta
  • Nepal
  • Paraguay
  • Philippines
  • Venezuela

You might be wondering why I’m singling out these players, but I think it’s one of the perfect examples of truly how global women’s tennis is. I was also surprised to see some countries that have either a rich sports or tennis history appearing on this list. You would think these, truly, first-world countries that have a budget could implement better grassroots programming and more ITF Junior and World Tour events. Today, I want to focus the core four players that could really make their mark on the main WTA stage in 2025.

Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (Andorra)

  • Andorra’s population is only 80,088 as of 2023 data, but they’ve been able to produce a player that’s destroying many glass ceilings for her country in tennis. Though Andorra has zero tennis courts, Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva had to hone her skills in Barcelona. She burst onto the scene just before the COVID-19 pandemic when she won the 2020 Australian Open junior title, where she was not only the youngest player in the draw but was also playing her debut junior Grand Slam. She turned pro that year and became the first woman and second player overall from her country to achieve a world ranking — the first being her father, Joan.

    The 19-year-old finished 2024 ranked No. 151 following a campaign that included a 43-26 record and the biggest title of her career — a W75 ITF World Tour event in Portugal. Though she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA 250 in Seoul in 2022, she earned her first Top 60 scalp over Zhu Lin this year in Madrid. Jimenez Kasintseva’s impact just a few years into her career has already helped boost tennis in Andorra, with the island hosting a WTA 125 tournament the last two Decembers. She’s the perfect example of what one big run could do to change an entire country’s tennis ecosystem.

Elina Avanesyan (Armenia)

  • Because of the Russia-Ukraine war, there have been many players that have defected the country they represented but that wasn’t the reason for Elina Avanesyan. Though born in Russia, her two parents are Armenian and she said she grew up with Armenian customs. Due to her background, she had already been debating a switch, but the Keron Foundation gave her an offer that included the chance to inspire the next generation of Armenian female athletes — and the impact has already been felt with the creation of W15 ITF events in Tsaghkadzor. Representation matters, no matter how big a country is or where they fit in the culture of sports.

    At No. 44, she is — by far — the highest-ranked player on this list and the player you will most likely be able to catch on your television. Her career-best year included runs to the third round and fourth round of the Australian Open and Roland Garros, respectively, and she also reached her maiden WTA final in Iasi. Of her 29 victories in 2024, her victims include Maria Sakkari, Ons Jabeur, Bianca Andreescu and Jelena Ostapenko.

Alexandra Eala (Philippines)

  • With the WTA’s move into China, we saw the the rise of Li Na and now Zheng Qinwen, who both have raked in millions of dollars in endorsements. The closest player I can think of that doesn’t hail from China that could possibly compete with their economic impact is Alexandra Eala. Featured on the cover of Vogue Philippines in 2022, she was also profiled by the Olympics and a 2028 Los Angeles berth is certainly on the vision board. Another history-maker, the 19-year-old was the first Filipino to win a junior singles Grand Slam title when she captured the 2022 U.S. Open, while also winning the Australian Open and Roland Garros doubles titles in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

    Born in the Philippines, Eala actually has been training out of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Spain since she was 13. While tennis is a commonly-played sport in the Philippines, basketball dominates the country. Though they’ve hosted many ITF Junior tournaments, they haven’t held any professional-level events in over a decade even with the rise of Eala. Bringing more diversity to the tour and representing her country is big on Eala’s radar and she’s juuuussssst on the cusp of becoming a mainstay in the WTA. She reached the final round of qualifying at the final three Grand Slams and finished the year ranked No. 158. Eala won the biggest title of her career at a W100 tournament in Vitoria-Gasteiz and amassed 38 wins this season. The other players on this list have been able to bring professional tennis to their country, so the Philippines investing in the infrastructure to host sooner than later will be something to keep an eye on.

Sada Nahimana (Burundi)

  • I was originally only going to include three players, but of the players on this list, Sada Nahimana is my darkhorse. She hasn’t had much experience at the WTA Tour level, but has had success on the ITF circuit, who have helped with many grants in the past. She made her WTA singles main draw debut last year in Rabat, becoming the first Burundian player to do so. However, she finished 2024 ranked No. 303 after achieving 42 victories that included the biggest title of her career at a W50 ITF event in Slobozia.

    At the ITF level, Nahimana’s rise up the rankings allowed Burundi to invest in hosting W35 events the last two seasons. Getting more exposure to a market I personally think tennis hasn’t tapped into enough yet is vastly important. Though she’s been ranked as high as No. 244, she will need to aim a little higher to finally get into Grand Slam qualifying range. The 23-year-old doesn’t have too many points to defend in the first quarter of the year and with clay being her best surface, she could peak to get into Roland Garros.

I find these smaller — in terms of players ranked — countries so fascinating because many come from places with extremely limited resources and having to emigrate to further their dreams. What I enjoy even more is the impact they can have not only in the present, but also down the line. Bigger results turn into dollars that can be funded into creating tennis courts, making the sport more accessible to youth and producing talent that can compete with the world’s best.

It only takes one.

Now, onto links!

This Week in Women’s Tennis

I really enjoyed this piece on Danielle Collins detailing how her endometriosis/fertility journey led to her changing her retirement plans and continuing on in 2025.

Ons Jabeur voiced her displeasure at the cancellation of multiple ITF World Tour tournaments in Monastir, Tunisia, signing a letter to the ITF and President David Haggerty along with dozens of other players.

With no clear frontrunner ahead of the 2025 season, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe aim take advantage of their 2024 WTA Finals victory to win another Grand Slam

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert’s rivalry is perhaps one of sports’ best because of the friendship and parallels it produced.

Back from an injury that halted her Asian Swing, Emma Raducanu is finding form at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and is excited to build for the 2025 season.

Reese Brantmeier’s case against the NCAA to allow tennis players to keep their tournament prize winnings was edited to only include tennis instead of collegiate sports overall.

Caroline Garcia is continuing to learn by taking advantage of the WTA’s partnership with Harvard and their Crossover into Business program.

If you thought Li Na and her endorsements were big, Zheng Qinwen is just getting started. The Olympic gold medalist kicked off her offseason with events for both Audi and Gatorade.

The wtatennis.com web team had their annual roundtable to discuss the year’s biggest upsets and looking ahead to 2025.

Team USA won the junior Billie Jean King Cup in Antalya, Turkey, with a 2-1 win over Romania in the finals.

Julie Thu enjoyed success on the collegiate and professional circuits and still represents Team USA at the ITF Masters World Championships.

Nikola Bartunkova was officially sentenced to a six-month doping suspension from the ITIA because her positive test came from a contaminated supplement. Because her provisional suspension started in April, she can come back to the tour immediately.

High school seniors have started signing their financial aid agreements with colleges and TennisRecruiting has the latest update on the blue chip recruits.

UTR Sports announced they’re officially giving into the NIL business to help collegiate players, but they haven’t said exactly what they’re doing yet.

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Five at The IX: NCAA Contenders

The selections and draws for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships were released and begin today! Five players you need to keep an eye out on:

  1. (1) Mary Stoiana, Texas A&M: Obviously, you have to include the top-ranked player but she’s been playing some stellar tennis lately. This fall, she captured her first professional title at the W60 event in Charleston, which briefly put her in contention for the USTA’s Australian Open wildcard. She also fell in the W75 Evansville final and won a round of qualifying at the U.S. Open. Currently No. 298, her wins this year include Sachia Vickery, Kamilla Rakhimova, Polina Kudermetova and Louisa Chirico. She earned her NCAA placement by reaching the consolation finals of the ITA All-American Championships.
  2. (2) Dasha Vidmanova, Georgia: Also one that qualified via the ITA All-American Championship consolation final, she’s another player finding form this fall. Sitting at No. 382, she also won her first four professional titles (two at W15 Kursumlijska Banja, W35 Punta Cana and W35 Miami). Her top victories include Darja Semenistaja, Lucrezia Stefanini and Usue Arconada.
  3. (3) Maria Sholokhova, Wisconsin: She surprised the world by taking home the ITA All-American title in a run that included wins over Mary Stoiana, Savannah Broadus and Elza Tomase. She also didn’t drop a set in her three matches at the Big Green Invitational this past weekend. She did have a shocking loss to Ohio State’s Audrey Spencer at the ITA Midwest Regionals, so if there’s a seed that might fall early, it could be her.
  4. (9-16) Amelia Honer, UC Santa Barbara: Honer announced herself to the top of collegiate stage last season, but she’s turning her senior year into a special one. She won the ITA Southern California Regional title to seal her berth in Waco, while also taking home the conoslation title at the Battle of the Bay. Professionally, she won her first title at the W35 Bakersfield event to boost her ranking to No. 679. She battled Mary Stoiana to 7-5 in the final set of the ITA All-American consolation semifinals, so she’s mighty dangerous.
  5. Unseeded darkhorses: So I couldn’t name just five but of the unseeded players, there’s a few that are on my list to maybe sneak out with a deep run. To be fair, I’ll just do one from each quarter — Alexis Blokhina (Stanford), Guillermina Grant (Georgia), Carson Tanguilig (North Carolina) and Angella Okutoyi (Auburn).
Mondays: Soccer
By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tuesdays: Tennis
By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Wednesdays: Basketball
By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next
Thursdays: Golf
By: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX
Fridays: Hockey
By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Saturdays: Gymnastics
By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer

Written by Joey Dillon