2024 was a thrilling year for tennis on the WTA Tour as several big names cemented their place at the top of the game.
Following a great year in 2023, things continued this time around with the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek impressing at the Grand Slam tournaments.
The Belarussian won her second consecutive title down under, before Sabalenka took home the US Open crown in September.
Swiatek won her fourth French Open title at Roland Garros, as she took her Major tally to five, the highest of any active player on the WTA tour.
Barbora Krejcikova then won Wimbledon, becoming the second Czech player to do so in two years, after Marketa Vondrousova’s triumph in 2023.
Perhaps the beginning of another ‘golden era’ in Czech tennis, one former Grand Slam winner is predicting big things for another of the nation’s top stars next year.
Andy Roddick thinks ‘amazing’ Karolina Muchova could win a Grand Slam in 2025
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, former world number one Andy Roddick was asked to pick a player ranked outside the world’s top 20 who he thinks could win a Slam in the new year.
“[Karolina] Muchova, currently ranked 22, she is an amazing player,” he said.
“The only thing separating her from the top five is health and she can bother everyone.
“She would be on my top five list of people who could win a slam next year, she could win a major.”
Roddick’s co-host Jon Wertheim went one step further than Roddick in his praise for the Czech star.
“You want a hot take?” he asked.
“Best player to have never won a Major, Karolina Muchova.
“That is much more about her potential than any kind of squandered opportunity or anything like that.
“She is an athlete, she has played deep into Majors, remember this is someone who was injured for most of this year and finished the year by getting to her second straight US Open semi.
“She has been to a Roland Garros final and gave Iga Swiatek her toughest match in a final that she’s had in Paris.”
Muchova remains the only player to have taken a set off Swiatek in a Grand Slam final, as she lost 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, back in 2023.
Karolina Muchova’s remarkable Grand Slam record since 2023
Muchova needed surgery on her wrist earlier this year that saw her miss the first two Major tournaments of the season.
However, when she returned at the end of the year she continued her impressive form at the biggest tournaments, that has seen the likes of Roddick tip her for big things in 2025.
Muchova reached the final of the China Open, losing to America’s Coco Gauff, as she came close to the biggest title of her career.
At Grand Slam level, she has arguably been just as, if not more impressive.
- 2023 French Open – Final
- 2023 Wimbledon – First round
- 2023 US Open – Semi final
- 2024 Wimbledon – First round
- 2024 US Open – Semi final
The 28-year-old has reached the last four in three of her last five Major tournaments, a mighty impressive record that rivals that of the top players on the WTA Tour.
In comparison, Swiatek has reached the semi-finals in three of her last nine Slam tournaments, Sabalenka has done so in four of her last five, and Gauff three of her last five.
Numbers so similar to that of the world’s top three help explain why Roddick and Wertheim expect more success from the Czech star at the Grand Slam tournaments next year.
She’ll hope to get things started in a big way at the Australian Open which begins on January 12.
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