For tennis fans, the off-season is the perfect time to get to know the future faces of professional tennis. Here are some rising young tennis stars who could see success and progress in 2024.
Ben Shelton
At age 21, Ben Shelton’s future looks bright. After just one year since turning pro, he is currently ranked 17th on the Pepperstone ATP rankings and recently won the ATP 500 title in Tokyo. Shelton attracted attention with his run deep into the semi-finals of the 2023 US Open, where he was defeated by eventual champion, Novak Djokovic. Shelton’s run to the semifinals at the US Open made him the first unseeded American to reach the semifinals since 2005.
Qinwen Zheng
Sitting at No. 15 on the WTA Women’s Singles Rankings, Qinwen Zheng’s career has only gone up since she turned professional in 2021. She was named WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2022 and has have the best performance in a Grand Slam tournament at US Open 2023 (quarterfinals). After playing various sports as a child, including table tennis, Zheng decided to turn his talents to tennis after witnessing one of Roger Federer’s classic performances.
Mirra Aleksandrova Andreeva
In the Top 100 WTA women’s singles, Mirra Aleksandrova Andreeva is the youngest professional tennis player at 16 years old. At current world No. 46, she ranks higher than her older sister, Erika Andreeva, who has yet to crack the Top 100. Andreeva made her WTA debut at the 2022 Jasmin Open and, a year later, has entered the WTA Top 100 after reaching the round of 16 at Wimbledon.
Sebastian Korda
Sebastian Korda truly has tennis genes in his blood. His father, Petr Korda, won the Australian Open in 1998, and his mother, Regina Rajchrtová, had a world ranking of 26 on the WTA rankings. Twenty years after his father won the Australian Open, Korda did the same as a young athlete. He is currently ranked 24th on the ATP and reached his first Masters 1000 semi-final this year at the Shanghai Masters. The biggest wins of Korda’s career to date have come from defeating world No. 3 star Daniil Medvedev, who he has beaten twice in 2023.