The 18 Greatest Women's Tennis Players of the 1980s

The decade the women's game turned professional in every sense — serve-and-volley against the baseline, two dominant champions and a teenager who ended the argument in 1988.

1. 1
   Chris Evert

   Won at least one major every year from 1974 to 1986 and never left the top four.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Andrea Temesvári

   Hungarian who won the 1983 Italian Open, rose to No. 7 in the world and took the 1986 French Open doubles with Navratilova.
   657pts
3. 3
   Martina Navratilova

   Won 86 of 87 matches in 1983 and fifteen of her eighteen major singles titles during the decade.
   603pts
4. 4
   Virginia Ruzici

   Romanian 1978 French Open champion who reached the Roland Garros final again in 1980, losing to Chris Evert.
   586pts
5. 5
   Pam Shriver

   Won twenty major doubles titles with Navratilova, including the calendar Grand Slam in 1984.
   532pts
6. 6
   Evonne Goolagong Cawley

   Won Wimbledon in 1980, nine years after her first title there and the first mother to win it since 1914.
   532pts
7. 7
   Steffi Graf

   Arrived late in the decade and closed it with the 1988 Golden Slam.
   532pts
8. 8
   Tracy Austin

   Two US Open titles and world No. 1 before back injuries ended it at twenty-one.
   469pts
9. 9
   Arantxa Sanchez Vicario

   Ended the decade by beating Graf to win the 1989 French Open at seventeen.
   397pts
10. 10
    Kathy Rinaldi

    A Wimbledon semi-finalist in 1985 who turned professional at fourteen and reached a career-high ranking of No. 7.
    397pts
11. 11
    Andrea Jaeger

    A Wimbledon and French Open finalist before turning nineteen.
    313pts
12. 12
    Gabriela Sabatini

    Reached the 1988 US Open final and won Olympic silver in Seoul before turning nineteen.
    313pts
13. 13
    Helena Sukova

    Reached three major singles finals in the decade and ended Navratilova's 74-match winning streak at the 1984 Australian Open.
    313pts
14. 14
    Manuela Maleeva

    A top-ten fixture for most of the decade and the 1984 Italian Open champion.
    213pts
15. 15
    Claudia Kohde-Kilsch

    A top-five singles player and a Wimbledon and US Open doubles champion.
    213pts
16. 16
    Natasha Zvereva

    Reached the French Open final at seventeen in 1988 and began a doubles career that brought eighteen major titles.
    213pts
17. 17
    Zina Garrison

    An Olympic gold medallist in doubles and a Wimbledon singles finalist.
    213pts
18. 18
    Hana Mandlikova

    Won four majors, including the 1985 US Open, where she beat Evert in the semi-final and Navratilova in the final.
    213pts

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