2019 Year in Review: New career-high rankings

As 2019 draws to a close, USTA.com is taking a look back at the top storylines, headlines and highlights from the year in American tennis. Here, we look at some of the American women who reached career-best rankings this season.

Sofia Kenin: The 21-year-old reached a career-high of No. 12 in the world this fall, setting a new personal best on Oct. 21 after winning her third title of the season in Guangzhou, China. Kenin finished the year at No. 14, her fifth consecutive year-end high. She was No. 620 at the end of her debut season in 2015; No. 212 at the end of 2016; No. 113 at the conclusion of the 2017 season; and No. 52 at the end of 2018.

Alison Riske: Pittsburgh native Riske (pictured above) had her finest year on tour in 2019, breaking into the Top 20 for the first time in her career and reaching No. 18 in the rankings on Nov. 4. Riske, who had never finished a season inside the Top 40 before, has been a mainstay in the Top 100 for six years, but the 2019 season was when it all came together, with tournament wins in Surbiton, Great Britain, and s’Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, in June, a run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July, and a final appearance in Wuhan, China, in September. Riske, 29, who got married this summer, is also up to a career-high of No. 43 in doubles.

Amanda Anisimova: Anisimova broke into the Top 100 for the first time in her career in September 2018. A little more than one year later, the teen was on the verge of cracking the Top 20. The New Jersey native reached No. 21 in the world on Oct. 21, 2019, in large part due to a strong first half of the year. The 18-year-old reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in January with impressive wins over seeds Lesia Tsurenko and Aryna Sabalenka, and she toppled world No. 3 Simona Halep in reaching the semifinals of the French Open in June. In between her breakout runs at the first two majors of the season, Anisimova won her first career WTA singles title at the Claro Open Colsanitas in Bogota, Colombia.

Danielle Collins: It seems like a long time ago that Danielle Collins had her breakout at Miami in March 2018. But while that tournament cemented her spot in the Top 100, it has been a consistent 2019 campaign that has really solidified the foundation for big things to come. Collins began 2019 at No. 35 in the world, and she never dropped below 36th the entire year. The high point came when she spent three consecutive weeks at a career-high No. 23 in January and February as a result of a run to the semis in Melbourne. Unseeded at the Australian Open, Collins almost lost in the first round before escaping against No. 14 seed Julia Goerges, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. She went on to defeat 19th-seeded Caroline Garcia in the third round before dropping just two games in a dominating performance against former US Open champion and world No. 2 Angelique Kerber in Round 4.

Jennifer Brady: Brady will finish the year inside the Top 100 for the second time in three years after a successful 2019 campaign that saw her reach No. 56 in the world in October. Highlights included an appearance in the final of the Oracle Challenger Series event in Indian Wells, a semifinal run at the Wimbledon tune-up event in Nottingham, England, and a trip to the Round of 16 as a qualifier at the China Open in Beijing.

Bernarda Pera: Pera started the year at No. 69 in the world, fell to No. 115 by mid-May and put together a fantastic second half of the season to climb to a year-end high of No. 65, two spots off her personal best achieved at the end of July.  Pera won a $100,000 ITF event in Slovakia in May, reached consecutive semifinals at clay-court events in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Jurmala, Latvia, in July, and played in the main draw of all four majors for the second year in a row.

Coco Gauff: Undoubtedly the breakout performer of 2019, Gauff reached No. 68 on Nov. 4, a career-high ranking that she still holds. That ranking is more than high enough to get her direct entry into the Australian Open in January. Talented but largely unknown outside of tennis circles, 15-year-old Gauff started 2019 as the 685th-best women’s tennis player in the world. Now she’s ending 2019 as the youngest player inside the Top 100 after a highlight-filled year that started with a win over Venus Williams at Wimbledon and culminated in her first WTA title in Linz, Austria. 

Other Americans reaching career-high rankings in 2019 include: Jessica Pegula (55, Aug. 5), Kristie Ahn (87, Sept. 30), Caty McNally (64, Oct. 21), Francesca Di Lorenzo (120, Nov. 11), Whitney Osuigwe (105, Aug. 12), Usue Maitane Arconada (117, Nov. 18), Allie Kiick (126, June 17), Ann Li (146, Oct. 7), Caroline Dolehide (102, July 16), Robin Anderson (159, Aug. 5) and Danielle Lao (152, April 1), all of whom finished the year in the Top 200 after career-best years.