Elina Svitolina has tied Serena Williams’ highest ranking as a mom by rising to No. 7

Elina Svitolina has been one of the hottest players on the women’s tour this year—in just a few short months she’s already won a title in Auckland, reached a Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open, a WTA 1000 final in Dubai and another WTA 1000 semifinal at Indian Wells.

And by winning her opening match in Miami, she became the first player, woman or man, to win 20 matches this year.

She’s been rewarded for those results on the WTA rankings—after her run in Melbourne, the former No. 3 returned to the Top 10 for the first time since coming back to the tour as a mom three years ago, rising from No. 12 to No. 10.

This week, she rose to No. 7, her highest ranking as a mom.

And that latest ranking rise is a significant one—she’s now tied Serena Williams’ highest ranking as a mom.

After giving birth to her first child Olympia in 2017, Williams returned to the tour in 2018, and—after a few years—ended up getting back as high as No. 7 in the world in 2021.

Though she did win one title, in Auckland in 2020, the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s biggest results in her return were four Grand Slam finals, at Wimbledon and the US Open in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019, plus two more major semifinals at the 2020 US Open and 2021 Australian Open.

She then evolved away from the game in 2022.

Williams and Svitolina are actually tied for highest-ranked mom on the WTA singles rankings since arguably the most successful mom of all time in tennis, Kim Clijsters.

After giving birth to her first child in 2008, Clijsters returned to the tour in 2009 and ended up winning three more Grand Slam titles—at the 2009 US Open, 2010 US Open and 2011 Australian Open. Just a few weeks after that run to the title in Melbourne—the week of February 14th, 2011—she rose to No. 1, the first mom to reach the top spot in WTA rankings history.

The only other mom on record to reach the Top 10 on the WTA singles rankings this century is Belinda Bencic. A former No. 4, she had her first child in 2024, played her first full season back in 2025 and, earlier this year, broke back into the Top 10.

She went as high as No. 9 in February, and though she’s since dipped slightly to No. 12, she barely has any points to defend until Wimbledon, where she was a semifinalist last year.

Will a mom crack the Top 5 this year? Stay tuned...