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10 Tallest Female Tennis Players of All Time

Tennis is a game that requires quick reflexes and the ability to hit with speed. Taller players often find them in a better position because they can see over the net better.

However, height is not always an advantage in tennis. While taller players typically have more power in their serves and groundstrokes, shorter players have the edge in agility and court coverage.

It turns out that height has nothing to do with on-court success for women, as evidenced by a study of the winners of the Grand Slam in singles. 

At 1.64m, Billie Jean King was one of the shortest professional tennis players, but she nevertheless managed to win 12 Grand Slam singles championships. Similarly, Venus Williams, who stands at a towering 1.85 meters has won seven Grand Slam singles titles in her career.

Let’s talk about some of the tallest female tennis players who have also managed to impress people with their impeccable tennis skills. 

Here are the 10 tallest female tennis players in the world.

10. Venus Williams – 6’1” / (185 cm)

For over twenty years, American tennis has relied on Venus Williams and her younger sister Serena to deliver some awe-inspiring performances. 

Venus, who first gained recognition in the 1990s as a prodigiously talented youngster, is still battling it out on tour today. She can still compete with players considerably younger than herself despite being 42 years old.

Venus has long been considered one of the finest in the world thanks to her towering stature and powerful first serve. Venus, not to be outdone by her younger sister Serena, is the most successful Olympian in the sport’s history, having won four golds and one silver.

9. Dinara Safina – 6’1” / 185 cm

This tall and slim beauty earned many fans by letting her racket do the talking, thanks in large part to her unusual height of 1.85 meters and her particular talent when it came to the French Open. 

She accompanied her brother to the tennis court at the tender age of 13, and not long after, she followed him to Valencia, where he was sent to train.

Safina finished as the runner-up in the junior singles event at Wimbledon in 2001, and she won her first WTA championship at Sopot in 2002 at the age of 16. After making it to the fourth round of the US Open the following year, she finally cracked the top 50.

Safina, while still a teenager, cracked the top 20 and reached the quarterfinals of both the US Open and the Roland Garros that same year, before finally cracking the top ten in October.

She won her first Grand Slam doubles title the following year but didn’t even make the top ten. Her partner that year was Nathalie Dechy.

After a smooth run to the final of the Australian Open in Melbourne, Safina collapsed against Serena Williams, losing in under an hour by scores of 6-0 and 6-3.

After rising to the top of the rankings in April, she doubled down on her success by claiming the clay court titles in Rome and Madrid. 

Yet, despite being the top seed in her maiden Grand Slam tournament, she lost in the final against Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets (6-4, 6-2), double-faulting on match point.

Overall, she won 12 career titles and impressed the world with her talents and perfect height.

8. Karolina Pliskova – 6’1” / 185 cm

Tennis star Karolina Pliskova hails from the Czech Republic and is renowned for her formidable serve and forehand, as well as unusual height for a tennis player. Even with that height, she stunned the world with her incredible performances.

 On July 17, 2017, she ascended to the top of the WTA singles rankings and remained there for eight weeks.   On October 31st, 2016, she reached a career-high of No. 11 in the world when playing doubles.

Plkováchas won nearly $20 million in prize money and 16 singles and 5 doubles wins on the WTA tour. As a singles player, she has competed in the finals of two Grand Slam tournaments, including the 2016 US Open and the 2021 Wimbledon Championships).

7. Maria Sharapova – 6’2” / 188 cm

Maria Sharapova is undeniably one of the most stunning tennis players of all time. Yet, Sharapova has always been a bit of a mystery, even though she has expanded the audience for women’s tennis over the past decade and a half.

Maria Sharapova was the Russian tennis community’s guiding light for many years before she shot to fame at the age of 17 with her first Grand Slam singles triumph at Wimbledon in 2004. Sharapova, a tennis fan favorite, is one of only six players in history to win all four Grand Slam titles.

Sharapova’s height was a mixed blessing; it didn’t aid her in serving very often (she was known for untimely double faults), but it let her hit flat, booming groundstrokes when she was in a jam.

Her positive test for the performance-enhancing substance meldonium in 2016 left an indelible stain on her legacy, and in early 2020, injuries necessitated her retirement.

Still, Sharapova is one of the best female players of all time, and she has already made a smooth transition to business.

6. Helena Sukova – 6’2” / 188 cm

Helena Sukova is regarded as one of the greatest athletes to come out of former Czechoslovakia.

The 57-year-old tennis star’s parents both had distinguished tennis careers, with her mother reaching the finals at Wimbledon and her father serving as president of the Czechoslovakian tennis federation for many years.

In the mid-1980s and early 1990s, the 6-foot-2 Sukova was a formidable opponent in both singles and doubles. With a towering height of 6 feet and 2 inches, she still won 14 Grand Slams (five in mixed doubles and nine in doubles).

Sukova was also a formidable singles player, finishing as runner-up four times in Grand Slam competition and peaking at No. 4 in the world.

Interestingly, Sukova snapped the 74-match win streak of fellow countrywoman Martina Navratilova in the semi-finals of the 1984 Australian Open. Unfortunately, that prevented the great Navratilova from achieving her goal of winning the prestigious Calendar Slam.

5. Erin Routliffe – 6’2” / 188 cm

The youngest player on the roster is Erin Routliffe of New Zealand, only 27 years old. Because she had to prioritize her studies, she didn’t become a professional until she was 22.

She started at the University of Alabama in September 2013 and competed for the tennis team until May 2017. She received a bachelor’s degree in public relations. 

On 11 July 2022, she was rated No. 31 in the world for doubles, and in 2013, she was ranked No. 17 in the junior division. In 2014 and 2015, Routliffe and her doubles partner, Maya Jansen, won the NCAA Championship.

After winning the Hardee’s Pro Classic in 2018, she finally broke into the top 200 in doubles rankings. Two weeks later, she won once again in Charleston, SC, pushing her into the top 150. 

She got into the top 100 as a consequence of her second-place finish at the Washington Open. She won her first WTA doubles championship in July 2021 at the 32nd Palermo Ladies Open.

Her formidable height of over six feet has been a highlight for 

Routliffe, which helped her win one ITF singles title and thirteen doubles titles so far.

4. Lindsay Davenport – 6’2.5” / 189 cm

Despite the Williams sisters’ domination in the late 1990s and early 2000s, fellow American Lindsay Davenport also achieved noteworthy success. She was one of the best servers in the world, largely due to her height, which enabled her to strike the ball with remarkable speed from the ground.

Davenport was ranked number one in the world on four occasions. This ties for the all-time record. She’s the Olympic gold medalist and has added three Grand Slam doubles titles to her collection.

The 2005 Wimbledon Championships final between Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams is regarded by many as one of the most remarkable women’s tennis matches ever.

Venus defeated Davenport in a Wimbledon record-setting 2 hours and 45 minutes match in which Davenport had title hopes but lost.

3. Naomi Broady – 6’2.5” / 189 cm

Naomi Broady, a British athlete with a height of 6 feet 2 inches and three Olympic medals, is among the tallest tennis players in the world. 

In March 2016, she achieved a career-high rating of No. 76 in the singles category. Her numerous triumphs include a WTA doubles championship and nine ITF women’s singles and doubles trophies. 

On March 7, 2016, her singles ranking reached No. 76 in the world. On May 22, 2017, she achieved a career-high ranking of No. 56 in doubles.  

2. Akgul Amanmuradova – 6’3” / 191 cm

Akgul Charievna Amanmuradova is an Uzbek pro tennis player. At 1.90m, she’s among the tallest female tennis players in the world. 

Amanmuradova has won 10 singles titles and 16 doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit, in addition to her two doubles titles on the WTA Tour.

Despite her current position (below the top 400), Amanmuradova has won a total of nine ITF singles titles and two WTA doubles titles.

In 2008, she reached a personal best singles rating of 50 in the world.

1. Eva Hrdinova – 6’3” / 191 cm

Czech player Eva Hrdinova holds the record for being the tallest player to compete on the WTA tour. Like the previous player, she preferred playing doubles over singles.

She deserves it as much as anyone else. This 32-year-old Czech prodigy is as excellent as it gets, whether you judge her by her astounding height of 1.91 meters or her brilliant record of three singles titles on the ITF circuit. In doubles, she also holds 19 titles.

Jiri Hrdina coached her, and she works out with Petr Pech and Karel Rubaswhen she’s not on the court. Her go-to strokes are the forehand and serve, and her preferred courts are hard and grass.

She peaked at No. 168 in the world in singles play on April 14, 2008. The 18th of August, 2008, was her career high in the WTA doubles rankings, as she reached position 55.

I listed the tallest men’s tennis players in this post.