Karolina Pliskova

Karolina Pliskova is the rare player who reached the summit of the sport on the strength of one shot. Born in Louny, Czech Republic, in 1992 and a junior champion at the 2010 Australian Open, she built her game around a flat, towering serve that became one of the most reliable weapons on tour — at her peak she was firing close to an ace per service game and winning roughly three-quarters of her first-serve points.

The style is uncomplicated by design: serve big, take time away with early ball-striking off both wings, and end points before the rally settles. It made her devastating on quick surfaces and, at times, vulnerable on slower clay and against the best returners, where the free points dried up. Fans came for the serve and stayed for the calm — Pliskova rarely betrays emotion, win or lose.

The career arc peaked twice. She reached her first Grand Slam final at the 2016 US Open, beating Serena Williams en route, then claimed the world No. 1 ranking in July 2017 — the first Czech woman to hold it in the computer era — despite never winning a major. Her second slam final came at Wimbledon in 2021. The résumé runs deep: 17 WTA singles titles, the 2016 Cincinnati crown, Rome in 2019, and semifinals at all four majors, including an Australian Open run where she saved match points against Williams.

Now 87th in the rankings, Pliskova is well removed from her top-10 years. The serve still travels, but the margins have tightened against a younger field — the Linda Noskova and Diana Shnaider generation that grew up on the tour she once led. Each week is now about finding draws where the ace count alone can still win matches.