The third female player born after 2000 has entered the TOP 3!

At the 2026 United Cup, the United States' top female singles player Gauff was surprisingly defeated by Manero, whose world ranking is much lower, with a final score of 1-6, 7-6(3), 0-6. It is worth noting that Manero had never beaten a top-five player before, and Gauff had been undefeated in the United Cup prior to this match, yet the match ended with Gauff’s loss.

Throughout the match, Gauff committed as many as 14 double faults and made 54 unforced errors. Fortunately, Fritz later secured a men’s singles victory for the US team, and Gauff, partnering with Harris, defeated Spain’s Caballe-Reimers and Cervantes in mixed doubles. Ultimately, the US team clinched a spot in this year’s United Cup quarterfinals with two group-stage wins.

Gauff’s defeat also cost her significant ranking points. After losing 490 points, her compatriot Anisimova, with 6,287 points, became the current top American female player. Anisimova, ranked third in the world for the first time, is also the third post-2000 born player in WTA history to break into the top three, and the fifth post-2000 player overall in combined WTA and ATP rankings to reach this milestone.

The first female player to achieve this was Swiatek, born in 2001, who has reached a career-high ranking of number one. She currently holds six Grand Slam singles titles and one WTA Finals singles championship.

Thanks to her outstanding performance at the 2022 Miami Open, Swiatek rose to the WTA world number one for the first time, becoming the first Polish player in history to claim the top spot.

The second female player to reach this achievement is Gauff, born in 2004, though her highest world ranking so far is number two. Of course, Gauff is still very young, not yet 22 years old, so it is only a matter of time before she becomes WTA world number one.

Besides Swiatek, Gauff, and Anisimova, the other two post-2000 players in the world top three are ATP players Alcaraz and Sinner. Both have reached number one in the world rankings, with Alcaraz currently holding the top spot in men’s singles due to his superior performance.

Sinner first became world number one during the 2024 season, winning the Australian Open and US Open titles that year and finishing as the year-end number one.

In contrast, Alcaraz achieved this milestone earlier. In the 2022 season, this young Spanish player replicated Nadal’s feat of winning a Grand Slam at age 19 by claiming the US Open title. This brought him numerous new records, including being the first post-2000 male Grand Slam singles champion and the youngest ATP men’s singles world number one.

As time goes on, we will see more post-2000 players emerge in professional tennis. We look forward to Chinese players born after 2000 achieving these milestones soon!(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Barbie)