Beauty, Style and Grand Slam Glory: 5 Most Beautiful Female Tennis Players of All Time Who Became Icons

Tennis has long been a sport where athletic greatness and personal style meet on a global stage. From the baseline battles of the 1970s to the record-breaking runs of the 21st century, a handful of women became famous not only for what they won but for the image they projected, turning on-court elegance into magazine covers, fashion lines and multimillion-dollar endorsement deals.

Beauty is subjective, and any list like this invites debate. But five players stand out across generations for combining striking presence with lasting influence on the sport and its business. Here they are, in chronological order of their careers.

Chris Evert

Long before tennis became a fixture of fashion media, Chris Evert defined the poised, composed image of the American tennis star.

Evert won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, built one of the most celebrated rivalries in sports history with Martina Navratilova, and became known for her calm demeanor, two-handed backhand and signature style. Her name became so tied to on-court fashion that the "tennis bracelet" is widely associated with her, after she famously stopped a match to search for a diamond bracelet that had fallen off.

Evert was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1995 and later became a respected broadcaster. In recent years she has spoken publicly about her treatment for ovarian cancer, using her platform to encourage early screening.

Gabriela Sabatini

Argentina's Gabriela Sabatini became one of the most admired figures in tennis during the late 1980s and early 1990s, pairing a graceful, heavy-topspin game with a glamorous public image.

Sabatini won the 1990 U.S. Open, defeating Steffi Graf in the final, and earned a silver medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. She also won two WTA Tour Championships titles.

Off the court, she was a marketing pioneer, launching a successful line of fragrances bearing her name, a rare move for an athlete at the time. She retired in 1996 at age 26 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. She remains a beloved figure in Argentina and across Latin America.

Anna Kournikova

No player in tennis history illustrates the power of image quite like Anna Kournikova.

Born in Moscow in 1981, Kournikova turned professional at 14 and quickly became one of the most photographed athletes in the world. While she never won a singles title on the WTA Tour, she reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 8 and was a formidable doubles player, rising to No. 1 in the world and winning two Australian Open doubles titles alongside Martina Hingis.

Her fame far outpaced her results, making her a lasting case study in sports marketing. She earned millions through endorsements, appeared on countless magazine covers and became a household name worldwide.

Chronic back and spinal problems, including a herniated disk, forced her to retire from the tour in 2003 at just 22. She has since kept a largely private life with longtime partner, Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias, with whom she has four children.

Maria Sharapova

If Kournikova showed the commercial potential of a tennis star's image, Maria Sharapova proved it could be matched with championship results.

Sharapova burst onto the scene by winning Wimbledon in 2004 at age 17, beating Serena Williams in the final. She went on to reach No. 1 in the world and become one of 10 women to complete the career Grand Slam, winning five major titles in total.

She retired in 2020 with a 645-171 career record, 36 singles titles and nearly $39 million in prize money. For more than a decade, she was the highest-paid female athlete in the world, building a brand that extended into fashion, endorsements and her own candy company, Sugarpova.

Her career was not without controversy. She served a suspension after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open, a chapter that complicated her legacy.

Sharapova was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in August 2025 in Newport, Rhode Island. Some of the stylish outfits she wore in competition are already displayed there, including a tuxedo-inspired dress from Wimbledon in 2008.

In a surprise, she was introduced at the ceremony by Serena Williams, who described her as a "former rival, former fan and forever friend."

"I said it once, and it rings even truer now — in giving my life to tennis, tennis gave me a life," Sharapova told the crowd.

Serena Williams

Few athletes in any sport have reshaped ideas of beauty and strength the way Serena Williams has.

Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any player in the Open era, and dominated women's tennis for two decades with a powerful style that changed the way the game is played. She will be eligible for induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2027.

Her influence reached well beyond the court. Williams became a fashion force, launching her own clothing line and drawing worldwide attention for bold match outfits, from catsuits to tutus, that challenged traditional tennis dress codes. She also became a prominent advocate for body positivity, pushing back against critics of her muscular physique and helping broaden public ideas of what a female athlete should look like.

Since stepping away from professional tennis in 2022, Williams has focused on her family, her venture capital firm and her business ventures. Her appearance at Sharapova's induction underscored how two of the sport's most famous rivals have become friends in retirement.

Honorable mentions

Many other players could easily make such a list. Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, who won the 2008 French Open and reached No. 1, was one of the most popular players of her era. Argentina's Sabatini-era contemporaries, Steffi Graf's understated elegance, Eugenie Bouchard's rise as a social media star and Martina Hingis' youthful flair have all drawn wide admiration.

More than looks

While public fascination with the appearance of female athletes has fueled endorsements and headlines, it has also drawn criticism for overshadowing accomplishments. Kournikova, in particular, often faced scrutiny that focused more on her image than her doubles success.

The players who endured as icons did so by pairing style with substance. Evert, Sabatini, Sharapova and Williams combined for 47 Grand Slam singles titles, and together with Kournikova they helped turn women's tennis into one of the most visible and commercially successful sports for female athletes in the world.