For years, Rebecca Sramkova had a reputation for delivering a few peak performances a year but being unable to repeat it over a longer patch. One of these sensational showings came in the summer of 2023 when she beat recent Roland Garros runner-up Karolina Muchova from 1-5 down in the deciding set in Warsaw. But this year the Slovak’s career reached a whole new level.
Rebecca Sramkova 2024 in Review
13-2 record in 20 days for a meteoric rise
Despite a title at a W50 event in Porto and a solid Indian Wells performance, not much was suggesting this could be the breakthrough season until Rome. That run saw Sramkova dispatch Katie Boulter and Sofia Kenin, before losing to Jelena Ostapenko in a thrilling deciding set tie-break. Reaching the fourth round at a WTA 1000 meant that the 28-year-old finally broke the top 100 and wouldn’t have to qualify for Wimbledon. Still, her evolution wasn’t fully complete and she was quickly outside the world’s best hundred again before the US Open.
What really made Sramkova explode was a brilliant three-week stretch in September. No one knows how she even had the stamina to play all these matches and keep winning. In 20 days, she was out on the court 15 times including the journey from Tunisia to Thailand and then to China with barely any rest. The Slovak also posted incredible comebacks against Elsa Jacquemot and Sara Sorribes Tormo, reaching her first final in Monastir.
It didn’t take her long to overcome the disappointment of losing that match as she was right back up there in Hua Hin, picking up her maiden WTA Tour title. Without even a day of rest, she was already in Beijing the following day to try to qualify for the WTA 1000 event. The purple patch finally came to an end when her winning streak of nine was snapped in the third round of the main draw by Paula Badosa. Or did it? Either way, from world #136 before Monastir, she was already almost inside the top 50.
Billie Jean King Cup heroics
But that doesn’t mean Sramkova’s peak is over. She would soon reach another WTA Tour final in Jiujiang in her last individual event of the season. She was also an incredible asset for Team Slovakia at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga. With her country’s #2 struggling (Viktoria Hruncakova and Renata Jamrichova combined for a 1-3 record), they needed Sramkova to step up time and time again.
Her stunning wins over Danielle Collins and Katie Boulter pushed the ties against the United States and the United Kingdom to the deciding doubles, allowing Slovakia to reach their first final since 2002. The 28-year-old finally succumbed to Jasmine Paolini in the final, but along with the successful pairing of Hrunckova and Tereza Mihalikova, she wrote a wonderful story for her national team.
As for 2025 expectations, it’s extremely hard to predict how Sramkova will fare after these two or three incredible months to end the season. For the first time in her career, she won’t have to worry about picking up points and making cuts for about half a year and that could really free her up. She’s currently sitting at world #43 in the WTA Rankings and it’s time for her to cash in on these results by appearing in all the Slams and the WTA 1000 events. In Australia, she will be part of the main draw for the first time since 2017.
Main photo credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
