Unpredictability reigned over the summer grass season, where 12 women made the finals of the tour's six tournaments. Who won the most and who won when it mattered? SAP Tennis Analytics breaks it down.
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WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen
December 19, 2017

In an exciting 2017 season that was highlighted by its week-to-week unpredictability, no surface saw as much upheaval as the five-week grass season. Wimbledon champion Garbiñe Muguruza and Wimbledon semifinalists Johanna Konta and Magdalena Rybarikova led the way during the grass season, which saw not only six different champions of the tour's six tournaments but 12 different finalists.

s'Hertogenbosch: Anett Kontaveit d. Natalia Vikhlyantseva
Mallorca: Anastasija Sevastova d. Julia Goerges
Nottingham: Donna Vekic d. Johanna Konta
Birmingham: Petra Kvitova d. Ashleigh Barty
Eastbourne: Karolina Pliskova d. Caroline Wozniacki
Wimbledon: Garbiñe Muguruza d. Venus Williams 

MOST WTA WINS ON GRASS IN 2017

1. Johanna Konta (GBR): 13-3
2. Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP): 10-2
3. Ana Konjuh (CRO): 8-4
4. Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK): 8-2
5. Anett Kontaveit (EST): 7-1
6. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN): 7-2
7. Lucie Safarova (CZE): 7-3
8. Caroline Garcia (FRA) 6-2
9. Petra Kvitova (CZE): 6-1
10 Venus Williams (USA): 6-1 

Magdalena Rybarikova, Wimbledon, The Championships

While Konta and Muguruza led on tour-level wins, no one chalked up more wins on grass this summer than Magdalena Rybarikova. After wrist and knee surgeries forced her off the tour last season, the 29-year-old Slovakian began her grass season ranked just inside the Top 200. She proceeded to go 18-2 across all levels, winning two ITF 100K tournaments in Surbiton and Ilkley, making the semifinals in Nottingham (l. Konta) and stunning soon-to-be No.1 Karolina Pliskova and CoCo Vandeweghe en route to her first Slam semifinal at Wimbledon (l. Muguruza). Rybarikova's astounding grass season would shoot her up the WTA rankings, where she finished the year at No.20. 

Venus Williams is silhouetted against the early evening darkness while playing Wang Qiang (Getty)

Venus Williams will go down as one of the best of all-time on grass, and 2017 saw her further bolster her career winning percentage on the turf. The five-time Wimbledon champion returned to the final for the first time since 2009, beating Konta and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko en route, before falling to Muguruza. Her Wimbledon run moved her grass court winning percentage up to 82.9%, second only to her sister Serena. 

BEST WINNING PERCENTAGE ON GRASS (ACTIVE PLAYERS)

1. Serena Williams (USA): 88.8%
2. Venus Williams (USA): 82.9%
3. Maria Sharapova (RUS): 81.6%
4. Madison Keys (USA): 76.5%
5. Petra Kvitova (CZE): 74.6%

Topics: 
WTA Insidersap insightsgrass season