OTW Extra Email Archive - May 2026
Notes from the Tour: The Top 5 Teenagers...
Thursday 7th May 2026
There are currently five teenagers in the Top 100 of the WTA world rankings…
Four of these young ladies have appeared in our annual pre-season reports in recent years…
Mirra Andreeva (now age 19) was given a glowing write-up in my Ones to Watch in 2024 Report, back when the Russian was still just 16 years old and ranked at no.57. Mirra is now an established Top 10 player, currently at no.7 in the world…
Three other teenagers in the latest Top 100 list all appeared in our most recent, Ones to Watch in 2026 Report. Here’s their latest status:
Victoria Mboko (Canada, age 19 – world no.9 – career-high)
Iva Jovic (USA, age 18 – world no.17)
Tereza Valentova (Czechia, age 19 – world no.48)
There’s one more Top 100, teenage name to add to our women’s watchlist today. And that’s LILLI TAGGER…
The 18-year-old from Austria sits at no.92 in the world. View her profile on the official WTA website here.
I’d heard Lilli mentioned in the sport a few times over the past year or so. But until recently, I’d never actually seen her play…
That’s all changed this spring, and from watching Tagger’s composure and power on the clay recently, I have to say the one thing that has got me writing this article is: her physical stature…
Similar in build to someone like Wimbledon and Australian Open champion (and another early-bird Ones to Watch player), Elena Rybakina – at 6’1” Tagger in fact stands an inch taller than the world no.2.
Lilli has one of the greatest gifts that a young player arriving on the main tour can have – and that’s the physical presence to match or better many of her older, higher-ranked, and more experienced opponents…
It took current men’s no.1 (and another Ones to Watch alumnus) Jannik Sinner a few years to get the muscles to match his game. Whereas arguably our most prominent Ones to Watch teenage pick from recent years, Iga Swiatek, had the same ready-to-mix-it look as the top names, right from the start.
Tagger has a lot more winning to do to make it big like some of the stars I’ve namedropped there. But from what I’m seeing so far, Lilli has a great chance to go far…
Going back to the ranked-in-the-top-100 teenagers mentioned above, Tagger is the only one yet to make a senior WTA final. When she does get to her maiden final – and I reckon it is a case of when and not if – then Lilli will suddenly have a lot more column inches dedicated to her in the mainstream tennis media.
From now on, we should follow Lilli Tagger’s progress with keen interest, look out for big, underdog prices in the Match Winner and tournament Outright Winner markets, and bet accordingly. This is a player on the up…
Were you on Wu?
Our latest spring detour in Ones to Watch Extra produced a 16/1 winner at the Snooker World Championship. Chinese youngster Wu Yize came out on top in a thrilling final at the Crucible theatre on Monday night, having played exciting attacking snooker throughout the tournament.
Were you on Wu? Got a winning story to share? Email me at:
oliver@spapublishinggroup.co.uk
P.S
With this month’s French Open coming up fast, the clay-court tournaments keep on coming. After Rome this week & next, we have four events on the schedule before we head to Roland Garros in Paris…
Enjoy the tennis…
Best wishes,
Oliver Upstone