TENNIS PLAYERS from Latvia

Top 4

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Latvian Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous Latvian Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Ernests Gulbis (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 40.27, Ernests Gulbis is the most famous Latvian Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages on wikipedia.

Ernests Gulbis (Latvian pronunciation: [ˈærnests ˈɡulbis], born 30 August 1988) is a Latvian inactive professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 10, making him the only male Latvian tennis player ever to be ranked inside the top 10, a feat achieved in June 2014. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schüttler, and in 2010, he won his first ATP Tour singles title in the Delray Beach, defeating Ivo Karlović in the final. In total, Gulbis has six ATP titles to his name. His best performance at a Grand Slam was reaching the semifinals of the 2014 French Open. He had previously reached the quarterfinals of the 2008 French Open. Beginning after Wimbledon 2011, Gulbis was coached by Austrian Günter Bresnik, until his departure the day before the 2016 French Open. Previously, he was coached by Guillermo Cañas, and before that by Hernán Gumy (who before that was Marat Safin's coach), but their partnership ended due to Gumy's schedule; during that time, Darren Cahill served as Gulbis' consultant for several tournaments. Before Gumy, Gulbis was coached by Karl Heinz Wetter, and subsequently by Nikola Pilić, the former professional Croatian tennis player and Croatian and German Davis Cup captain. Since September 2022, Gulbis has been the president of the Latvian Tennis Union, gradually ending his career as a professional tennis player.

2. Jeļena Ostapenko (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 39.60, Jeļena Ostapenko is the 2nd most famous Latvian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Jeļena "Aļona" Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997) is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles and world No. 4 in doubles. Ostapenko became the first Latvian to win a Grand Slam in singles and in doubles (excluding mixed doubles). She won the 2017 French Open singles title, the first unseeded player to win Roland Garros since 1933, and the doubles title at the 2024 US Open with Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok. In addition, she has won another seven singles and eight doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She has also won fifteen singles titles and fifteen doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, and she also won the junior singles event at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships. She is a member of the Latvia Fed Cup team.

3. Anastasija Sevastova (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 37.35, Anastasija Sevastova is the 3rd most famous Latvian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is a professional tennis player from Latvia. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. Sevastova is best known for her success at the US Open, particularly during the second half of her career. In 2016, she defeated the reigning French Open champion and world No. 3, Garbiñe Muguruza, as well as Australian Open semifinalist Johanna Konta, en route to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. In 2018, she reached her first major semifinal, defeating defending champion and world No. 3, Sloane Stephens (whom she had lost to at that same stage in 2017), in the quarterfinals, before losing to Serena Williams.

4. Līga Dekmeijere (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 25.89, Līga Dekmeijere is the 4th most famous Latvian Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Līga Dekmeijere (born 21 May 1983) is an inactive Latvian tennis player. She has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 26 August 2002, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 287. On 5 April 2010, she peaked at No. 54 in the doubles rankings. Dekmeijere has won her only WTA tournament title at the 2008 Cachantún Cup, where she entered the doubles draw with Poland's Alicja Rosolska, defeating Mariya Koryttseva and Julia Schruff in the final. Playing for Latvia Fed Cup team, Dekmeijere has a win–loss record of 14–16.