5 of the Most Influential Female Teams and Athletes

Women’s sports have come a long way even since the late 1990s. While sports are to be enjoyed by any race or gender, it’s a known fact women have much different struggles from men when it comes to earning their keep in the world of sports.

Over just the last few decades though, women’s sports has taken a turn for the better. In this article, we’ll describe details surrounding the evolution of women’s sports in the last decade, including several key milestones in women’s sports as well as key players that were driving factors for this process.

Serena Williams

Starting with one of the most important and best female athletes of all time who can be particularly credited with leading the charge of the evolution of female sports, we have Serena Williams. At just age 17, Serena would go on to win the 1999 US Open and obtain her first of 24 Singles Grand Slam titles (her most recent in the 2017 Australian Open). Fans from around the world could easily see that at just 17 years old, tennis had a devastatingly talented female prospect on their hands, one that not just women would enjoy watching, but everyone included.

USA Women’s National Soccer team

Around the time Serena was holding up the sport of women’s tennis on her shoulders, the United States Women’s National Soccer team was making massive waves. In 1991, the US women’s team would win their first and the first women’s world cup. It may have taken a very long time for the women’s World Cup to even exist, but the United States national team put the sport in the spotlight from then on. Not only that, but they’d win the US-hosted 1999 World Cup, 2015 World Cup, 2019 World Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics. No matter what sport you watch, male or female, this US Women’s soccer team should be largely credited with the modern evolution of female sports.

UConn Huskies Women’s Basketball team

Along with the rise of incredibly promising female soccer talent, the University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team was just beginning its legacy. For anyone into college sports, this may very well be the best college sports team of all time. To put it into perspective, the UConn Women’s basketball team won the title in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, while going six of those seasons (1995, 2002, 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2016) completely undefeated. It’s clear that a team that performs this dominantly will get anyone interested in the sport, and the UConn Huskies basketball team can be hugely credited with helping evolve women’s sports in the last decade.

Ronda Rousey

With her first fight for the UFC in March 2011, Ronda Rousey tore up the octagon ruthlessly, to the point where it was the first time any female had been so dominant, specifically in combat sports. From March 2011 to August 2015, Rousey would go undefeated, winning 12 fights in a row, 8 of them being title fights. Since then, Rousey has represented the face of women in the UFC. Dana White (owner of the UFC) once said that women would never fight in the UFC, to which Rousey completely shattered that idea, becoming the number one factor in leading the charge for women in UFC and becoming one of their biggest attractions.

Caitlyn Clark

Now in 2024, Caitlyn Clark is widely considered the most modern icon in female sports. Joining the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2020, Clark would go on to be the most important (and most talented) female basketball player in the modern era at only 22 years old. From just the NCAA alone, she amassed 3,951 points in 139 games, an NCAA record to date. Then, she’d get drafted as a first-round pick to the Indiana Fever. What’s particularly special about Clark and her presence in modern female sports is that she showcases the untapped potential of women’s sports. Now at 22 years old, Clark has sponsorships from companies such as Gatorade, Panina, State Farm, and Xfinity, giving all other professional female athletes something to chase after. It’s without a doubt that Caitlyn Clark can be credited with driving the most recent evolution in female sports which will hopefully continue to grow over the next decade and beyond.