I had thought the current womens field was the worst in history but drwood reminded me of the 82-86 field. More specifically than that whole time frame though I would say the 83-84 field was overall the worst ever, worse than even 2008-2009. If 2008-2009 remains at this level longer I would pick it since it was a longer time span than 1983-1984, but if it improves by next year, which I see the signs it will, then no since 83-84 is the worst womens field ever then.
This is what 83-84 had other than Martina at her peak:
-a slumping stagnant and seemingly past her prime Evert (until halfway through 84 when she began to become revatilized)
-a slumping Mandlikova
-Shriver, a solid player
-Jaeger on the verge of burnout in 83 (gone altogether in 84)
-An injured totally washed up Austin playing a bit of tennis in 83 before officialy retiring
-well others not even worth naming really- Durie, Bunge, Hanika, Kohde-Kilsch, Potter, Jordan, early 30s Turnbull, pre-prime 16 year old Garrison, nearly 40 year old Wade.
No wonder Navratilova lost only 3 matches those 2 years, ROTFL!!
It improved alot in 85 and 86 when Chris carried through her resurgence which began midway through 84, Mandlikova began playing better again, young pre-prime Graf and Sabatini emerged on the scene, Sukova carried out the new threat she became in the Dec 84/Jan 85 Australian Open, Garrison proved to be atleast a solid perennial top 10 player, and Shriver remained a solid player.
