This is an article “The Big Shake Up in WTA Rankings” by Marc Pulisci
After a series of surprising turnouts and a couple of unexpected winners, the 2021 season ends with at least 15 players enjoying new career-high rankings within the Women's Tennis Association's (WTA) Top 100.
Most of the shuffle happened within the women's top 30 rankings, with eight players, notably Barbora Krejcikova, Maria Sakkari, Ons Jabeur, and Anett Kontaveit, achieving higher rankings within the Top 10 for the first time in their careers.
Here’s a breakdown of the biggest movers and crashers this season:
Kontaveit on the rise
Perhaps, Estonia's Kontaveit is the biggest mover by having broken into the Top 10 at the number eight spot and being a first-time qualifier for the WTA Finals. After dominating tournaments in Moscow and Cluj-Napoca, Kontaveit qualified for the Guadalajara tournament to eventually defeat Romanian Simona Halep 6-2, 6-3 and advance the rankings.
However, the feat didn't come easy, with the Estonian star struggling to get a finals spot and edge rival Ons Jabeur. Jabeur had earlier withdrawn from the Courmayeur Ladies Open, which allowed Kontaveit to earn the finals seat by winning the WTA 250 Transylvania Open and ending the season with 3,096 points.
In terms of ranking, Jabeur also managed to break into the Top 10 for the first time and still ranks one spot higher than Kontaveit at number seven. She cooled Kontaveit's winning streak at the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in October to guarantee herself a spot on the elite list. But with all the WTA finals spots taken, Jabeur can only hope that one out of the eight players withdraws before the November 10 event.
Despite all the ups and downs that she encountered during the season, Kontaveit performed one of her best during this year's tour. Qualifying for six finals and winning four titles, she has achieved the highest leap among any other player by catapulting from number 28 back in August to the number eight spot.
Displaying her dominance in Cleveland, Ostrava, Kremlin, and Romania, the Estonian told the press that she believed in herself more this year, being more aggressive yet consistent on the court than in the past years. With Kontaveit edging Jabeur, who, after congratulating the Estonian, later took a jab on social media with a funny photo of her choking the number eight contender and captioning it "meanwhile, in my head", fans can expect a more competitive future between the two in Guadalajara.
On the cusp of the Top 10
Meanwhile, other players looking to break into the WTA Top 10 are Indian Wells champion Paula Badosa who currently holds the number 11 spot, followed by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at number 12, and US Open stunner Emma Raducanu who is now at the number 21 spot.
At the moment, Badosa is recuperating from a shoulder injury. That makes her stint in Guadalajara still up in the air. Nevertheless, she rose two spots at the beginning of the month to achieve a career-high.
Pavlyuchenkova rose from number 16 to the 12th spot, despite bowing down to Marketa Vondrousova in Moscow 6-4, 6-2 and will be looking further to drive a career-high ranking at the BJK Cup finals this month.
Lastly, US Open champion Raducanu failed to secure a Top 20 spot by falling 23 points short but will see Linz's action to score more ranking points.
On the descent
Unfortunately for every WTA list, some players are taking a nosedive while some are scaling the ranks. Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina, Belinda Bencic, and Simona Halep are among the biggest droppers this season in one of the WTA's wildest shake-ups in the Open Era.
After having points removed from her 2019 Shenzhen withdrawal, the former number one and four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka drops from number 10 to 13. Fans can expect her back on the court as soon as the champion resumes her training this month; she missed the remainder of the French Open in May, and Wimbledon, too, mainly due to injuries and bouts of depression. Although Osaka participated in the Tokyo Olympics, her third-round loss prompted another break from the US Open. The season marks the first time Osaka didn't make the WTA Top 10 in three years.
Also, this season saw one of the biggest droppers in Ukrainian player Svitolina, who ironically made it to the 2019 Shenzhen finals but lost the first round in the Tenerife 250 along with a corresponding 1000 points off her scorecard. She secured a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics this year and her 16th career title. Recently, she also split from her longtime coach of more than five years, Andrey Bettles, which could significantly affect her career trajectory.
Another disappointing season turnout came from Switzerland's Bencic, who dropped from the number 9 spot to 17th. She was knocked out in the first round by Kaja Juvan at Wimbledon but managed to secure the Tokyo Olympics gold a few months later. She reached the quarterfinals at Cincinnati and the US Open, with the latter event squaring her off with eventual champion Radacanu. However, points deduction came from the 2019 Shenzhen wherein she pulled out during the semifinal match against Ukrainian Svitolina, pointing at cramps and the quality of the temporary hard court. After failing to secure a WTA tour finals spot, Bencic can't guarantee a Top 10 spot until next season.
Also on the descent is Romanian Simona Halep, who went from being number 18 to 22 and lost points for not participating in the 2019 Shenzhen tournament. Her points loss can be mainly attributed to several injuries this season that saw her withdrawing from the Miami Open in March and the Italian Open in May, missing the French Open, the Tokyo Olympics, and a lost chance to defend her title Wimbledon. Halep has extended her season by suiting up for the WTA Upper Austria Ladies Linz via a wildcard invitation where an anticipated rematch against Raducanu is in the offing. Romania's number one and two-time Grand Slam title holder will also make a competitive appearance at home for the Transylvania Open before the WTA Linz.
With recovery on the way, fans can expect the champion to regain her top-level form this coming season and, soon enough, regain her spot at the WTA Top 10.
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