The WTA year in numbers: Barty on the trail of Graf and Co.
The game on the WTA tour has been suspended since the triumph of Garbine Muguruza at the finals in Guadalajara. So it's worth taking a look at the world rankings.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Nov 21, 2021, 07:37 pm
Yes, it's been a few moons since Ashleigh Barty professionally picked up a tennis racket. Older sports fans will remember: At the US Open it was where the Australian lost for the first time and righteously surprisingly against Shelby Rogers. Then it went back home, neither Indian Wells nor the finals in Guadalajara could really inspire Barty to start. But never mind: it hibernates for the third time in a row at the top of the WTA charts. An achievement that only Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Stefanie Graf and Serena Williams achieved before Barty.
Karolina Pliskova has been similarly constant for years, if not quite on the same level as Ashleigh Barty. The Czech finished a tennis year among the ten best players in the world for the sixth time in a row. The longest active streak among women.
Gauff's youngest top 100 player
Particularly noteworthy in the WTA charts: no fewer than six players make their debut as top ten aces at the end of the year: French Open Champion Barbora Krejcikova , Paula Badosa , Anett Kontaveit , Maria Sakkari , Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur . Krejcikova was also the only one who managed to complete a single-digit double. Most recently she won the finals in Guadalajara with Katerina Siniakova.
With a slightly wider view, it can be stated that there are at least six teenagers among the 100 best players in the world: Cori Gauff is the youngest, plus Emma Raducan u and Leylah Fernandez, the surprise players of the US Open, not to forget Marta Kostyuk, Camila Osorio and Clara Tauson.
And on the other end of the scale? There is Serena Williams , who played very little tennis in the past season. and at 40 years of age she can still be found at position 41 on the charts. The biggest jump from the beginning of the year to the end of the season was made by Ana Konjuh, who improved by 472 places from position 538 to 66. Thanks to her success at the US Open, Emma Raducanu made up 324 places - from 343 to currently 19th place.