WTA Rankings
The WTA Rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975.
Ranking method
The WTA rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. A player's ranking is determined by her results at a maximum of 16 tournaments for singles and 11 for doubles and points are awarded based on how far a player advances in a tournament. The basis for calculating a player's ranking are those tournaments that yield the highest ranking points during the rolling 52-week period with the condition that they must include points from the 4 Grand Slams, the 4 Premier Mandatory tournaments and the WTA Finals. In addition, for Top 20 players, their best two results at Premier 5 tournaments will also count. Up until 2016, the WTA also distributed ranking points, for singles players only, who competed at the Summer Olympics. However, this has since been discontinued.In order to appear on the WTA rankings, players must earn ranking points in at least three tournaments, or a minimum of 10 singles ranking points or 10 doubles ranking points in one or more tournaments.
The points distribution for tournaments in 2019 is shown below. Points earned in 2013 were a little different in some cases and retained their value until they expired after 52 weeks.
S = singles players, D = doubles teams, Q = qualification players.
"+H" indicates that Hospitality is provided.
Note that if a player or team receives one or more byes and then loses their first match of the tournament, they will only receive points for the first round of that tournament. For example, if a player receives a bye in R64 and then loses her match in R32, she will only receive points for R64 despite having advanced to R32. Similarly, if a player or team withdraws from their first match after receiving a bye, they will not be awarded any points for that tournament.
In ITF tournaments, the main draw is normally 32 for singles and 16 for doubles. Losers in the first round of doubles will receive points equal to that shown in the R32 column above. For subsequent rounds the points are the same as for singles.
Current rankings
Number one ranked players
The following is a chronological list of players who have achieved the number one position in singles since the WTA began producing computerized rankings on November 3, 1975:No. | Player | Date reached | Total weeks |
1 | Nov 3, 1975 | 260 | |
2 | Apr 26, 1976 | 2 | |
3 | Jul 10, 1978 | 332 | |
4 | Apr 7, 1980 | 21 | |
5 | Aug 17, 1987 | 377 | |
6 | Mar 11, 1991 | 178 | |
7 | Feb 6, 1995 | 12 | |
8 | Mar 31, 1997 | 209 | |
9 | Oct 12, 1998 | 98 | |
10 | Oct 15, 2001 | 17 | |
11 | Feb 25, 2002 | 11 | |
12 | Jul 8, 2002 | 319 | |
13 | Aug 11, 2003 | 20 | |
14 | Oct 20, 2003 | 117 | |
15 | Sep 13, 2004 | 39 | |
16 | Aug 22, 2005 | 21 | |
17 | Jun 9, 2008 | 12 | |
18 | Aug 11, 2008 | 18 | |
19 | Apr 20, 2009 | 26 | |
20 | Oct 11, 2010 | 71 | |
21 | Jan 30, 2012 | 51 | |
22 | Sep 12, 2016 | 34 | |
23 | July 17, 2017 | 8 | |
24 | Sep 11, 2017 | 4 | |
25 | Oct 9, 2017 | 64 | |
26 | Jan 28, 2019 | 25 | |
27 | Jun 24, 2019 | 33 |
Last update: 2 March 2020
Year-end number one players
The year-end number one player is the player at the head of the WTA rankings following the completion of the final tournament of the calendar year.Singles
Year | Player |
1975 | Chris Evert |
1976 | Chris Evert |
1977 | Chris Evert |
1978 | Martina Navratilova |
1979 | Martina Navratilova |
1980 | Chris Evert |
1981 | Chris Evert |
1982 | Martina Navratilova |
1983 | Martina Navratilova |
1984 | Martina Navratilova |
1985 | Martina Navratilova |
1986 | Martina Navratilova |
1987 | Steffi Graf |
1988 | Steffi Graf |
1989 | Steffi Graf |
1990 | Steffi Graf |
1991 | Monica Seles |
1992 | Monica Seles |
1993 | Steffi Graf |
1994 | Steffi Graf |
1995 | Steffi Graf Monica Seles |
1996 | Steffi Graf |
1997 | Martina Hingis |
1998 | Lindsay Davenport |
1999 | Martina Hingis |
Year | Player |
2000 | Martina Hingis |
2001 | Lindsay Davenport |
2002 | Serena Williams |
2003 | Justine Henin |
2004 | Lindsay Davenport |
2005 | Lindsay Davenport |
2006 | Justine Henin |
2007 | Justine Henin |
2008 | Jelena Janković |
2009 | Serena Williams |
2010 | Caroline Wozniacki |
2011 | Caroline Wozniacki |
2012 | Victoria Azarenka |
2013 | Serena Williams |
2014 | Serena Williams |
2015 | Serena Williams |
2016 | Angelique Kerber |
2017 | Simona Halep |
2018 | Simona Halep |
2019 | Ashleigh Barty |
Doubles
Players with highest career rank 2–5
The following is a list of singles players who were ranked world No. 5 or higher but not No. 1:Consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the WTA World rankings
The below lists the players with the most consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the WTA World rankings:Singles
Player | Consecutive weeks in Top 10 rankings |
Martina Navratilova | 1000 |
Chris Evert | 746 |
Steffi Graf | 625 |
Gabriela Sabatini | 508 |
Pam Shriver | 458 |
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario | 429 |
Hana Mandlikova | 421 |
Lindsay Davenport | 333 |
Conchita Martinez | 319 |
Simona Halep | 318 |
Last update: 23 February 2020