Written by Claudio Gilardelli, translated by Kingsley Elliot Kaye
As it has been very often headlined, this week Iga Swiatek makes her debut as No. 1, following Ashleigh Barty’s shock retirement.
Compared with other players who have been No. 2 in the last two months (Krejcikova, Sabalenka), Swiatek is really worthy to bear Barty’s legacy. First of all she reaches No.1 after accomplishing the Sunshine Double, a feat which, in women’s tennis, had only been achieved by Steffi Graf (twice, in 1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Vika Azarenka (2016). Besides, her victory in Miami is her third WTA 1000 in a row and she’s on a 17-match winning streak.
Swiatek won Miami without dropping a set and cruising past her opponents with three bagel sets, one in the final against Naomi Osaka. She has definitely not been overwhelmed by the increased pressure from the media owing to her new status. She also consolidates her lead in the RACE, where she had already overtaken Barty last week. The Australian was the title holder in Indian Wells and she would have dropped 1000 points and gone down to 6980 points. The gap with Swiatek would have shrunk to 269 points only and sooner or later the baton was due to be passed over. Swiatek is the 28th player to secure top spot, and the first Pole ever. Former Polish star Agnieszka Radwaska peaked at a high of No. 2.
WTA Rank | +/- | Player | Tournaments Played | Points |
1 | +1 | Iga Swiatek | 16 | 6711 |
2 | +2 | Barbora Krejcikova | 25 | 4975 |
3 | +3 | Paula Badosa | 30 | 4970 |
4 | -1 | Maria Sakkari | 18 | 4705 |
5 | 0 | Aryna Sabalenka | 19 | 4657 |
6 | +1 | Anett Kontaveit | 21 | 4511 |
7 | +1 | Karolina Pliskova | 15 | 4197 |
8 | +3 | Danielle Collins | 17 | 3151 |
9 | 0 | Garbiñe Muguruza | 19 | 3070 |
10 | 0 | Ons Jabeur | 19 | 2975 |
11 | +1 | Jelena Ostapenko | 20 | 2805 |
12 | +1 | Emma Raducanu | 21 | 2706 |
13 | +8 | Jessica Pegula | 19 | 2485 |
14 | 0 | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | 12 | 2473 |
15 | +2 | Coco Gauff | 21 | 2345 |
16 | -1 | Angelique Kerber | 15 | 2297 |
17 | -1 | Victoria Azarenka | 16 | 2281 |
18 | 0 | Elena Rybakina | 24 | 2261 |
19 | +3 | Leylah Fernandez | 25 | 2156 |
20 | -1 | Simona Halep | 18 | 2156 |
21 | +7 | Belinda Bencic | 20 | 2151 |
22 | +1 | Veronika Kudermetova | 23 | 2090 |
23 | +2 | Tamara Zidansek | 21 | 1921 |
24 | +2 | Madison Keys | 19 | 1904 |
25 | -1 | Elise Mertens | 22 | 1840 |
26 | +1 | Sorana Cirstea | 23 | 1840 |
27 | -7 | Elina Svitolina | 22 | 1836 |
28 | +1 | Daria Kasatkina | 22 | 1770 |
29 | +3 | Petra Kvitova | 21 | 1690 |
30 | +1 | Camila Giorgi | 19 | 1603 |
31 | -1 | Liudmila Samsonova | 29 | 1547 |
32 | +1 | Marketa Vondrousova | 20 | 1457 |
33 | +1 | Camila Osorio | 31 | 1334 |
34 | +2 | Alizé Cornet | 26 | 1315 |
35 | +42 | Naomi Osaka | 11 | 1296 |
36 | +2 | Sloane Stephens | 16 | 1282 |
37 | 0 | Jil Teichmann | 23 | 1277 |
38 | +2 | Clara Tauson | 31 | 1249 |
39 | 0 | Ajla Tomljanovic | 23 | 1231 |
40 | +2 | Viktorija Golubic | 28 | 1211 |
41 | +2 | Shuai Zhang | 36 | 1210 |
42 | +9 | Anhelina Kalinina | 39 | 1208 |
43 | +7 | Alison Riske | 24 | 1201 |
44 | +4 | Shelby Rogers | 28 | 1184 |
45 | +8 | Katerina Siniakova | 21 | 1166 |
46 | +1 | Yulia Putintseva | 23 | 1166 |
47 | -6 | Amanda Anisimova | 20 | 1165 |
48 | -3 | Jasmine Paolini | 31 | 1159 |
49 | -14 | Sara Sorribes Tormo | 23 | 1135 |
50 | -4 | Tereza Martincova | 31 | 1128 |
In the top50, we can notice that:
- Ashleigh Barty’s retirement has really had an impact on the top10. We have already given due credit to Iga Swiatek. Barbora Krejcikova moves back to second place, Paula Badosa (+3, No.3) reaches her career best, Maria Sakkari (semi-finalist at Miami in 2021) slips to No.4, Anett Kontaveit (No.6) and Karolina Pliskova (No.7) go up one position. Danielle Collins gains three spots and for the first time in her career joins the top10 at No.8.
- In the top20 Jelena Ostapenko (+1, No.11) is just 170 points short of the top10. There are best rankings for Cori Gauff (+2, No.15) and Jessica Pegula (+8, No.13), who returns in the top20, just like Leylah Fernandez (+3, No.19). Elina Svitolina, who reached the semifinals in Florida last year, drops out of the top20 (-7, n.27) after recently announcing she will take a break from tennis.
- The most significant movers in the top50 are Belinda Bencic (+7, No.21), who edges back close to the top20, after her semi-final in Miami. The great news is that Naomi Osaka is back on track again with her run to the final in Miami and takes a 42-position bound, landing at No.35. Also Anhelina Kalinina (+9, No.42) and Katerina Siniakova (+8, No.45), are back in the top50. Alison Riske (No..43) gains 7 places. However, there is a downtrend for Sara Sorribes Tormo (-14, No.49), who drops the points she earned in Miami last year thanks to her quarterfinal and for Amanda Anisimova (-6, No.47). Both are on the brink and risk losing the top50.
- Below the top50, several players have made consistent progress: Aliaksandra Sasnovich (+9, No.51), Mayar Sherif (+12, No.61), Karolina Muchova (+7, No.67), Anna Kalinskaya (+8, No.76), Marie Bouzkova (+9, No.77), Lauren Davis (+12, No.82), Dalma Galfi (+10, No.97), and Lucia Bronzetti (+17, No.85).
- Ana Konjuh is struggling (-10, No.62) but Anastasija Sevastova (-29, No.114) and Bianca Andreescu (-75, No.119), semi-finalist and finalist respectively in Miami Open 2021 have fallen out of the top 100.
- Beyond the top100 we see remarkable move up by Daria Saville, who climbs to No.129, gaining 120 positions and Linda Fruhvirtova, who breaks into the top 200 at No.188, gaining 91 positions.
NEXT GEN RANKING
For the first time the Ranking dedicated to the players born after 1st January 2002 features Olivia Gadecki, who takes the place of 16-year-old Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva. The young Australian debuts at No.9. The top ranks are unchanged: Emma Raducanu is No.1, followed by Cori Gauff and Leylah Fernandez.
Position | +/- | Player | YOB | WTA Rank |
1 | 0 | Emma Raducanu | 2002 | 12 |
2 | 0 | Cori Gauff | 2004 | 15 |
3 | 0 | Leylah Fernandez | 2002 | 19 |
4 | 0 | Clara Tauson | 2002 | 38 |
5 | 0 | Marta Kostyuk | 2002 | 53 |
6 | 0 | Qinwen Zheng | 2002 | 72 |
7 | 0 | Diane Parry | 2002 | 98 |
8 | 0 | Daria Snigur | 2002 | 139 |
9 | – | Olivia Gadecki | 2002 | 167 |
10 | -1 | Elina Avanesyan | 2002 | 170 |
RACE
Iga Swiatek leads the Race as well and has 2310 points more than the second ranked player, Maria Sakkari. Danielle Collins (No.3) moves up 3 positions and Jessica Pegula (No.9) gains 6. Naomi Osaka (+37, No.11), Belinda Bencic (+23, n.14) and Petra Kvitova (+10, n.20) burst into the top20.
Position | +/- | Player | Tournaments Played | Points |
1 | 0 | Iga Swiatek | 6 | 3920 |
2 | +1 | Maria Sakkari | 6 | 1610 |
3 | +3 | Danielle Collins | 4 | 1516 |
4 | +3 | Paula Badosa | 7 | 1422 |
5 | -1 | Anett Kontaveit | 6 | 1385 |
6 | -1 | Madison Keys | 7 | 1317 |
7 | +1 | Jelena Ostapenko | 7 | 1156 |
8 | +1 | Simona Halep | 6 | 1096 |
9 | +6 | Jessica Pegula | 7 | 992 |
10 | +1 | Veronika Kudermetova | 7 | 952 |
11 | +37 | Naomi Osaka | 4 | 925 |
12 | -2 | Barbora Krejcikova | 6 | 895 |
13 | -1 | Elena Rybakina | 7 | 766 |
14 | +23 | Belinda Bencic | 6 | 671 |
15 | -2 | Sorana Cirstea | 8 | 626 |
16 | -2 | Amanda Anisimova | 6 | 626 |
17 | -1 | Daria Kasatkina | 7 | 606 |
18 | 0 | Kaia Kanepi | 4 | 590 |
19 | -2 | Elise Mertens | 7 | 576 |
20 | +10 | Petra Kvitova | 8 | 561 |