A look at the WTA's year-end 2021 rankings… By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday November 22, 2021
The WTA’s year-end rankings feature several historical milestones, with Tunisia, Greece and Estonia represented in the Top-10 for the first time and six teenagers inside the Top-100.
Overall 35 countries and regions are represented in the singles year-end Top 100, and there were ten players who finished in the Top-50 in singles and doubles – Elise Mertens (4 and 21), Barbora Krejcikova (2 and 5), Katerina Siniakova (1 and 49), Aryna Sabalenka (2 and 28), Veronika Kudermetova (31 and 21), Jelena Ostapenka (28 and 23), Iga Swiatek (41 and 9), Elena Rybakina (49 and 14), Jessica Pegula (50 and 18) and Coco Gauff (22 and 21).
Here are some other ranking highlights, via our notes and a press released from the WTA:
For the third consecutive year, Ash Barty finishes the year at No.1, joining Stefanie Graf, Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams and Chris Evert as the only players to finish as year-end No.1 for three consecutive years. The Aussie has held the No.1 ranking for 109 weeks in total, eighth best all-time.
The 2021 year-end rankings are out! 🤩
From the record-setters in the Top 10 to the fastest climbers in the Top 100, we break them down here ⬇️
— wta (@WTA) November 18, 2021
23-year-old Belarusian Aryna Sabalanka earns a Top-2 finish for the first time and becomes the 33rd different woman to finish the year in the Top 2 since the rankings were introduced in 1975. She finished 2020 at No.10.
Garbiñe Muguruza rises to No.3 in the WTA’s year-end ranking – her best finish since 2017.
Karolina Pliskova earns her sixth consecutive Top 10 finish, which is the longest active streak. For the first time since 1986, there are two women representing the Czech Republic ranked in the year-end Top 5 as Pliskova finishes at No.4 and Barbora Krejcikova at No.5. In 1986, Hana Mandlikova finished at No.4 and Helena Sukova at No.5.
Krejcikova’s previous-best year-end ranking was No.65 (2020). She is the only woman to finish the year in the Top 5 in singles (at No.5) and doubles (at No.2).
Maria Sakkari sits at a career-high No.6 at year-end. The first Greek woman to finish the year in the Top 10, Sakkari has improved her year-end ranking for the 11th consecutive year, after reaching two Grand Slam semifinals in 2021.
Anett Kontaveit, winner of 29 of her final 33 matches, ranks at No.7 and posts the highest year-end finish by an Estonian.
Paula Badosa of Spain, who finished last year at No.70 in the WTA rankings, joins Muguruza in the Top-10 at No.8. For the first time since 2000, Spain has two women in the year-end Top 10 as Badosa joins Muguruza. In 2000, Conchita Martinez (No.5) and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario (No.9) both finished in the Top 10.
Iga Swiatek locks down her first year-end Top-10 finish. The 20-year-old becomes the second Polish woman to finish the year in the Top 10, joining Agnieszka Radwanska, who finished in the year-end Top 10 eight times.
The Top-10 is rounded out by Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur. She becomes the first Arab woman to finish in the Top 10 at No.10 after climbing as high as No.7 on November 1.
Teenagers inside the Top-100:
No.19 Emma Raducanu
No. 22 Coco Gauff
No. 24 Leylah Fernandez
No. 44 Clara Tauson
No. 50 Marta Kostyuk
No. 55 Maria Camila Osoria Serrano
Serena Williams drops to 41, her lowest year-end ranking since 2006, when she was 95 in the world.
Venus Williams drops to 312, her first time outside of the Top-100 since 2011 (103).
Simona Halep drops to 20, her first non Top-10 finish since 2012 (47).
Ana Konjuh finishes at 66, up from 538 at year-end 2020, and 1270 at year-end 2019.
Two players inside the Top-10 rose over 60 ranking spots during the course of the 2021 season – Barbora Krejcikova (+60 from 65 to 5) and Paula Badosa (+62 from 70 to 8). Six players recorded their maiden Top-10 year-end finish – No.5 Krejcikova, No.6 Sakkari, No.7 Kontaveit, No.8 Badosa, No.9 Swiatek, No.10 Jabeur.
Two more recorded their first Top-20 year-end finish: No.18 Pegula and No.19 Raducanu.
