Rankings

Michael D · All-time great

RE: Rankings

Michael D · All-time great

Here is this week's rankings list... pretty miserable except for the ray of light that was Beth's performance in qualifying in Hua Hin. This week marks in fact the biggest total decline so far this year for our women, and continues the run of every week in 2020 being negative, with the total decline in ranking positions now being -318.

Just five players have shown a +10 rise in rankings so far this year - Heather (29), Mandy (22), Fran (17), Tara (13) and Beth (71). There are many, many more with -10+ declines so far...

We now have the couple of W25s in the UK, and it will be interesting to see if they make any real difference. In isolation I don't think they will, and won't serve too much purpose in helping our younger players get on the rankings ladder. But we'll see if there is any positive effect. However, it would certainly be good to see a little more green in this table, that's for sure.

WTA GB Rankings_Week 7 20.png

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
Here is this week's rankings list... pretty miserable except for the ray of light that was Beth's performance in qualifying in Hua Hin. This week marks in fact the biggest total decline so far this year for our women, and continues the run of every week in 2020 being negative, with the total decline in ranking positions now being -318.
Just five players have shown a +10 rise in rankings so far this year - Heather (29), Mandy (22), Fran (17), Tara (13) and Beth (71). There are many, many more with -10+ declines so far...
We now have the couple of W25s in the UK, and it will be interesting to see if they make any real difference. In isolation I don't think they will, and won't serve too much purpose in helping our younger players get on the rankings ladder. But we'll see if there is any positive effect. However, it would certainly be good to see a little more green in this table, that's for sure.

the problem with events in the UK is that...last year the same events took place in the UK. So if there is any benefit rankings wise for playing at home, it most likely happened last year as well, and the two will cancel each other out. Clearly not always the case but on average over the year, given we arent increasing the number of events, then we hit that cycle

Michael D · All-time great

Well, this week marks the first positive week we've had in the GB rankings this year, with the women being a total of +117 for the work, even if still -201 overall for the year (and the negative trend looks set to resume again next week). There are lots of small rises in the top ten that make this +17 for the week, with the three +10 rises coming lower down. First is Katie B (+47), but this is tempered by the fact that she loses another 30 pts this coming week and is due to fall again 85 places, so if she can pick up any points in Acapulco they will be very welcome for her. The other risers are Tara (+14), who is also +27 for the year, despite retiring in 3/6 singles matches she has played so far, and Eliz Maloney who is +49 to a CH 1101.

Eliz is one of only 3 GB players to record CHs so far this year, the others being Naiktha (CH 199) and Emma (CH 363).

There are also only 6 GB players who have risen +10 positions so far this year - Heather (+34), Mandy (+25), Fran (+19 and +35 next week), Tara (+27), Beth (+71) and Eliz (+48).

WTA GB Rankings_Week 8 20.png

ROSAMUND · Futures level

This is early days but in the Race to Shenzen , currently Johanna Konta is the 13th ranked British player at no. 459 in world terms. That ranks lower than the likes of Tara Moore and Freya Christie. I know her knee problems need to be taken into account when writing this but it (the present) certainly looks really grim at the moment. But based on performances of 9 and 10 months ago she will still be seeded at Indian Wells and Miami.

Michael D · All-time great

Here's this weeks GB WTA Rankings. For the second week in a row we have positive rankings in the top ten, which is +42, and overall, which is +37. In the top 10, Heather's fantastic win in Acapulco, and Jodie and Fran's points from the W25 in India last week fuel the upward rise. The main negative is Maia's dropping out of the top 10, to be replaced by Katy D, and the difference there is -9. Katy's return tenure in the top 10 will be limited however by the fact that Emma will replace her next week owing to her reaching the final in Sunderland.

Further down the rankings there are no major upward movers this week, but a number of small rises means we stay positive overall. Eliz reaches a new CH for the second week in a row, which is somewhat ironic in that the last two weeks she has last the first round each time in qualifying in Tunisia, which has been disappointing after her earlier QF success.

Next week the positive trend will continue fuelled by the past week's successes in Sunderland. The difference having a home event makes, when the field is not packed with non British players as it was in Glasgow. This week the only players competing are in the WTA events in North America, and so a much more restricted set of competitors. Nevertheless there are still 4 of them who can contribute to further ranking improvements.

WTA GB Rankings_Week 9 20.png

Michael D · All-time great

Here are this week's GB rankings, which show a positive net trend for the first time this owing to the 6 players that have gained points this week, five at Sunderland, and the 6th Katie B, in Indian Wells.

The Sunderland effect shows the value local tournaments can have, with this week the stand out points rise being for Tanysha with her first ever W25 win helping her to a rise of 179 positions. Both she and Emma reach CHs this week.

The players do did pick up wins and points at Sunderland stand out compared with the run of small net losses for the majority of GB players, who either didn't play or experienced first round losses.

For next week Sam is guaranteed a significant rise into the top 200 and nearing touching distance of her 6+ year old CH. It remains to be seen if others will join her with any further decent ranking gains.

WTA GB Rankings_Week 10 20.png

the addict · Tennis legend

Not cery clear, but this is what the ATP/WTA have issued about rankings - not certain where that leaves the points won at ITF tournaments but not yet included in the rankings as at 9th March.

"In a joint statement from the WTA Tour and ATP World Tour, and in conjunction with the International Tennis Federation, the professional tennis season has been suspended through June 7, 2020.

In response to the current suspension of the season, the WTA Rankings have been frozen until play resumes.

What does a Frozen Ranking mean?

A Frozen Ranking means a players ranking as of March 9th will remain in place until play resumes. Points earned during the 2019 Indian Wells tournament will remain on a players ranking, as well as the points earned across all levels in the 52 weeks that followed."

indiana · Tennis legend

Tough on someone like Katie B who missed most of the rest of last year. Not only can she not play catch up towards a personal more realistic ranking while tournanents are cancelled, players who were playing last year are keeping their points which were due to drop off, so presumably effectively for 2 years if these are not resheduled by such as the calendar grabbing French.

I had wondered if they might get more formulaic, for instance say that they could keep half of the points from last year. I guess it's all subject to further review in such uncertain times. Will have plenty time to consider anomalies though I am pretty sure a solution to satisfy all is not available.

Yes, the position re points added post 9th March will need to be considered at some point, even if it's in respect of players further down the food chain from the Indian Wells players. Some like Brydan had points due to both add and come off on 23rd March if the rankings were updated then.

the addict · Tennis legend

OER have frozen their rankings. The live rankings for 16th March are there (as are their forecast rankings) - and include Sam's 50 points from SA, and Jodie's 9 points from Cairo QF.

Going to use this set of rankings for the competition update.

Michael D · All-time great

Here are those final rankings for 16 March that the a is referring to from OER. If the WTA changes their rankings and there are any discrepancies then I'll post a revised version, but for now i'm going to leave this as the updated points, with IW points from 2019 put back on. Sam, Jodie and Katy get their additional ranking points for their last tournaments, whilst Katie B's points that were due to drop off stay on at the moment (as does Jo's). These changes also means that Katy D is back in the top 10 for now, and Emma drops back to 11 again. Overall our net points for the year drops back to -65 too.

At this point it seems extremely unlikely that we will have a grass court season this year - it would take something near miraculous to be possible - so this freeze seems likely to be there for months, and is going to lead to some very interesting decisions that will need to be made as to how points come off and are added once events are possible again. I suspect that they may well simply restart the rankings from where they are now, so that the rankings will consist of 12 months + the gap that occurs now. This means that the rankings will cover more than a 12 month period for the time it takes to catch up with the normal calendar again. In short, last years rankings from IW onwards and including the whole clay court season at least, will only drop off in 2021 now, instead of 2020. It seems to me the only logical and really fair way to resume.

WTA GB Rankings_Week 11 20.png

-- Edited by Michael D on Sunday 22nd of March 2020 10:20:00 AM

Michael D · All-time great

This may have been posted elsewhere, but here is the WTA article on what currently a frozen ranking means.

www.wtatennis.com/news/1647027/what-does-a-frozen-ranking-mean-

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

For all followers of british womens tennis , dont forget to vote for your favourite player over in the general section ! Polls on all week!

indiana · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
This may have been posted elsewhere, but here is the WTA article on what currently a frozen ranking means.

www.wtatennis.com/news/1647027/what-does-a-frozen-ranking-mean-

The correct 16/03 frozen rankings are attached to this WTA article, as opposed to the 16/03 OER women's rankings which as of today are still taking points off players post 09/03.

the addict · Tennis legend

Yes, the ranking list is a little different to the OER list that was available a week ago. I'll have to update the competition over the weekend, not that it'll make much difference.