ST. PETERSBURG, FL, USA - The WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) today released the 2020 Year-End Rankings after the tour traveled through 14 countries and regions to a total of 27 events, including three Grand Slams and three WTA 125K Series events, in a pandemic impacted season.

Traditionally, the WTA Rankings are based on a 52-week system with results from a player’s best 16 tournaments for singles and 11 for doubles. As the Tour came to a halt in March due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the WTA Rankings became frozen, allowing ranking points to extend beyond the traditional 52-week window so that a player’s world ranking would not be impacted due to the suspension. Under the revised system, a player’s ranking is comprised of her best 16 results in singles and best 11 results in doubles based on the points earned between March 2019 through December 2020 and includes the “Better of 2019 and 2020” points earned at Tour-level and Grand Slam events.

Australia’s Ashleigh Barty finishes the year as the WTA Year-End World No.1 for the second straight year, having first cemented her place as No.1 on June 24, 2019, bringing her total weeks atop the singles rankings to 50. Since the 2019 season, Barty has appeared in seven finals, winning two of her biggest titles at 2019 Roland Garros and the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen. She went 11-3 in 2020, having kicked off the season by lifting the trophy on home soil at the Adelaide International and making back-to-back semifinal runs at the Australian Open and Qatar Total Open (Doha).

Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei earns the WTA Year-End World No.1 Doubles Ranking for the first time in her career, and is into her 26th non-consecutive week as the No.1 doubles player. Partnering with Barbora Strycova, who finished the year at No.2, the pair reached a Tour-leading five doubles finals in 2020, posting a 23-2 win-loss record by capturing the titles at the Brisbane International, Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Qatar Total Open (Doha) and Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome). They also finished as runners-up at the Australian Open.

Hsieh Su-Wei - 2020 Year-End Doubles No.1

WTA

Despite the limited amount of play this season, the WTA Tour produced plentiful memorable moments highlighted by emerging stars and new Grand Slam champions Sofia Kenin and Iga Swiatek, dominant runs from established talent such as Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka, and inspiring comebacks from tour veterans Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters, Tsvetana Pironkova and more.

Key statistics and figures of the 2020 WTA Year-End Top 10:

  1. Barty becomes the 11th player to hold the Year-End No.1 ranking in consecutive years
  2. Halep holds the longest active streak – and eighth best in WTA history – inside the WTA Top 10 at 336 consecutive weeks (as of November 16, 2020)
  3. Osaka ends her season ranked World No.3 for the second straight year, up from No.5 in 2018
  4. Kenin finishes the season inside the Top 10 for the first time in her career, up from No.14 in 2019
  5. Svitolina holds the third-longest active streak inside the Top 10 at 163 consecutive weeks, behind Halep (336) and Pliskova (199)
  6. Karolina Pliskova earns her fifth successive Top 10 year-end finish
  7. Andreescu maintains her Top 10 ranking for the second consecutive year despite not playing a match in a pandemic impacted season, becoming the second Canadian to do so in back-to-back seasons
  8. Kvitova completes her eighth non-consecutive season inside the Top 10
  9. Bertens finishes 2020 ranked No.9 for the third consecutive season, which also marks her third successive Top 10 year-end finish
  10. Sabalenka earns her career first Top 10 year-end ranking following two consecutive seasons finishing at No.11

Click here for the official 2020 WTA Year-End Rankings.