The 7 players with the most ranking points since 2009: Iga Swiatek already at No 2

05/27/2024 02:23 AM

Only seven players have broken through the 10,000-point barrier since the WTA Tour adopted its current rankings system in 2009 while only two players have reached the 11,000-point milestone.

Reigning world No 1 Iga Swiatek became only the second player after 22-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams to hit the 11,000-point mark following her 2024 Italian Open title run, but tennis great Williams is in a class of her own at the front.

There is no doubt that the likes of Steffi Graf – who spent 377 weeks at No 1 – as well as Martina Navratilova (332 weeks) and Chris Evert (260 weeks) would have featured on the list if the current system was used during their heydays.

The players with the most ranking points since 2009:

7. Ashleigh Barty – 10,185 (August 23, 2021)

Ashleigh Barty is one of the few tennis players who retired at a career-high No 1 as she called it a day shortly after winning the 2022 Australian Open.

But her highest-points tally came the previous year shortly after she won Wimbledon.

The Australian also won the Miami Open, Cincinnati Open, Stuttgart Open and Yarra Valley Classic that year to help her past the 10,000-point mark.

READ MORE: The 8 players with the most WTA 1000 titles: Steffi Graf No 2, Iga Swiatek already joint sixth

6. Caroline Wozniacki – 10,255 (May 23, 2011)

Great Dane Caroline Wozniacki was initially an MVP in the “players to be world No 1 without winning a major” list before she broke her duck at the 2018 Australian Open.

Her best points tally came before major breakthrough in Melbourne as she reached the semi-final at the Australian Open in 2011 and also still had points from her runners-up finish at the 2010 WTA Finals and semi-final of the US Open.

But she also had silverware to show for her efforts as he won the Dubai Championships, Indian Wells Open, Charlestone Open and Brussels Open earlier in the year.

5. Dinara Safina – 10,521 (July 6, 2009)

Dinara Safina is the only player on this list to achieve this incredible milestone without actually winning a Grand Slam.

The Russian accumulated her points from finishing runner-up at the Australian Open and French Open and reaching the semi-final at Wimbledon. Away from the Grand Slams, she won the Madrid Open and the Italian Open.

4. Maria Sharapova – 10,690 (May 13, 2013)

Incredibly, Sharapova was ranked No 2 in the world at the time she hit her personal best points tally ahead of her Italian Open title defence.

Besides the Rome points, the Russian accumulated points from winning the 2013 Indian Wells Open and Stuttgart Open as well as finishing runner-up at the 2012 WTA Finals and the 2013 Miami Open and Madrid Open.

3. Victoria Azarenka – 10,955 (October 8, 2012)

Victoria Azarenka was one of three players to break the 10,000-point milestone in 2013 with Serena Williams and Sharapova the other two, but it’s the Belarusian’s 2012 feat that ranks on the list as she came within 45 points of hitting the 11,000 mark.

The two-time Grand Slam winner won the 2012 Australian Open and finished runner-up at the US Open while she also a lot of points from the previous year’s WTA Finals runners-up spot. She also won the Sydney International, Qatar Open, Indian Wells Open and China Open

2. Iga Swiatek – 11,695 (20 May 2024)

Reigning world No 1 Iga Swiatek started her Roland Garros title defence with her best-ever points tally of 11,695 – not too far off her previous best of 11,085 that she accumulated at the backend of 2022 and the start of 2023.

The bulk of the four-time Grand Slam winner’s points have come from her French Open and WTA Finals titles the previous year while she had also won the WTA 1000 Madrid Open and Italian Open finals.

1. Serena Williams – 13,615 (10 June 2013)

The great Serena Williams is the only player to have broken through the 12,000 and 13,000-points mark with her best ever season coming in 2013.

She dominated the sport that year as she won the French Open, US Open, WTA Finals as well as the Miami Open, Madrid Open, Italian Open, Canadian Open and the China Open to finish the year with 13,260 points.

However, she reached her “peak” in terms of points just after beating Sharapova in the Roland Garros final as she sat on 13,615 points as at that stage she had already won six trophies for the season while she also still had the points from Wimbledon, the US Open and the WTA Finals of the previous year in her “pocket”.

READ MORE: The 7 youngest French Open women's singles champions: Iga Swiatek in 5th

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