2018 BSA's: Rankings Round-Up

Rankings, rankings, rise and fall
For Simona Halep,
Roland Garros finally said it all

Away from the Cliffs,
from the emotional canyons and fits
Simo's body and heart
pulled her through to the finish from the start

And if she survives to a hundred and five
Look at all she'll have derived out of bein' alive
Here is the best part, she had a head start
Because she was among the very Parisian at heart

"My fairy tale did can come true
and, believe me, it too can happen to you
if you're Romanian at heart."

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The annual 2018 Backspin recapping season begins now with the annual whole-lotta-love (and numbers) year-end rankings round-up. Of course, I can't promise all these words and numbers will be as headspinning as the sound of The Great Wave of (Naomi) Osaka crashing upon the New York shore, or as Process-affirming Elina Svitolina's I-proved-it-so-eat-it triumph to bring down the curtain on the tour's successful stint in Singapore.

#justdoit pic.twitter.com/fhGraA0yL4

— Elina Svitolina (@ElinaSvitolina) November 2, 2018

But, hey, what can you do, right?


First up, the fourth edition of the Backspin "All-Rankings Team."


Congratulations to the players who pulled off some of the most significant rankings accomplishments during the 2018 season!

Naomi Osaka, JPN: The U.S. Open champ appears on her second All-Rankings Team ('16) after a season that saw her rise from deeper in the rankings (#68) than any other Top 10 player. At 21, she's also the youngest Top 10er.
Kiki Bertens, NED: The former "clay court specialist" (and All-Ranking Team honoree two years ago) fully committed to becoming the best player she could be, with the result being success on *all* surfaces and her Top 10 debut at #9 at age 26.
Aryna Sabalenka, BLR: Belarusian Boom just missed out on a Top 10 season (#11), but her 67-spot climb over the last year is the biggest in the Top 20, of which she's 2018's youngest member at 20 years, 5 months.
Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, CZE/CZE: The three-time junior slam winners ('13 RG-WI-US) won their first two career majors at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, ending the season as doubles co-#1's as the 40th and 41st players to ever top the tour rankings. Seven have been Czechs.
Simona Halep, ROU: It's easy to overlook the reigning #1 as a "rankings achiever" after finishing atop the tour pyramid for the second straight season. But it should be noted that aside from back-to-back #1 years, she also leads the tour with five straight Top 5 seasons, five Top 10 years in a row, 257 consecutive Top 10 weeks, and 277 weeks in the Top 20 (numbers based on the '18 52-week run that ends on December 24).
Dasha Kasatkina, RUS: The first of the GenPDQ Russians to reach the Top 10, the swashbuckling 21-year old shotmaker proved to be one of the most brash and exciting players on The Most Interesting Tour in the World, jumping from #24 to #10 and becoming top-ranked Hordette for the first time. Now a three-time All-Rankings honoree (2015-16), Kasatkina made the Russian absence from the season-ending Top 10 a short one, as Svetlana Kuznetsova just missed the honor in '17 (finishing #12), making the Top 10 Hordette-free for the first time since 2002.
Petra Martic, CRO: now having fully rebounded from a back injury that took out her out for nearly a year in 2016-17, the 27-year old reached her first tour-level final in six years, won a WTA 125 Series title, recorded her first Top 10 win since 2012 and finished '18 at a career-high ranking of #32.
Caroline Wozniacki, DEN: the Dane remained at #3 in the rankings in '18, but won her maiden slam crown and, even while being diagnosed during the summer with rheumatoid arthritis, put together a tour-best eleventh consecutive Top 20 campaign.
Angelique Kerber, GER: A year after falling from #1 to #21, the biggest non-injury/retirement related drop in tour history for a season-ending #1, Kerber rebounded by winning Wimbledon and climbing all the way back up to #2.
Mihaela Buzarnescu, ROU: not that long ago, Buzarnescu's injury-riddled career seemed over. In 2018, though another injury crippled her 4Q final act, she was one of the comeback success stories of the season. At age 30, a season after her long-time-coming tour MD debut, the Romanian reached the Round of 16 at RG, won her first tour singles (San Jose) and doubles (Strasbourg) titles, notched her first three Top 10 wins, briefly climbed into the Top 20 and finished at #24, up 72 spots from her standing a year ago.
Danielle Collins, USA: the two-time NCAA champion made her mark on tour in '18. One of three to finish in the Top 50 (Bencic & Tomljanovic) from outside the Top 100 a year ago, Collins won a WTA 125 Series title, had her first career Top 10 win (over Venus) and made the biggest one-year jump (131 spots from #167 to #36) of any Top 50 player. She's still the highest-ranked player without a tour-level singles final in her career, so there's still more room for growth in '19.

*BACKSPIN ALL-RANKINGS TEAMS*
[2015]
Timea Bacsinszky, SUI (1st team)
Dasha Gavrilova, RUS/AUS (1st team)
Dasha Kasatkina, RUS (1st team)
Johanna Konta, GBR (1st team)
Garbine Muguruza, ESP (1st team)
Madison Brengle, USA
Margarita Gasparyan, RUS
Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
Alona Ostapenko, LAT
Teliana Pereira, BRA
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, SVK

[2016]
Cagla Buyukakcay, TUR (1st team)
Dominika Cibulkova, SVK (1st team)
Vania King, USA (1st team)
Johanna Konta, GBR (1st team)
Naomi Osaka, JPN (1st team)
CiCi Bellis, USA
Kiki Bertens, NED
Viktorija Golubic, SUI
Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
Anastasija Sevastova, LAT

[2017]
Ash Barty, AUS (1st team)
Caroline Garcia, FRA (1st team)
Martina Hingis, SUI (1st team)
Elise Mertens, BEL (1st team)
Alona Ostapenko, LAT (1st team)
Julia Goerges, GER
Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
Aleksandra Krunic, SRB
Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
Marketa Vondrousova, CZE

[2018]
Kiki Bertens, NED (1st team)
Simona Halep, ROU (1st team)
Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, CZE/CZE (1st team)
Naomi Osaka, JPN (1st team)
Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (1st team)
Mihaela Buzarenscu, ROU
Danielle Collins, USA
Dasha Kasatkina, RUS
Angelique Kerber, GER
Petra Martic, CRO
Caroline Wozniacki, DEN



**RANKINGS NOTES OF NOTE**
[as of end-of-season ranks on November 5, 2018]Nineteen different women moved in and out of the Top 10 over the course of 2018's official 44-week schedule, two more than a year ago. When the season ended, six of that group had spent five weeks or less there, including #9 Kiki Bertens and #10 Dasha Kasatkina, who'd both climbed into the Top 10 in the closing weeks of '18. Only four women -- Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova -- played the full season ranked inside the Top 10.

After five different women spent time at #1 in '17 (the most since 2008), only two did so this season. And one of those, Caroline Wozniacki (after her Australian Open triumph), spent just four weeks there. Defending season-ending #1 Simona Halep held onto the spot the rest of the time, becoming the fifth different woman since 2000 (Davenport 2004-05, Henin 2006-07, Wozniacki 2010-11, S.Williams 2013-15) to post back-to-back #1 campaigns.

After thirty-five women appeared in the Top 20 last season, the number shrank to thirty-two this year. Nine maintained their Top 20 standing from Week 1 through 44.

A year after the '16 Top 3 all dropped at least twenty places in the rankings by the end of '17, #1 Halep and #3 Wozniacki both this year finished in the same position as they did last season.

2018 @WTA Year-End Top 10 (Rank at start of season):

1. @Simona_Halep (1)
2. @AngeliqueKerber (21)
3. @CaroWozniacki (3)
4. @ElinaSvitolina (6)
5. @Naomi_Osaka_ (68)
6. @SloaneStephens (13)
7. @Petra_Kvitova (29)
8. @KaPliskova (4)
9. @kikibertens (31)
10. @DKasatkina (24)

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) November 3, 2018

For the second straight season, four women retained their Top 10 ranking from the previous season, both of which are the fewest since 2011.

=TOP 10 RETURNEES, BY SEASON=
2011: 4
2012: 7
2013: 9
2014: 7
2015: 6
2016: 5
2017: 4
2018: 4
Halep will begin 2019 with sixty career weeks at #1, tenth on the all-time tour list and just eleven weeks behind Wozniacki's total of 71. If the Romanian holds onto the top spot for the full 52-week span of 2019 she'd rank eighth all-time, just five weeks behind her idol Justine Henin's number of 117.

When you see your idol ???? @Justine_Henin pic.twitter.com/KT0hXXDJVE

— Simona Halep (@Simona_Halep) June 4, 2018

Meanwhile, in her second consecutive abbreviated season following her pregnancy with daughter Olympia, Serena Williams nonetheless had another Top 20 season. After finishing at #22 in '17, with an 8-1 record and Australian Open title, Williams played a bit more (18-6) but came up just short (twice) of getting career slam #24 while being runner-up at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Her #16 finish is Serena's nineteenth Top 20 season in her remarkable career.

Of the six women who failed to repeat their Top 10 seasons from a year ago, two of them were slam champions in '17: Alona Ostapenko, who fell to #22 to become the second-ranked Latvian behind Anastasiya Sevastova, and Garbine Muguruza, whose #18 final standing is her first outside the Top 10 since 2014. Three of the other four's failure to repeat their slam success played a role in their ranking slip, as well. AO/WI finalist/US semifinalist Venus Williams (she finished at #40+ for just the fourth time since 1996), AO/US semifinalist CoCo Vandeweghe (her crash from #10 to #104 was the biggest of 2017's Top 10ers) and Wimbledon semifinalist Johanna Konta all dropped out, along with 2017 4Q breakout star Caroline Garcia, who didn't repeat her Wuhan/Beijing combo, but did win finally pick up her lone '18 title in the closing weeks of the season in Tianjin, enough to remain in the Top 20 at #19.

On the other hand, two of the six players who moved up were previous slam winners: Angelique Kerber, who won #3 at Wimbledon this season, and Petra Kvitova, who was tripped up on the slam stage in '18 but led the tour with five singles titles. First-time Top 10ers included Naomi Osaka (the first from Japan since 1996), Kiki Bertens (just the second from the Netherlands) and Sloane Stephens (the U.S. Open winner in '17, and RG finalist this year, finally made the leap after having just missed out on even reaching -- getting as close as #11 -- back in '13).

AO champ Wozniacki's Top 10 year is the eighth of her career, tied (w/ Aga Radwanska) for fourth on the active list behind Serena, Venus and Maria Sharapova. Radwanska, a season after falling out of the Top 20 for the first time in nine and a half years (ending a six-year Top 10 run) finished at #75 while battling a career-endangering foot injury, her worst finish since 2005.

*2018 TOP 10 - CAREER TOP 10 SEASONS*
8 - Caroline Wozniacki
6 - Angelique Kerber
6 - Petra Kvitova
5 - Simona Halep
3 - Karolina Pliskova
2 - Elina Svitolina
1 - Kiki Bertens
1 - Dasha Kasatkina
1 - Naomi Osaka
1 - Sloane Stephens

Anett Kontaveit continued her career progression in '18. Two years ago, she finished outside the Top 100. In 2017, she was #34. While she didn't win a singles title this season, she reached her biggest final (Wuhan), set (AO/RG) or matched (WI) her best result at three different majors, and recorded six of her eight career Top 10 victories. In the (literal) closing hours of this season, she appeared set to complete her first career Top 20 season, making her just the second Estonian to do so and the first since Kaia Kanepi in 2012. But then the Elite Trophy's ridiculous rule that allowed injured semifinalist Madison Keys to be replaced by eliminated round robin participant Wang Qiang changed all that. Wang knocked off Muguruza to reach the final and picked up just enough points to surpass Kontaveit and edge her out for a Top 20 season by a mere five ranking points. #20 Wang is just the third Chinese woman to finish a season inside the Top 20, following in the footsteps of Li Na and Peng Shuai (Zheng Jie ranked as high as #15, but never finished a season higher than #25, in 2008).

Victoria Azarenka's latest season produced yet another unique journey for the two-time slam champ and former #1.

A Top 3 player from 2011-13, injuries marred her '14 season as she fell to #32. 2015 included a few Top 20 weeks and a #22 finish. In 2016 she briefly returned to the Top 5 after becoming the third woman to pull off the "Sunshine Double" with back-to-back titles in Indian Wells and Miami, but never played another match after Roland Garros, ending her season by announcing her pregnancy. Still, she ended up at #13. Returning from a 13-month absence during the grass court season, Azarenka played a handful of events and reached the Wimbledon Round of 16 in '17, but shut down her season why being unable to travel due to a custody battle. Her season-ending ranking fell to #208, her lowest since her ranking debut year in 2004. Finally settling her legal issues, she returned to the Top 100 in '18 but experienced an uneven season, going just 3-3 in slams and finishing her second straight season without having reached a final since her Indian Wells/Miami two-fer. Still, she got her first Top 10 win since '16 (Ka.Pliskova in Miami, where she reached the SF), as well as playing in the Wimbledon mixed doubles final. Her season-ending ranking is up to #51, a 157-spot jump that is the second biggest of any player ranked in the Top 100 (Dalila Jakupovic - 170 spots).

Looking for an even bigger rebound in '19, Azarenka has signed up Wim Fissette as her new coach.

Great having @vika7 and her coach with us at @IMGAcademy!!! pic.twitter.com/1lFI4ynyrU

— Nick Bollettieri (@NickBollettieri) November 6, 2018

While Kasatkina finished in the Top 10, some of her countrywoman had more "mixed" results in '18. Two-time slam champ Svetlana Kuznetsova took a singles title in Washington, but won multiple matches in just one of her other thirteen events. Her 95-spot fall from #12 to #107 was the second biggest drop for any player ranked in last year's Top 20 (behind pregnant countrywoman Elena Vesnina's 119-spot fall), giving her her worst finish since 2001.

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????????? ? ??? ??? ????? ??????? ?????))) ?????? ????????, ??? ???????? .. ?????? ??????????? ??????? ????? ??????????? ? ???? ????????? , ??? ?????????? ?? ??????? ?????? ??????? // would like to ask you guys a question ) do you think you MUST stop the engine while you put the gas ? ????????? P.S: the most lonely Gas station I’ve ever seen

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Meanwhile, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won another title (#12, in Strasbourg), but finished outside the Top 40 (#42) for the first time since 2009. Maria Sharapova didn't win a title for the second season in the last three years, but her first (mostly) full season since her suspension saw her rise thirty-one spots to #29, have her best slam result (RG QF) since her return, and record three Top 10 wins while going 20-11.
===============================================
The United States once again produced the most Top 100 players this season, landing twelve women in the field, down one from 2017, and four less than the number of Top 100-ranked Bannerettes in '16. The U.S. contingent once again includes both the oldest (Venus Williams, 38) and youngest (Amanda Anisimova, 17) players in the Top 100. A year ago, Anisimova was the youngest player in the Top 200. This year that honor goes to 16-year old Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk. The next youngest player in the tour rankings is another Ukrainian, 15-year old Dasha Lopatetskaya, at #465. The youngest player in the Top 1000 is 14-year old Roland Garros girls champion Coco Gauff (U.S.).

The only ranked singles players older than Venus are a pair of 39-year olds: #286 Patty Schnyder and #504 Greta Arn.

For the second straight year, thirty-four nations combine to compose the season-ending Top 100, while sixteen (three more than in '17) make up the Top 20, with the U.S. (3), Germany (2) and the Czech Republic (2) all having multiple representatives.

=TOP 100 NATIONS=
2011: 37
2012: 36
2013: 36
2014: 34
2015: 33
2016: 33
2017: 34
2018: 34
Twenty-six players fell out of the Top 100 since the end of last season, replaced by twenty-seven newbies. The majority (23) of the rising players made the logical jump from #101-200 a year ago, while three (Victoria Azarenka, Anastasia Potapova and Dalila Jakupovic) were ranked between #201-299. Of the group, nine had previous Top 100 seasons in their careers. Some of the "name" players were slipped outside the Top 100 included a handful of the players who have won slam crowns, and reached major finals or semifinals, including Francesca Schiavone (retired), Svetlana Kuznetsova, CoCo Vandeweghe, Elena Vesnina, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Peng Shuai, Timea Bacsinszky, and Lucie Safarova.

Meanwhile, after falling to twenty-one a season ago, the number of Top 50 nations in '18 went back up to the recent high water mark of twenty-five attained in 2016.

=TOP 50 NATIONS=
2013: 23
2014: 23
2015: 20
2016: 25
2017: 21
2018: 25===============================================
It's been an annual ritual to bemoan the state of South American women's tennis in this spot each and every year. Not that there haven't been a few bright spots.

In 2015, Brazil's Teliana Pereira became the most successful female player from the Land of Bueno (as in now later Hall of Famer Maria) in some three decades, winning a pair of singles titles and finishing at #45 less than a year before the Summer Olympics were set to take place in Rio. But Pereira's tennis fortunes have been in a steep downturn ever since. She had her worst campaign since 2011 two years ago, falling to #204, slipped further to #352 in '17 as she became the eighth highest-ranked woman on the continent, and then this year is all the way down to #629, making her the eighth-ranked woman in Brazil alone.

But things are -- well, WERE -- looking up for the women of South America after last season. Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg posted her second consecutive "career year" (reaching the 4th Round at Roland Garros), while Colombia's Mariana Duque Marino continued to set up camp just outside the season-ending Top 100, despite the occasional dipping of her toe into those waters during the season throughout her career (climbing as high as #66 in 2015, her lone Top 100 campaign). But the best news coming out of South America was Beatriz Haddad Maia. The young Brazilian seemed poised to surpass Pereira as the "most bueno" post-Bueno female tennis star to emerge from the nation. She reached her first career tour singles final in 2017 and climbed 146 spots in the rankings, going from #211 to #65, and from the eighth-ranked player in South America to the first, with plenty of room for even more growth.

Then came 2018.

VCR slipped to #146 this year and failed to win a slam MD match, going 0-3 and losing in the opening qualifying round at the U.S. Open. Since she reached the 4th Round in Paris in '17, she's now dropped seven consecutive matches in slam competition. Again, Duque failed to finish in the Top 100 (she spent six weeks there in '18, the eighth different season in her career she's spent time there), ending the season at #112.

Haddad, rather than take another big step, took a step *back* due to injury. The 22-year old hurt her wrist this past spring, then later her back, and fell from inside the Top 60 in March to #235 (a two-year low) before reaching a $100K challenger in the final week of action before the season-ending rankings were set. The result bumped her up to #184. Still the top-ranked Brazilian, she finished as the South American #3.

For the record, at the time of the WTA's season-ending rankings, eight South American men were ranked in the current ATP Top 100. Six of them hail from Argentina alone, where the top-ranked woman is #264 Paula Ormaechea.

Meanwhile, the next generation of continental hope is finally emerging.

Now 18-year old Maria Carle (ARG) was a U.S. Open girls semifinalist in '17 along with 17-year old Colombian Emiliana Arango (the one who plays with the backward cap... yeah, her), who made a spring stir by reaching the tour-level Bogota QF in just her third WTA MD (all in Bogota from 2016-18). Meanwhile, on the junior level, Arango's fellow Colombian Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, 16, was a dominant presence all season long, opening with a 24-0 run (w/ three straight Grade 1 crowns), then later becoming still another South American to reach the U.S. Open junior semis. Late in the season, she won a Youth Olympic Bronze medal and reached the Junior Masters final. The next ranked junior girl behind #4 MCOS is still (now) part-time junior Carle at #40.

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Linda experiencia jugando mi primer cuadro principal de un @wta e iniciando una nueva etapa al lado de @alejandrofalla . Ahora si a trabajar!!???

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===============================================
Five teenagers rank in the Top 100, up from four last year (after 5, 5 & 6 from 2014-16), through four others turned 20 less than six months before the end of the season. They're no band of anonymous teens, either.

18-year old Dayana Yastremska won a tour singles title, while 17-year olds Anastasia Potapova (2) and Amanda Anisimova were finalists. Sonya Kenin will play a big role for the U.S. in the Fed Cup final, and Marketa Vondrousova won a title in '17. 17-year old Olga Danilovic won a title, too, but just missed out on a Top 100 finish at #103.

Now 20, Aryna Sabalenka reached a final while still a teenager (and three more after leaving her teens), Viktoria Kuzmova starred for Slovakia in Fed Cup and put up a tour-level SF in Budapest SF (later, at 20, she won two $100K challenger titles). Another 20-year old, Tamara Zidansek, won a WTA 125 Series crown.

A season after the Ostapenko/Kasatkina final in Charleston was the first featuring two teenagers since 2009, Danilovic and Potapova took part in another in Moscow. In Indian Wells, the all-(then)-20 Osaka/Kasatkina clash was the second-youngest final in 2018.

Generation PDQ is flexing its collective muscles. In all, there were fifteen under-21 singles finalists this season, with six picking up titles, including Osaka's I.W. and U.S. Open runs.

And the young pool continues to expand. The past few years have seen the number of teens ranked between #101-200 go from seven in '16 to seventeen last year. In '18, the number is fifteen.

=YOUNGEST IN...=
Top 10: Naomi Osaka, JPN (21)
Top 20: Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (20)
Top 50: Sabalenka
Top 100: Amanda Anisimova, USA (17)
Top 200: Marta Kostyuk, UKR (16)
Top 300: Kostyuk
Top 400: Kostyuk
Top 500: Dasha Lopatetskaya, UKR (15)
Top 600: Lopatetskaya
Top 700: Lopatetskaya
Top 800: Connie Ma, USA (15)
Top 900: Ma
Top 1000: Coco Gauff, USA (14)

2018 Roland Garros junior champ Gauff is the youngest player in the Top 1000 at #875. She brings up the tail end of this year's junior slam (and "extra" event) singles finalists, all of whom have a WTA ranking (three already in the Top 200):

AO W: Liang En-shuo, TPE (#279/jr.#5)
RG W: Coco Gauff, USA (#875/jr.#6)
WI W: Iga Swiatek, POL (#175/jr.#7
US W: Wang Xiyu, CHN (#200/jr.#2)
Youth Olympic W: Kaja Juvan, SLO (#174/jr.#17)
Junior Masters W: Clara Burel, FRA (#612/jr.#1)
-
AO RU: Clara Burel, FRA (#612/jr.#1)
RG RU: Caty McNally, USA (#682/jr.#9)
WI RU: Leonie Kung, SUI (#446/jr.#31)
US RU: Clara Burel, FRA (#612/jr.#1)
Youth Olympic RU: Clara Burel, FRA (#612/jr.#1)
Junior Masters RU: Maria Camila Osorio Serrano, COL (#723/jr.#4)

As for the youngest players in the top-end of the tour rankings...

*YOUNGEST PLAYER - end of '18 season*
[Top 100]
17...Amanda Anisimova, USA (born August 31, 2001)
17...Anastasia Potapova, RUS (born March 30, 2001)
18...Dayana Yastremska, UKR (born May 15, 2000)
19...Marketa Vondrousova, CZE (born June 28, 1999)
19...Sonya Kenin, USA (born November 14, 1998)
20...Vera Lapko, BLR (born September 29, 1998)
20...Anna Blinkova, RUS (born September 10, 1998)
20...Viktoria Kuzmova, SVK (born May 11, 1998)
20...Aryna Sabalenka, BLR (born May 5, 1998)
20...Tamara Zidansek, SLO (born December 26, 1997)
[#101-200]
16...Marta Kostyuk, UKR (born June 28, 2002)
17...Iga Swiatek, POL (born May 31, 2001)
17...Wang Xiyu, CHN (born March 28, 2001)
17...Olga Danilovic, SRB (born January 23, 2001)
17...Kaja Juvan, SLO (born November 25, 2000)
18...Bianca Andreescu, CAN (born June 16, 2000)
18...Claire Liu, USA (born May 25, 2000)
18...Katarina Zavatska, UKR (born February 5, 2000)
18...Sofya Zhuk, RUS (born December 1, 1999)
19...Elena Rybakina, KAZ (born June 17, 1999)
19...CiCi Bellis, USA (born April 8, 1999)
19...Katie Swan, GBR (born March 24, 1999)
19...Anna Kalinskaya, RUS (born December 2, 1998)
19...Fanni Stollar, HUN (born November 12, 1998)
19...Liudmila Samsonova, RUS (born November 11, 1998)
20...Caroline Dolehide, USA (born September 5, 1998)
20...Marie Bouzkova, CZE (born July 21, 1998)
20...Karman Thandi, IND (born June 16, 1998)
20...Priscilla Hon, AUS (born May 10, 1998)
20...Ayano Shimizu, JPN (born April 11, 1998)
20...Gabriella Taylor, GBR (born March 7, 1998)
20...Magdalena Frech, POL (born December 15, 1997)
20...Paula Badosa Gibert, ESP (born November 15, 1997)

While the youngsters are rising, the veterans are staying around longer, and producing noteworthy seasons into their thirties. 30-year old Angelique Kerber won slam title #3 (she's three-quarters of the way to a Career Slam) and ended as the second-ranked player on tour. 37-year old Serena Williams (#16) reached two slam finals, and now 30-year old Julia Goerges was a first-time slam semifinalist at Wimbledon.

33-year old Svetlana Kuznetsova (Washington) was the oldest singles champion of '18, with (then) 36-year old Serena Williams (WI/US) the most senior finalist. In all, seven titles were won by players age 30+, though none were claimed by a Williams or Sharapova.

Nineteen thirtysomethings finished in the Top 100 for the second straight year, with ten more finishing with rankings between #101-200, including 34-year old former world #2 and slam finalist Vera Zvonareva, who finished with her best ranking (#123) since 2012. Francesca Schiavone spent much of the first four months of 2018 ranked inside the Top 100, before gearing down and eventually announcing her retirement in September after playing her final match in July (a Gstaad loss to Sam Stosur, the Aussie she defeated in the final to win her lone slam title at Roland Garros in 2010).

=OLDEST IN...=
Top 10: Angelique Kerber, GER (30)
Top 20: Serena Williams, USA (37)
Top 50: Venus Williams, USA (38)
Top 100: V.Williams
Top 200: V.Williams
Top 300: Patty Schnyder, SUI (39)
Top 400: Schnyder
Top 500: Schnyder

Meanwhile, 30-year old Ekaterina Makarova and 32-year old WD partner Elena Vesnina both reached the doubles #1 position for the first time this year. Twenty-five tour-level WD & MX titles were won by players age 32-and-over, including three from 43-year old Czech Kveta Peschke.

*OLDEST PLAYER - end of '18 season*
[Top 100]
38...Venus Williams, USA (born June 17, 1980)
37...Serena Williams, USA (born September 8, 1981)
34...Samantha Stosur, AUS (born March 30, 1984)
33...Kaia Kanepi, EST (born June 10, 1985)
32...Kirsten Flipkens, BEL (born January 1, 1986)
32...Hsieh Su-Wei, TPE (borN January 4, 1986)
32...Pauline Parmentier, FRA (born January 31, 1986)
32...Barbora Strycova, CZE (born March 28, 1986)
31...Maria Sharapova, RUS (born April 19, 1987)
31...Tatjana Maria, GER (born August 8, 1987)
31...Andrea Petkovic, GER (born September 9, 1987)
31...Monica Niculescu, ROU (born September 25, 1987)
30...Angelique Kerber, GER (born January 18, 1988)
30...Mihaela Buzarnescu, ROU (born May 4, 1988)
30...Ekaterina Makarova, RUS (born June 7, 1988)
30...Johanna Larsson, SWE (born August 17, 1988)
30...Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP (born September 3, 1988)
30...Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK (born October 4, 1988)
30...Julia Goerges, GER (born November 2, 1988)
[#101-200]
34...Vera Zvonareva, RUS (born September 7, 1984)
33...Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS (born June 27, 1985)
32...Varvara Lepchenko, USA (born April 21, 1986)
32...Elena Vesnina, RUS (born August 1, 1986)
32...Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR (born August 8, 1986)
32...Mandy Minella, LUX (born November 22, 1985)
31...Lucie Safarova, CZE (born February 4, 1987)
31...Sara Errani, ITA (born April 29, 1987)
30...Silvia Soler-Espinosa, ESP (born November 19, 1987)
30...Laura Siegemund, GER (born March 4, 1988)
===============================================
Sometimes the Tennis Gods like to mess with people...

Aleksandra Krunic, SRB: The Bracelet won her first career tour singles title at Rosmalen, reached a career high of #39 and doubled her career Top 10 win total to four. But her season-ending ranking actually fell from #55 to #57.

.@KrunicAlex wins her first WTA title at @LibemaOpen!

Outlasts Flipkens, 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-1! pic.twitter.com/XoxLHItdKw

— WTA (@WTA) June 17, 2018

Genie Bouchard, CAN: the Canadian seemed to have a more consistent return to something close to *relevancy* in '18. She reached a pair of tour-level SF and a QF, and was a Fed Cup star once again after quite a few years of disappointing results when representing Canada or playing on home soil. But her season-ending ranking actually *fell* from #81 to #89, her worst finish since 2012.

Caroline Wozniacki, DEN: At this time last year, the Dane was still without a slam title and hadn't been ranked #1 since 2012. In 2018, she won the Australian Open and spent four weeks at #1, ending a record 312-week drought (breaking Serena's 265-week gap between #1 rankings from 2003-08). But her ranking remained static, as she posted her second straight #3 finish.

Alize Cornet, FRA: the Pastry won her first title in two and a half years at Gstaad and recorded her biggest win (#4 Kerber in Montreal) since 2015, but her ranking fell from #38 to #44 over the past year.


And sometimes players get the chance to mess with the Tennis Gods...

Madison Keys, USA: in 2017, Keys won a title in Stanford and reached her maiden slam final at Flushing Meadows. This year, with injuries once again holding her back, she failed to reach a singles final. Naturally, her season-ending ranking rose from #19 to #17.

Timea Babos, HUN: the Hungarian won a singles title in Taiwan and had the biggest single match win of her career (#9 Vandeweghe/AO), but she saw her ranking fall for a second straight season. She was #26 in '16, #57 in '17 and now #61 in '18. But this was still her "best" year, largely because of her doubles success. She won the Australian Open and WTA Finals WD titles with Kristina Mladenovic, and reached the U.S. Open final. She also played in the AO MX championship. She was the doubles #1 for thirteen weeks, and had a career-best finish of #3.

View this post on Instagram

Officially world number 1 in doubles!???????? @mygoldcoach #unreal #amazing #happy

A post shared by timeababos (@timeababos) on Jul 16, 2018 at 1:09pm PDT

===============================================
There are still two full sets of sisters in the 2018 Top 100. In all, nine players with tennis playing siblings are present, one more than a year ago. Seven of the sisters are repeats from 2017, with Kateryna Bondarenko (#132), Arina Rodionova (#168) and Naomi Broady (#199) having fallen out.

The Sisters Top 10:

#5 Naomi Osaka, JPN (Mari)
#8 Karolina Pliskova, CZE (Kristyna)
#16 Serena Williams, USA (Venus)
#28 Hsieh Su-wei, TPE (Shu-Ying)
#40 Venus Williams, USA (Serena)
#43 Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS (Hana)
#75 Aga Radwanska, POL (Urszula)
#77 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, SVK (Kristina)
#97 Kristyna Pliskova, CZE (Karolina)
#115 Veronika Kudermetova, RUS (Polina)

The rest in the Top 300:

#126 Julia Glushko, ISR (Lina)
#128 Caroline Dolehide, USA (Courtney)
#132 Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR (Alona)
#168 Arina Rodionova, AUS (Anastasia)
#197 Lu Jia-jing, CHN (Jia-Xiang)
#199 Naomi Broady, GBR (Liam-ATP)
#224 Frankie Abanda, CAN (Elisabeth)
#265 Kristina Kucova, SVK (Zuzana)
#276 Olga Ianchuk, UKR (Elizaveta)
#277 Peangtarn Plipuech, THA (Plobrung)

===============================================
STAT-COLLECTING "FIND," YEAR 2: while pulling together all of the numbers for this post a year ago, I happened upon one of those tennis names that just makes you smile, and I begged the Tennis Gods to bring her a little success. Her name was Eliessa Vanlangendonck.


It set off a year-long "Where In the World is Eliessa Vanlangendonck?" watch.


The 21-year old Belgian Waffle was ranked #723 in singles in '17, and #1030 in doubles, having reached five ITF singles semis in her career, and having lost in her lone WD final at the challenger level. The modest Please-Tennis-Gods goal for 2018 was her maiden pro title and breaking into the singles Top 700 for the first time.

Well, after a long season filled with near-misses (0-4 in singles SF), and 0-4 in doubles finals, Vanlangendonck finally got her first pro title in the final ranking week of the season, winning the $15K Monastir, Turkey challenger title with Tamara Curovic. She finished at a career-best #622 in singles (achieved on November 5) and #629 in doubles (achieved on October 29). And she's still playing on the challenger level this month, so things could get even better!

As of now, the next goal is, of course, a first singles final (and title) and, who knows, maybe even a Top 500 ranking by this time next year.

Keep it up, Eliessa!
===============================================
Of course, there's always SOMEONE with her nose pressed up against the Top 100 glass, finishing #101. In 2018, it's Heather Watson.

The 26-year old Brit reached a semifinal in Hobart in January, but then suffered through a terrible stretch. Her losing streak reached ten matches, and she slipped from her 2017 #74 finish into the #130's in July. But she rebounded late in the summer, reaching a $100K final and tour-level semi at Quebec City. She was back up to #89 in October, and at #99 with one ranking week left to play. But she slipped two spots in the final week, ending at #101, her first non-Top 100 season since 2013, and just her second since 2010.

View this post on Instagram

Poison ivy

A post shared by Heather Watson (@heatherwatson92) on Oct 28, 2018 at 8:13am PDT

Last year's #101, Kurumi Nara, couldn't stop her slide this year after seeing her Top 100 season streak (2013-16) end in 2017. The 26-year old reached a $25K final in February, and won an $80K challenger in May (her first WS title since '14), but went through a ten-match losing streak this summer/fall. Her ranking slipped 60+ spots after the U.S. Open (she'd upset Kuznetsova in the 2nd Round in '17) to #161 in October, and she ultimately finished at #167.

*#101 FINISHES*
2011: Stephanie Foretz-Gacon, FRA
2012: Stephanie Foretz-Gacon, FRA
2013: Mariana Duque, COL
2014: Aleksandra Krunic, SRB
2015: Kiki Bertens, NED
2016: Donna Vekic, CRO
2017: Kurumi Nara, JPN
2018: Heather Watson, GBR

This year's Kontaveit/Wang situation has shown the call for a few other layers of "just-missed-it" lists. Here are recent players who came up one spot short of Top 10 and Top 20 seasons:

*#11 FINISHES*
2005: Serena Williams, USA
2006: Dinara Safina, RUS
2007: Elena Dementieva, RUS
2008: Nadia Petrova, RUS
2009: Marion Bartoli, FRA
2010: Li Na, CHN
2011: Francesca Schiavone, ITA
2012: Marion Bartoli, FRA
2013: Simona Halep, ROU
2014: Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
2015: Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2016: Petra Kvitova, CZE
2017: Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2018: Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
*#21 FINISHES*
2005: Anna-Lena Groenefeld, GER
2006: Li Na, CHN
2007: Sybille Bammer, AUT
2008: Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
2009: Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2010: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
2011: Julia Goerges, GER
2012: Varvara Lepchenko, USA
2013: Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2014: Garbine Muguruza, ESP
2015: Jelena Jankovic, SRB
2016: Samantha Stosur, AUS
2017: Angelique Kerber, GER
2018: Anett Kontaveit, EST



[based on November 5 end-of-season 2018 WTA rankings]
*TOP 20+1 BY AGE*
37...Serena Williams (#16)
30...Angelique Kerber (#2)
30...Julia Goerges (#14)
28...Petra Kvitova (#7)
28...Anastasija Sevastova (#12)
28...Caroline Wozniacki (#3)
27...Simona Halep (#1)
26...Kiki Bertens (#9)
26...Karolina Pliskova (#8)
26...Wang Qiang (#20)
25...Sloane Stephens (#6)
25...Garbine Muguruza (#18)
25...Caroline Garcia (#19)
24...Elina Svitolina (#4)
23...Madison Keys (#17)
22...Elise Mertens (#13)
22...Anett Kontaveit (#21)
22...Ash Barty (#15)
21...Dasha Kasatkina (#10)
21...Naomi Osaka (#5)
20...Aryna Sabalenka (#11)
*TOP 20+1 BY NATION*
3...USA (Stephens, Keys, S.Williams)
2...CZE (Kvitova, Ka.Pliskova)
2...GER (Goerges, Kerber)
1...AUS (Barty)
1...BEL (Mertens)
1...BLR (Sabalenka)
1...CHN (Q.Wang)
1...DEN (Wozniacki)
1...ESP (Muguruza)
1...EST (Kontaveit)
1...FRA (Garcia)
1...JPN (Osaka)
1...LAT (Sevastova)
1...NED (Bertens)
1...ROU (Halep)
1...RUS (Kasatkina)
1...UKR (Svitolina)

*TOP 100 FACTS*
=HIGHEST-RANKED PLAYER WITHOUT A CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLE=
2007 Victoria Azarenka, BLR - won first title in 2009
2008 Victoria Azarenka, BLR - 2009
2009 Alla Kudryavtseva, RUS - 2010
2010 Dominika Cibulkova, SVK - 2011
2011 Peng Shuai, CHN - 2016
2012 Varvara Lepchenko, USA
2013 Sloane Stephens, USA - 2015
2014 Peng Shuai, CHN - 2016
2015 Kristina Mladenovic, FRA - 2017
2016 Dasha Gavrilova, AUS - 2017
2017 Wang Qiang, CHN - 2018
2018 Aliaksandra Sasnovich, BLR
-----------------------------
*TOP 60 PLAYERS WITHOUT WTA SINGLES TITLES*
#30 Aliaksandra Sasnovich, BLR
#32 Petra Martic, CRO
#36 Danielle Collins, USA*
#41 Maria Sakkari, GRE
#43 Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS
#45 Yulia Putintseva, KAZ
#46 Zheng Saisai, CHN
#52 Sonya Kenin, USA*
#55 Rebecca Peterson, SWE*
#56 Viktoria Kuzmova, SVK*
-
*-also no tour-level finals
-----------------------------
*PLAYERS RISING INTO THE TOP 100*
2018 newbies: 26 (since end of '17 season - November 6, 2017)
2017 newbies: 27
2016 newbies: 27
2015 newbies: 29
2014 newbies: 24
2013 newbies: 27
2012 newbies: 29
2011 newbies: 31
2010 newbies: 23
2009 newbies: 28
2008 newbies: 34
2007 newbies: 33
-----------------------------
TOP 100 NEWBIES ('17 rank):
(* - first career Top 100 season)
#36 Danielle Collins, USA (#167)*
#37 Belinda Bencic, SUI (#165)
#43 Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS (#151)
#51 Victoria Azarenka, BLR (#208)
#52 Sonya Kenin, USA (#113)*
#55 Rebecca Peterson, SWE (#196)*
#56 Viktoria Kuzmova, SVK (#132)*
#58 Kaia Kanepi, EST (#107)
#60 Dayana Yastremska, UKR (#189)*
#65 Vera Lapko, BLR (#131)*
#68 Bernarda Pera, USA (#127)*
#69 Dalila Jakupovic, SLO (#239)*
#70 Tamara Zidansek, SLO (#180)*
#71 Ana Bogdan, ROU (#115)*
#73 Wang Yafan, CHN (#168)*
#74 Taylor Townsend, USA (#105)*
#77 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, SVK (#133)
#80 Luksika Kumkhum, THA (#124)
#82 Polona Hercog, SLO (#102)
#85 Stefanie Voegele, SUI (#152)
#92 Viktorija Golubic, SUI (#128)
#94 Anastasia Potapova, RUS (#237)*
#95 Amanda Anisimova, USA (#192)*
#96 Sachia Vickery, USA (#116)*
#98 Anna Blinkova, RUS (#136)*
#100 Katie Boulter, GBR (#199)*
-----------------------------
*SMALLEST 2017-to-2018 RANKING CHANGES IN TOP 100*
0...Simona Halep (#1 to #1)
0...Caroline Wozniacki (#3 to #3)
0...Julia Goerges (#14 to #14)
0...Marketa Vondrousova (#67 to #67)
0...Lara Arruabarrena (#84 to #84)
+1...Dominika Cibulkova (#26 to #25)
+1...Zhang Shuai (#36 to #35)
+2...Elina Svitolina (#6 to #4)
+2...Ash Barty (#17 to #15)
+2...Madison Keys (#19 to #17)
-2...Aleksandra Krunic (#55 to #57)
-----------------------------
*TOP 100 BY NATION*
(w/ # in 2017)
12...United States (13)
8...Russia (9)
6...Czech Republic (7)
6...Romania (5)
5...Germany (7)
4...Australia (3)
4...Belarus (2)
4...China (5)
4...France (5)
4...Slovakia (2)
4...Spain (4)
4...Ukraine (4)
3...Belgium (3)
3...Slovenia (0)
3...Switzerland (1)
2...Croatia (5)
2...Estonia (1)
2...Great Britain (2)
2...Kazakhstan (2)
2...Latvia (2)
2...Poland (2)
2...Sweden (1)
1...Canada (1)
1...Denmark (1)
1...Greece (1)
1...Hungary (1)
1...Italy (2)
1...Japan (2)
1...Netherlands (1)
1...Puerto Rico (1)
1...Serbia (1)
1...Taiwan (1)
1...Thailand (0)
1...Tunisia (1)
--
2017 TOP 100, NONE in 2018: Brazil (1), Paraguay (1)
===============================================
*RANKINGS OF 2018 ITF SINGLES TITLE LEADERS*
(by titles as of November 5, 2018)
8 titles - #294 Fernanda Brito, CHI
5 titles - #186 Rebecca Marino, CAN
5 titles - #232 Andreea Amalia Rosca, ROU
===============================================




*REGIONAL RANKINGS*
==EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA + BALTIC REGION==
#1 Simona Halep, ROU
#4 Elina Svitolina, UKR
#11 Aryna Sabalenka, BLR
#12 Anastasija Sevastova, LAT
#21 Anett Kontaveit, EST
#22 Alona Ostapenko, LAT
#24 Mihaela Buzarnescu, ROU
#27 Lesia Tsurenko, UKR
#30 Aliaksandra Sasnovich, BLR
#51 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
#58 Kaia Kanepi, EST
#60 Dayana Yastremska, UKR
=RUSSIA=
#10 Dasha Kasatkina
#29 Maria Sharapova
#42 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
#59 Ekaterina Makarova
#88 Evgeniya Rodina
#93 Ekaterina Alexandrova
#94 Anastasia Potapova
#98 Anna Blinkova
#105 Margarita Gasparyan
#107 Svetlana Kuznetsova
[BALTIC REGION]
#12 Anastasija Sevastova, LAT
#21 Anett Kontaveit, EST
#22 Alona Ostapenko, LAT
#58 Kaia Kanepi, EST
#338 Diana Marcinkevica, LAT
#569 Daniela Vismane, LAT
#958 Alise Cernecka, LAT
#974 Joana Eidukonyte, LTU

==WESTERN EUROPE + SCANDINAVIA==
#2 Angelique Kerber, GER
#3 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
#7 Petra Kvitova, CZE
#8 Karolina Pliskova, CZE
#9 Kiki Bertens, NED
#13 Elise Mertens, BEL
#14 Julia Goerges, GER
#18 Garbine Muguruza, ESP
#19 Caroline Garcia, FRA
#23 Carla Suarez Navarro, ESP
#25 Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
#26 Camila Giorgi, ITA
[SCANDINAVIA]
#3 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
#55 Rebecca Peterson, SWE
#76 Johanna Larsson, SWE
#274 Ulrikke Eikeri, NOR
#419 Mirjam Bjorklund, SWE
#511 Anastasia Kulikova, FIN
#535 Cornelia Lister, SWE
#561 Melanie Stokke, NOR
#589 Malene Helgo, NOR

==ASIA/PACIFIC & AUSTRALIA + CHINA==
#5 Naomi Osaka, JPN
#15 Ash Barty, AUS
#28 Hsieh Su-Wei, TPE
#38 Dasha Gavrilova, AUS
#43 Ajla Tomljanovic, AUS
#45 Yulia Putintseva, KAZ
#72 Samantha Stosur, AUS
#80 Luksika Kumkhum, THA
#91 Zarina Diyas, KAZ
#119 Nao Hibino, JPN
#122 Sofia Shapatava, UZB
==CHINA==
#20 Wang Qiang
#35 Zhang Shuai
#46 Zheng Saisai
#73 Wang Yafan
#114 Zhu Lin
#135 Liu Fangzhou
#140 Duan Yingying
#162 Han Xinyun
#197 Lu Jia-jing
#200 Wang Xiyu
[AUSTRALIA]
#15 Ash Barty
#38 Dasha Gavrilova
#43 Ajla Tomljanovic
#72 Samantha Stosur
#158 Priscilla Hon
#168 Arina Rodionova
#181 Ellen Perez
#202 Jamie Fourlis
#211 Olivia Rogowska
#215 Zoe Hives
#225 Astra Sharma
#230 Lizetta Cabrera
#249 Destanee Aiava

==AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST & MEDITERRANEAN==
#41 Maria Sakkari, GRE
#62 Ons Jabeur, TUN
#126 Julia Glushko, ISR
#165 Valentini Grammatikopoulou, GRE
#173 Basak Eraydin, TUR
#240 Pemra Ozgen, TUR
#253 Deniz Khazaniuk, ISR
#268 Cagla Buyukakcay, TUR
#358 Berfu Cengiz, TUR
#368 Chanel Simmonds, RSA
#396 Sandra Samir, EGY
#424 Lina Gjorcheska, MKD
#449 Elena Kordolaimi, GRE
#477 Despina Papamichail, GRE
#501 Ayla Aksu, TUR
#526 Ipek Soylu, TUR

==SOUTH AMERICA + CENTRAL AMERICA==
#112 Mariana Duque Marino, COL
#146 Veronica Cepede Royg, PAR
#184 Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
#264 Paula Ormaechea, ARG
#294 Fernanda Brito, CHI
#295 Daniela Seguel, CHI
#320 Nadia Podoroska, ARG
#321 Victoria Bosio, ARG
#328 Andrea Gamiz, VEN
#356 Catalina Pella, ARG
#359 Carolina Meligeni Alves, BRA
#362 Montserrat Gonzalez, PAR
#388 Gabriela Ce, BRA
[CENTRAL AMERICA]
#688 Andrea Weedon, Guatemala
#850 Melissa Morales, Guatemala

==NORTH AMERICA/ATLANTIC & UNITED STATES==
[UNITED STATES]
#6 Sloane Stephens
#16 Serena Williams
#17 Madison Keys
#36 Danielle Collins
#40 Venus Williams
#52 Sonya Kenin
#63 Alison Riske
#68 Bernarda Pera
#74 Taylor Townsend
#90 Madison Brengle
#95 Amanda Anisimova
#96 Sachia Vickery
#104 CoCo Vandeweghe
[non-USA]
#53 Monica Puig, PUR
#89 Genie Bouchard, CAN
#178 Bianca Andreescu, CAN
#186 Rebecca Marino, CAN
#210 Carol Zhao, CAN
#219 Katherine Sebov, CAN
#224 Franckie Abanda, CAN
#258 Renata Zarazua, MEX
#312 Victoria Rodriguez, MEX
#365 Ana Sofia Sanchez, MEX
#429 Marcela Zacarias, MEX
#461 Gaby Dabrowski, CAN
#487 Leylah Annie Fernandez, CAN
#536 Giuliana Olmos, MEX

==NATION WATCH==
[ROMANIA]
#1 Simona Halep
#24 Mihaela Buzarnescu
#66 Irina-Camelia Begu
#71 Ana Bogdan
#78 Monica Niculescu
#86 Sorana Cirstea
#141 Irina Bara
#148 Alexandra Dulgheru
#232 Andreea Amalia Rosca
#242 Raluca Georgiana ?erban
#243 Gabriela Ruse
[CZECH REPUBLIC]
#7 Petra Kvitova
#8 Karolina Pliskova
#31 Katerina Siniakova
#33 Barbora Strycova
#67 Marketa Vondrousova
#97 Kristyna Pliskova
#106 Lucie Safarova
#136 Tereza Smitkova
#142 Marie Bouzkova
#145 Karolina Muchova
#160 Denisa Allertova
[UKRAINE]
#4 Elina Svitolina
#27 Lesia Tsurenko
#60 Dayana Yastremska
#99 Kateryna Kozlova
#110 Anhelina Kalinina
#118 Marta Kostyuk
#132 Kateyrna Bondarenko
#193 Katarina Zavatska
[GREAT BRITAIN]
#39 Johanna Konta
#100 Katie Boulter
#101 Heather Watson
#153 Harriet Dart
#164 Gabriella Taylor
#176 Katie Swan
#199 Naomi Broady
#237 Katy Dunne
#376 Maia Lumsden
#399 Francesca Jones
#411 Jodie Burrage
#435 Laura Robson
[SLOVENIA]
#69 Dalina Jakupovic
#70 Tamara Zidansek
#82 Polona Hercog
#174 Kaja Juvan
#347 Nastja Kolar
#364 Nina Potocnik
[SERBIA]
#57 Aleksandra Krunic
#103 Olga Danilovic
#185 Ivana Jorovic
#205 Dejana Radanovic
#244 Nina Stojanovic
#291 Jovana Jaksic
[INDIA]
#192 Ankita Raina
#198 Karman Thandi
#287 Pranjala Yadlapalli
#366 Rutuja Bhosale
#577 Zeel Desai
[ITALY]
#26 Camila Giorgi
#108 Sara Errani
#187 Martina Di Giuseppe
#190 Jasmine Paolini
#195 Martina Trevisan




*BIGGEST RISES IN THE RANKINGS*
=end of '17 to end of '18 season=
[in 2018 Top 25]
+67...Arnya Sabalenka (#78 to #11)
+63...Naomi Osaka (#68 to #5)
+48...Mihaela Buzarnescu (#72 to #24)
+25...Wang Qiang (#45 to #20)
+22...Petra Kvitova (#29 to #7)
+22...Kiki Bertnes (#31 to #9)
+22...Elise Mertens (#35 to #13)
+19...Angelique Kerber (#21 to #2)
+17...Carla Suarez Navarro (#40 to #23)
+14...Dasha Kasatkina (#24 to #10)
+13...Anett Kontaveit (#34 to #21)
[2018 Top 26-50]
+131...Danielle Collins (#167 to #36)
+128...Belinda Bencic (#165 to #37)
+108...Ajla Tomljanovic (#151 to #43)
+68...Hsieh Su-wei (#96 to #28)
+57...Aliaksandra Sasnovich (#87 to #30)
+57...Petra Martic (#89 to #32)
+53...Camila Giorgi (#79 to #26)
+48...Zheng Saisai (#94 to #46)
+31...Maria Sharapova (#60 to #29)
+28...Kirsten Flipkens (#76 to #48)
+25...Alison Van Uytvanck (#75 to #50)
+22...Donna Vekic (#56 to #34)
[2018 Top 51-100]
+170...Dalina Jakupovic (#239 to #69)
+157...Victoria Azarenka (#208 to #51)
+143...Anastasia Potapova (#237 to #94)
+141...Rebecca Peterson (#196 to #55)
+129...Dayana Yastremska (#189 to #60)
+110...Tamara Zidansek (#180 to #70)
+99...Katie Boulter (#199 to #100)
+97...Amanda Anisimova (#192 to #95)
+95...Wang Yafan (#168 to #73)
+76...Viktoria Kuzmova (#132 to #56)
+67...Stefanie Voegele (#152 to #85)
+66...Vera Lapko (#131 to #65)
+61...Sonya Kenin (#113 to #52)
+59...Bernarda Pera (#127 to #68)
+56...Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (#133 to #77)


*BIGGEST FALLS IN THE RANKINGS*
=end of '17 to end of '18 season=
[2017 Top 25]
-119...Elena Vesnina (#18 to #137)
-95...Svetlana Kuznetsova (#12 to #107)
-94...CoCo Vandeweghe (#10 to #104)
-35...Venus Williams (#5 to #40)
-33...Kristina Mladenovic (#11 to #44)
-30...Johanna Konta (#9 to #39)
-29...Magdalena Rybarikova (#20 to #49)
-27...Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (#15 to #42)
-16...Garbine Muguruza (#2 to #18)
-15...Alona Ostapenko (#7 to #22)
-13...Dasha Gavrilova (#25 to #38)
[2017 Top 26-50]
-374...Ana Konjuh (#44 to #418)
-311...Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (#32 to #343)
-271...Peng Shuai (#27 to #298)
-202...Lauren Davis (#50 to #252)
-202...Timea Bacsinszky (#39 to #241)
-83...CiCi Bellis (#47 to #130)
-76...Lucie Safarova (#30 to #106)
-49...Sorana Cirstea (#37 to #86)
-47...Aga Radwanska (#28 to #75)
-33...Mona Barthel (#48 to #81)
-33...Tatjana Maria (#46 to #79)
[2017 Top 51-100]
-721...Shelby Rogers (#59 to #780)
-234...Oceane Dodin (#85 to #319)
-121...Carina Witthoeft (#51 to #172)
-119...Beatriz Haddad Maia (#65 to #184)
-108...Jana Fett (#98 to #206)
-92...Christina McHale (#63 to #155)
-80...Natalia Vikhlyantseva (#54 to #134)
-69...Veronica Cepede Royg (#77 to #146)
-67...Varvara Lepchenko (#62 to #129)
-52...Jennifer Brady (#64 to #116)
-48...Laura Siegemund (#69 to #117)
-45...Duan Yingying (#95 to #140)
-39...Kateryna Bondarenko (#93 to #132)
retired...Francesca Schiavone (#90 to NR)

===============================================

*DOUBLES TOP 100*
(w/ # in 2017)
12..United States (8)
10..Russia (9)
7...Australia (8)
7...China (9)
7...Czech Republic (9)
6...Romania (3)
5...Japan (5)
5...Spain (4)
4...Netherlands (3)
3...Belarus (1)
3...Germany (3)
3...Great Britain (3)
3...Slovenia (3)
3...Taiwan (5)
3...Ukraine (4)
2...Belgium (2)
2...Hungary (1)
2...Latvia (2)
2...Serbia (2)
2...Switzerland (3)
1...Canada (1)
1...Chile (0)
1...Croatia (2)
1...France (2)
1...Georgia (1)
1...Kazakhstan (1)
1...Mexico (0)
1...Poland (1)
1...Sweden (1)
--
2017 TOP 100, NONE in 2018: Argentina(1), India(1), Luxembourg (1), Turkey (1)

*DOUBLES TOP 20*
[by nation]
5...CZE (#1 Krejcikova, #1 Siniakova, #5 Strycova, #9 S.-Hlavackova, #13 Peschke)
2...RUS (#6 Makarova, #16 Vesnina)
2...USA (#14 Vandeweghe, #15 Melichar)
1...AUS (#7 Barty)
1...BEL (#11 Mertens)
1...CAN (#10 Dabrowski)
1...CHN (#12 Xu)
1...ESP (#18 Martinez-Sanchez)
1...FRA (#4 Mladenovic)
1...HUN (#3 Babos)
1...JPN (#20 Ninomiya)
1...NED (#8 Schuurs)
1...SLO (#18 Klepac)
1...TPE (#17 S.Hsieh)
[ages]
43...Peschke
36...Martinez-Sanchez
32...S.Hsieh,Klepac,Strycova,Vesnina,S.-Hlavackova
30...Makarova,Xu
26...Vandeweghe,Dabrowski
25...Babos,Mladenovic,Melichar,Schuurs
24...Ninomiya
22...Mertens,Krejcikova,Barty,Siniakova

*SINGLES & DOUBLES*
(singles/doubles ranks)
=TOP 20 IN BOTH (2)=
Elise Mertens (#13 singles, #11 doubles)
Ash Barty (#15 singles, #7 doubles)
=TOP 50 IN BOTH (+9)=
Kiki Bertens (#9 singles, #43 doubles)
Alona Ostapenko (#22 singles, #38 doubles)
Mihaela Buzarnescu (#24 singles, #24 doubles)
Hsieh Su-wei (#28 singles, #17 doubles)
Katerina Siniakova (#31 singles, #1 doubles)
Barbora Strycova (#33 singles, #5 doubles)
Zhang Shuai (#35 singles, #33 doubles)
Kristina Mladenovic (#44 singles, #3 doubles)
Kirsten Flipkens (#48 singles, #34 doubles)

*NATIONS WITH TOP 100 DOUBLES PLAYER, BUT NONE IN SINGLES*
CHILE (1): #78 Alexa Guarachi
GEORGIA (1): #76 Oksana Kalashnikova
MEXICO (1): #85 Giuliana Olmos
[high-ranking singles player]
CHILE: #294 Fernanda Brito
GEORGIA: #154 Ekaterine Gorgodze
MEXICO: #258 Renata Zarazua


So... whew!

Yeah, yeah. I know there's quite a bit there. You didn't have to read it ALL, but now at least you know.

Anyway, hopefully, I didn't flub up any numbers or other notes after all that transcribing.

(crossing fingers)


More 2018 Backspin Awards are coming soon!


All for now.