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What a fortnight it has been on the WTA Tour. Dreams have been made for some, while catastrophes struck for others. Over the last two weeks, a total of three WTA tournaments have contributed to the rankings adjustments realized today. To clarify, these tournaments included Roland Garros, as well as two 125-level events played in Spain and Croatia. Since these three tournaments were all concluded on June 11th, this means that the ‘clay court swing’ is almost at its end.
There is just one more tournament to be played on clay before the WTA Tour moves to grass. Of course, this is the part of the season when various grass court events are played around Europe, with things concluding at Wimbledon. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Given that plenty of points were up for grabs over the last two weeks, we’ve seen some phenomenal changes in the WTA rankings.
My intention here is to make you aware of the biggest movements both up and down the rankings ladder. So if you want to know exactly what’s changed as of June 12th, keep reading.
WTA Rankings Updates – Week Commencing June 12th
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Although the biggest news of the previous fortnight is Iga Swiatek claiming her 3rd French Open title, this isn’t the biggest story when it comes to rankings adjustments. In fact, Swiatek merely retained the number 1 ranking by winning Roland Garros. So when it comes to the more intriguing and more dynamic ranking adjustments, you’ve got to look at other players that have competed throughout this rankings period.
Like I do each time the WTA rankings are updated, I’ve covered the top gainers first and foremost. I’ve then backed this up by discussing the players who have slid furthest down the ladder. And on that note, let’s now jump right into the top gainers for this rankings period.
The Week’s Biggest Climbers – Sorribes Tormo, Avanesyan, Muchova, and Svitolina
If you keep the focus on the WTA top 100, some of the changes realized for the previous fortnight have been nothing short of miraculous for certain players. Kicking things off with the top climber of the week, this title belongs to Elina Svitolina by quite some distance. In fact, this is the biggest rankings jump I have seen for the entire 2023 season. After coming back to the tour after having her first child, Svitolina managed to reach the quarter-finals of Roland Garros. This was a fairytale run that nobody was expecting, and in doing so, she has jumped 119 spots up the rankings – truly incredible.
Yet this fortnight doesn’t purely belong to Svitolina. Regarding the other players, Muchova is another player who had a fantastic run in Roland Garros. She reached the final and very nearly claimed the title in what was a thrilling three-set contest against Iga Swiatek. While she fell just short, she picked up a ton of points, which has seen Muchova jump 27 spots to reach her new ranking of 16 in the world. And besides Muchova, it’s also been a fantastic fortnight for Sorribes Tormo and Avanesyan.
Sorribes Tormo reached the 4th round of Roland Garros after getting into the main draw thanks to a protected ranking. Ultimately, she lost one of the most intriguing matches of Roland Garros to the Brazilian, Haddad Maia. But in doing so, she climbed 50 spots to reach a new position of 82 in the world. Amazingly, this was narrowly eclipsed by Elina Avanesyan, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser. She managed to reach the 4th round as a lucky loser, and jumped 52 places up the rankings as a result. This takes her to 80 in the WTA rankings.
The Week’s Biggest Fallers – Trevisan, Fernandez, and Kanepi
Everybody wants to find themselves in the green when it comes to WTA rankings updates. But that’s just not possible, more so in tennis than in other sports. Where there are winners, in turn, there have to be losers. And the three names mentioned above have experienced a pretty rough ride over the last fortnight. Starting with the player that has dropped by the most positions, unfortunately, this unwanted title goes to Leylah Fernandez. The young Canadian fell at the first hurdle in Roland Garros, and this has seen her slide down the ladder by 46 spots to number 95 in the world.
Following closely, Martina Trevisan also finds herself in the red this week. She was actually the 26th seed at the French Open, yet she was taken out in the first round by Elina Svitolina. Of course, this resulted in a huge loss of points, and as a consequence, she dropped 39 places down to 63 in the rankings. And finally, it was a pretty rough fortnight for Kanepi too. While she is still working her way back into the tour after being injured, she lost out to Madison Keys in round one. Because of this, Kaia Kanepi has dropped 22 places, which takes her all the way down to 96 in the world.
Obviously, both Kanepi and Fernandez are now facing a real risk of dropping out of the top 100 going into the grass court swing. This would hurt their chances of getting into the main draw of Wimbledon, which is far from ideal.
Top Rankings Stories – Haddad Maia Enters Top 10
There are all kinds of stories that I could talk about today. Of course, Swiatek claiming her 3rd French Open and 4th slam is huge. The fairytale of Svitolina coming back to reach the quarters is enormous, and there are several others I could discuss too. However, of them all, I feel that Haddad Maia deserves the spotlight this week for her achievements at Roland Garros. For those who didn’t follow her journey, she reached the semi-finals of the French Open before losing out in a tight contest to Iga Swiatek.
Amazingly, Haddad Maia became the very first Brazilian woman in 55 years to make it as far as the semi-finals of a slam. This really is remarkable both for herself and for her country. And not only did she impact history with this achievement, but she has managed to reach her highest ranking ever by cracking the top 10. So for me, this is the biggest story that has emerged over the last fortnight.
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