2024 WTA Rankings Winners & Losers: Aryna Sabalenka No 1, Naomi Osaka +774, Emma Raducanu +243, Ons Jabeur -36
The 2024 WTA Tour season has come to an end and there is a new name at the top of the WTA Rankings with Aryna Sabalenka claiming the year-end No 1 ranking for the first time.
Sabalenka has replaced Iga Swiatek – who finished as the year-end No 1 the previous two campaigns – at the top after winning two Grand Slams and two WTA 1000 titles with the Pole slipping to No 2 in the rankings and Coco Gauff keeping her position at three.
But there has been a lot of movement since the start of the season with several changes behind the top three.
Jasmine Paolini, Zheng Qinwen and Emma Navarro finished in the top 10 this year while Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova, Maria Sakkari and Karolina Muchova suffered big drops this year.
WTA Top 20 on January 1:
1. Iga Swiatek – 9,505 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 9,050
3. Coco Gauff – 6,690
4. Elena Rybakina – 6,366
5. Jessic Pegula – 6,180
6. Ons Jabeur – 4.260
7. Marketa Vondrousova – 4,046
8. Maria Sakkari 3,785
9. Karolina Muchova – 3,650
10. Barbora Krejcikova – 2,945
11. Beatriz Haddad Maia – 2,940
12. Jelena Ostapenko – 2,830
13. Madison Keys – 2,818
14. Zheng Qinwen – 2,770
15. Liudmila Samsonova – 2,760
16. Veronika Kudermetova 2,720
17. Petra Kvitova – 2,715
18. Daria Kasatkina – 2,715
19. Belinda Bencic – 2,572
20. Caroline Garcia – 2,330
Paolini was at No 29 on the WTA Rankings at the start of the year, but has surged to a career-high No 4 following back-to-back runners-up finishes at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Zheng has climbed nine places to No 5 after runs to the Australian Open and WTA Finals final while Navarro was at No 31 in January, but finishes at No 8.
In terms of the other top 20 winners for 2024, Paula Badosa was at No 68 at the beginning of the year and dropped as low as No 140 before her resurgence helped her to finish at No 12.
The 20-year-old Diana Shnaider has enjoyed a fine breakthrough season as she has won four titles to climb from No 97 to No 13 while Anna Kalinskaya rose from No 80 to No 14.
The 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva is the youngest player in the top 20, but her rise has not that big a surprise as she has been tipped for great things for a while now. The Russian has risen 42 places since the start of the year.
Selected Big Winners
Lulu Sun is at No 40 – one place below her career-high of No 39 – and that is incredible for someone who started the season at No 250. The 23-year-old enjoyed a run to the Wimbledon quarter-final and also finished runner-up at the Monterrey Open.
Grand Slam winners Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka enjoyed decent comeback seasons with both finishing the year inside the top 60.
Raducanu missed the second half of the 2023 season as she was recovering from surgery and was at No 301 on January 1, but one semi-final run and a couple of quarter-final appearances see her finish at No 58.
She is one place ahead of former world No 1 Osaka, who missed the 2023 campaign as she was on maternity leave. The four-time major champion started the year without a ranking before moving to No 833 on January 8.
Another former world No 1, Caroline Wozniacki, finishes at No 79 after starting at No 250.
Ajla Tomljanovic is another player who has struggled with injury this year and she was at No 292 in January, but sits at No 85 while Sonay Kartal finishes inside the top 100 after surging from No 252 to No 89.
Selected Big Losers
Petra Martic was at No 41 at the end of 2023, but now sits at No 123 while Sofia Kenin has slumped from No 37 to No 86. Rising star Linda Fruhvirtova peaked at No 49 last year and finished the campaign at 88, but she now sits at No 201.
American Lauren Davis was at No 72 on January 1, but she has slumped to No 309.
