Seven things to know about the WTA’s new ranking system adjustments

The WTA announced the latest revisions to its ranking system on Thursday, and they’ll start to take effect on Monday, April 5, 2021—the rankings that follow the WTA 1000 event in Miami.

Questions have been raised recently about how long players should be hanging onto ranking points at this point. While some players will hang onto points from 2019 deep into the 2021 season, would it be fair for someone who won Roland Garros in October 2020 to lose those points this June?

The revisions fulfill that need for fairness with the ever-changing tournament calendar.

Here are seven things to know about the WTA’s newly-revised ranking system:

Points from 2019 events that weren’t played in 2020 but scheduled in 2021 will drop off after 104 weeks. That includes Miami, meaning Ashleigh Barty—who won the WTA 1000 event in 2019—will drop those 1,000 points on Monday, April 5, and replace them with her 2021 result. This category also includes a bulk of the upcoming clay-court season (Charleston and Madrid, for example).

Points from 2019 events that weren’t played in 2020 and not scheduled in 2021 will drop off when the event is next scheduled. One of the underlying principles for the new revisions is that players should have the opportunity to defend points that are dropping, which is exemplified here. Example: players will hang onto the points they earned at Indian Wells in 2019 until further notice.

Points from 2019 events that were played in 2020 within four weeks of the same dates will drop off after 104 weeks. This applies mainly to the first wave of WTA events held after the restart last August. Example: Madison Keys' points for winning Cincinnati in 2019 will drop off this summer.

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Points from 2019 events that were played in 2020 but rescheduled outside four weeks of the same dates will drop off after 104 weeks. This applies to Rome, Istanbul, Strasbourg and the French Open, which were all held in September and October last year. Example: Karolina Pliskova will drop her 2019 champion points from Rome after this year’s event.

Points from those four events in 2020—Rome, Istanbul, Strasbourg and the French Open—can stay on a player’s ranking for up to 52 weeks. Example: Iga Swiatek will thus hang onto her 2,000 points from winning Roland Garros last October until this October, even if she doesn’t play there this year.

Points from 2020 events that aren’t being played in 2021 will drop off after 104 weeks. This applies to a few events that were already missed this year, including Brisbane. Example: Pliskova won the WTA 500 event in 2020 and will hang onto her 470 points from that win until it’s held again in 2022.

And finally, when points drop, they drop at 100%. The ATP recently announced that its ranking points would start dropping at 50%, but on the WTA rankings, they all fall off.