This year has seen some unbelievable changes in the women’s game, with Serena Williams coming back after her maternity break and young stars like Osaka emerging to challenge the current set of tennis stars. Rather than seeing one or two players dominate the top spots like we have seen in many previous years, there has been a lot more movement around the rankings this year.
The WTA singles rankings as of 1 October showed the top ten as:
- Simona Halep (Rom)
- Caroline Wozniacki (Den)
- Angelique Kerber (Ger)
- Petra Kvitova (Cze)
- Elina Svitolina (Ukr)
- Naomi Osaka (Jpn)
- Karolina Pliskova (Cze)
- Caroline Garcia (Fra)
- Sloane Stephens (US)
- Julia Goerges (Ger)
Halep is injured and won’t play this year
The announcement from Simona Halep that she has a herniated disc in her back means that she will be unable to play in the fall season this year, leaving the No.1 spot there for the taking.
Last 8 Grand Slams won by 8 different players
The last eight Grand Slam tournaments have been won by a different player each time, which has left the race to the top wide open. The Live WTA Race shows that Naomi Osaka is now in third place and she plays in the quarterfinal of the China Open tomorrow. Kerber has not made it through to the quarterfinal after losing to Zhang, who Osaka now faces.
After a year of exciting tournaments where there have been shock defeats, shock wins and arguments with umpires, 2018 is coming to a close. But that top spot is very much up for grabs, so these fall games will keep the season very interesting right up until the death.
