explain the rankings

[Jack Romeo]

how do they count the number of tournaments in the rankings? i'm confused because according to the latest WTA rankings, serena williams is ranked 25th with 2000 pts from 9 tournaments. 9 tournaments??? isn't it true that she hasn't played since last wimbledon? and she didn't play any grass court tune-ups so shouldn't she be counting only 1 tournament in computing for her ranking points? on the other hand, a grand slam is worth 2000 points, right? since she won wimbledon last year, she is rightfully credited with her 2000 pts. but why is there seemingly a discrepancy regarding the number of tournaments listed?

 

[GrassCourtFan]

I'm not sure. Maybe they're counting tournaments that she entered and then withdrew from? Those might give her "0 points, entered a tournament" instead of not counting towards the tournament count.

Her point total is correct though, she has exactly 2000, from the one Wimbledon win and that's it.

 

[sarmpas]

Is she returning from injury? If so check up the WTA site for rules about protected rankings.

 

[Jack Romeo]

Is she returning from injury? If so check up the WTA site for rules about protected rankings.

that's one more thing... i know that the men's tour does protected rankings. but i know that the wta does not anymore. because the numerous times that the williams sisters or some other player had been sidelined by injury, they came back with their actual rankings. for example, in 2007, serena came back to the australian open ranked 81st; and in 2005 kim clijsters came into indian wells ranked 140th. in both cases, they ended up winning the tournament. it's weird that they don't do protected rankings in the wta since the whole protected ranking rule was invented by the wta for monica seles in 1995.

currently, serena doesn't really need a protected ranking since she will still be ranked high enough to be seeded at wimbledon; and since wimbledon doesn't strictly follow the rankings in determining seedings, she will still be most probably given a high seeding.

 

[sarmpas]

The WTA site isn't much help.

 

[Rhino]

The WTA site isn't much help.

Yeah they need a "rankings breakdown" section like the atp site has.

I've no idea how she can still be at #25 since the WTA rankings are based on a 52-week, cumulative system.

 

[sarmpas]

Yeah they need a "rankings breakdown" section like the atp site has.

I've no idea how she can still be at #25 since the WTA rankings are based on a 52-week, cumulative system.

It does show events she played on 2010, none are shown for 2011.

You wonder what kind of people developed the website don't you. Did they even ask a fan to critique it? A 'rankings breakdown" is definitely needed.

Find the rankings list
Find your player
click their line in the table for a breakdown

 

[Bryan Swartz]

i know that the wta does not anymore. because the numerous times that the williams sisters or some other player had been sidelined by injury, they came back with their actual rankings. for example, in 2007, serena came back to the australian open ranked 81st; and in 2005 kim clijsters came into indian wells ranked 140th. in both cases, they ended up winning the tournament. it's weird that they don't do protected rankings in the wta since the whole protected ranking rule was invented by the wta for monica seles in 1995.

This isn't how protected rankings work. Protected rankings only allow you entry in an event based on the higher ranking before the injury. They don't allow you to change your actual ranking back to that better one.

I.e., in the case of Clijsters, she would have had to qualify for Indian Wells at rank #140 if not for protected rankings.

 

[Jack Romeo]

This isn't how protected rankings work. Protected rankings only allow you entry in an event based on the higher ranking before the injury. They don't allow you to change your actual ranking back to that better one.

I.e., in the case of Clijsters, she would have had to qualify for Indian Wells at rank #140 if not for protected rankings.

but didn't the women who were injured get into these events because of wildcards, and not because of protected rankings? anyway, the tournaments are only too glad to give these wildcards out to these kinds of players.

i do get what you mean though. players aren't listed under their old rankings when they come back from long layoffs. they used to do this - as what they did when the wta reinstated seles as world no.1 (co-no.1) when she came back in 1995. corollary to this, they also reinstated graf as world no.3 when she came back in 1998 after a long layoff with a knee injury.

 

[Bryan Swartz]

There's a limit to how many times you can use ranking protection. In the ATP it's six or eight, I forget which. So if a player can use a wildcard, they usually wont' use the protected ranking. Del Potro talked a lot about this and what a tough decision it sometimes is earlier this year after the AO.