The BNP Paribas Open came to a close on Sunday and its two weeks caused a few important changes in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, the most notable one being that Justine Henin is once again a ranked player.
Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Henin abruptly quit tennis in May 2008 and became the first player ever to retire while holding world No.1 ranking, however, since the Belgian’s ranking was not protected, she returned to the Tour in January 2010 as an unranked player. Only now, having competed in three tournaments since the comeback, Henin has earned her ranking back. The 27-year-old had reached back-to-back finals at Brisbane and the Australian Open, in Indian Wells she lost in the second round, and is now holding the 33rd spot.
Other significant moves include Caroline Wozniacki’s rise from No.4 to a career-high of No.2 after her appearance in the Indian Wells final. Samantha Stosur was a semifinalist at Indian Wells and the success earned her the most notable rankings rise of her career, as the Australian entered the Top 10 for the first time.
There were also unfortunate significant ranking movers. Vera Zvonareva was last year’s Indian Wells titlist, but this time she lost in the fourth round and fell from No.14 to No.23. Last year’s Indian Wells runner-up Ana Ivanovic was defeated in the second round this year and left the Top 50 for the first time since 2005. The former No.1 Ivanovic fell 30 spots, from No.28 to No.58.
Finally the order has been restored and Justine has a ranking. It’s a shame that Indian Wells did not go as well as expected but at least now she will have a bit of an easier road in the rest of the tournaments. Ana’s fall is really huge. But anyway, it’s not that tragic as it seems. I saw her past matches this season and all of them were pretty tough therefore I think once she has milder competition she should climb back up.
Marine, nice to see someone having such an understanding comment on Ana’s fall. 🙂
After Charleston, Vera has so little to defend, she should do fine.
Ana needs to do something to regain confidence. Once that happens, she, too, should start climbing back up the rankings.
I’m a little nervous about Sam. Perhaps her roland garros run was abit of a fluke, we will see, but if she doesnt go well her ranking will plummet i imagine. I hope she stays focused and plays well on clay season.