WTA rankings: Biggest shifts in the top 20 in 2019

The final WTA rankings were released earlier this week and here's a look at the massive gains and drops and the rise of youngsters.

Players posing with the 2019 WTA Finals trophy in Shenzhen, China.

Australia's Ashleigh Barty defeated current world No. 6 Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China, on November 3 to win her maiden season-ending championship and draw the curtains on the 2019 WTA Tour – and cement her reign as the world No. 1.

This season in women's tennis saw massive change in rankings owing to young talent breaking through the dominance of seasoned campaigners.

We take a look at the biggest jumps and drops in rankings of the year concerning the top 20 players in the world. 

Bianca Andreescu (102 places): Starting the year ranked 107th in the world, nobody, including Andreescu her self, would have predicted that she would end the year in top 10. What a fabulous year the Canadian star has had! The 19-year-old made headlines at the start of the year when she finished as the runner-up in Auckland. She followed it up with three titles in the next 10 months. The current world No. 5 won at Indian Wells, Toronto and the US Open to make massive gains in the rankings.

 

Marketa Vondrousova (51 places): The current world No. 16 also had a year to remember. Vondrousova began the year as world No. 67, and with consistent performances, the 20-year-old managed to break into the top 20. The Czech player, who won her first WTA title at the age of 17 as a qualifier, finished second best in Budapest, Istanbul as well as the French Open.

 

Belinda Bencic (47 places): 2019 was the most successful year for Belinda Bencic. Apart from titles in Dubai and Moscow, she finished as the runner-up in Moscow. The 22-year-old also made it to the Swiss Fed Cup for a fifth consecutive year.

WTA RANKINGS TABLE: [Top-20]

[ "+" shows gain | "-" shows drop | "~" shows no change]

 

BRILLIANT BARTY in 2019

Ashleigh Barty gained 14 places on the 2019 WTA Tour to the end the year as the world No.1, a ranking she is likely to hold for the beginning of the coming year – she is around 1,900 points ahead of Karolina Pliskova in second place.

This was the 23-year-old Australian's best year of her career yet. With titles in Miami, French Open and Birmingham alongside finishing as the  runner-up in Sydney and Beijing, she bagged a total of 6,476points.

BIGGEST DROPS

Angelique Kerber (18 places):  From world No. 2 to world No. 20, Angelique Kerber definitely had a year to forget. The veteran German did not win a single title and finished as the runner-up at Indian Wells only. After winning Wimbledon in 2018, the three-time Grand Slam has been without a title. She ended the 2019 WTA Tour with a 28-19 win-loss record.

Elise Mertens (5 places): Placed 17th in the world rankings presently, Elise Mertens dropped five places in 2019. The Belgian finished with a 35-27 win-loss record, including a solitary title in Doha. The five-time WTA Tour champion failed to secure a single second-best finish in the entire year.

[Data: WTA]