It’s that exciting time of year when Women’s Tennis Blog’s friend John Bolan reviews the WTA ranking predictions he and our brave commenters made twelve months ago. The 2016 season was probably the most dramatic in recent women’s tennis history, with a lot of controversial happenings and plenty of player marriages. All of that has definitely affected the rankings. Read on John’s article to see who were our two best predictors that will win WTA autographs!
Choosing the correct Top 10 picks for 2016 has turned out to be the most difficult predicting year since our contest began more than half a decade ago. It is true players are becoming better, stronger and more equal.
Exceptional events shaped the Top 10 for 2016:
- Maria Sharapova was suspended for using a newly-banned substance. Every contestant included her in their Top 10.
- Victoria Azarenka dropped out of competition because of pregnancy.
- Petra Kvitova missed the Top 10 by just 155 points.
Almost all of you included these three players in your Top 10 picks!
Not one of us picked Top 5 player, Dominika Cibulkova! No one picked Svetlana Kuznetsova or Johanna Konta. Only ten fans picked Madison Keys.
The best anyone predicted was six out of the ten top players. Nineteen of you chose six out of ten. In order to choose a winner, I had to calculate who had picks closest to the final order. Justin is our winner for 2016, followed closely by our runner-up, Ian. It was a very close contest and we would like to thank the sixty fans who submitted their entries.
The Women’s Tennis Blog published my Top 10 picks for 2016 in December 2015 and many fans joined in with their own picks. Here are the actual final standings compared to my predictions:
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BOLAN’S DECEMBER 2015 PREDICTIONS
1. Serena Williams
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Garbine Muguruza
4. Simona Halep
5. Agnieszka Radwanska
6. Belinda Bencic
7. Petra Kvitova
8. Karolina Pliskova
9. Ana Ivanovic
10. Victoria Azarenka
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ACTUAL 2015 YEAR-END TOP 10 RANKING
1. Angelique Kerber
2. Serena Williams
3. Agnieszka Radwanska
4. Simona Halep
5. Dominika Cibulkova
6. Karolina Pliskova
7. Garbine Muguruza
8. Madison Keys
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova
10. Johanna Konta
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Five out of ten correct ties with last year for my worst year. I failed to include the number one player of 2016 in my Top 10. Like everyone else, I failed to include one of my favorite players, Dominika Cibulkova, who not only finished in the Top 10, but even better, in the Top 5.
What happened in 2016?
1. Serena Williams was knocked out of the number one ranking.
2. Monica Puig won Olympic gold in singles.
3. Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova won Olympic doubles gold.
4. Maria Sharapova was handed a very controversial suspension.
5. Dominika Cibulkova was the WTA Finals champion and cliched the No. 5 ranking.
6. Petra Kvitova fell out of the Top 10.
7. Venus Williams won the Olympic silver medal for mixed doubles.
8. Andrea Petkovic did not retire and finished ranked at 55.
9. Karolina Pliskova was the tour leader in aces.
10. Angelique Kerber became the oldest first time number one player.
A big thank you to all the fans who played this contest. We should all start thinking about our picks for the 2017 contest! Justin and Ian will both receive autographed pictures for being our winner and runner-up for 2016.
