Last year in December, we asked you to share your projected WTA Top 10 year-end rankings for 2022. Now it’s time for our friend John Bolan, who has been organizing this contest for over a decade, to announce the winner for 2022 and explain his calculations.
The best predictor in our 2022 contest is Omar Hamsho Llarena!
Congratulations, Omar! You will receive Maria Sharapova’s autobiography as a prize. Six of your picks indeed finished the year in the Top 10, although not in those exact positions that you predicted. You didn’t include Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia, Veronika Kudermetova and Daria Kasatkina, instead of whom your picks were Ashleigh Barty (now retired), Garbine Muguruza (currently ranked No.56), Naomi Osaka (No.41) and Anett Kontaveit (No.17). Still, your picking six Top 10 players this year was very difficult, harder than picking eight of ten in a normal year.
Year-end Top 10 WTA rankings for 2022
1. Iga Swiatek
2. Ons Jabeur
3. Jessica Pegula
4. Carolina Garcia
5. Aryna Sabalenka
6. Maria Sakkari
7. Coco Gauff
8. Daria Kasatkina
9. Veronika Kudermetova
10. Simona Halep
Only one contestant, winner Omar, chose six of the Top 10 players for 2022
Unless your name is Iga Swiatek, it was difficult to be a winner this year. Iga, of course, had over twice as many ranking points as any other player and finished as the runaway number one player for 2022. No contestant chose her as number one, but our winner and Karla picked her second. No one chose Veronika Kudermetova, Caroline Garcia and Daria Kasatkina anywhere in their Top 10. Only Karla and Michaela chose Jessica Pegula to finish in the Top 10.
Why was 2022 so difficult for us to choose the Top 10 players? The surprise retirement announcement by Ashleigh Barty after our contest deadline meant no one could score a perfect 10. Every contestant had Barty in their Top 10. Who knew Elina Svitolina would stop playing because she would have a baby?
A word about doubles players
Finally, I like to promote doubles players who are sometimes forgotten. They are a key asset for the WTA who wants single players to play doubles too. Three of our Top 10 singles players are also Top 10 doubles players – Veronika Kudermetova, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. Three of my friends who are real double players finished near the top of the doubles rankings. Gabriela Dabrowski finished, as usual, in the Top 10. Lyudmyla Kichenok was a Top 10 player for the first time. Anna Danilina finished eleventh, her best ranking ever. Most tennis fans play doubles rather than singles and can relate to hard-fought doubles matches played on packed outside courts.
Let’s all hope for peace and a wonderful tennis year for 2023.
Im so happy to be the winner of this poll in womenstennisblog and appreciate very mucho your mail and confirmation and certenly will be participating in future contests.
Omar Hamsho, congratulations once again on being our best contestant. Good luck in the 2023 contest which should be launched later this month.
Can we see some of the closest predictions?
I put the winner and the 2 players who had 5 correct on Facebook just now.
Also, Jim did better picking golf‘s top ten than tennis!