After two weeks of the WTA rankings not being refreshed, let’s have a look at the major shifts in player positions now that the standings have been updated following the 2023 Australian Open. Danielle Collins suffered the biggest fall inside the Top 100, while Zhu Lin experienced the biggest rise.
Newly-crowned Melbourne champion Aryna Sabalenka is back to her career-high ranking of No.2, which she first reached in August 2021. Iga Swiatek, who lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open, remains the top-ranked WTA player, far ahead of the second-ranked Sabalenka with 10485 points compared to the Belarusian’s 6100.
Last year, Elena Rybakina received no ranking points for her Wimbledon title, due to political reasons affecting professional tennis. Following her runner-up finish in Melbourne, the Moscow-born player has climbed 15 spots in the WTA rankings, cracked the Top 10 and became the first representative of Kazakhstan to achieve the feat.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, a semifinalist this year in Melbourne, got back to the Top 20 by rising 8 spots to position No.16. Another former world No.1 has also returned to the Top 20 — Karolina Pliskova jumped 11 spots to No.20 after her quarterfinal finish in Melbourne.
Pliskova’s conqueror, Poland’s Magda Linette, is up to a career-high ranking of No.22 after her fairytale run to the semifinals where she was stopped by the eventual champion.
China’s Zhu Lin is the WTA player who made the biggest leap inside the Top 100, ascending 33 spots to No.54, her new personal best. The rise has happened after her first fourth-round at a Grand Slam. Seventeen-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova skyrocketed 31 spots to a career-high of No.51, just as her conqueror, former Top 20 member Donna Vekic, climbed 31 spots to No.33 following her maiden Australian Open quarterfinal.
The biggest fall in the Top 100 is that of last year’s runner-up Danielle Collins. This time the American lost to eventual finalist Rybakina in the third round and as a consequence dropped 29 spots to No.40.
Inside the Top 20, Simona Halep fell just three spots to No.15. The Romanian didn’t even play the Australian Open as she’s been suspended over a failed doping test. Paula Badosa couldn’t play in Melbourne due to a right thigh injury sustained in Adelaide and now the Spaniard is out of the Top 20. Naomi Osaka is pregnant and thus away from the tour, so her ranking is now down to No.65.
A Top 20 player until this week, Madison Keys has suffered the biggest drop among the elite. The 2022 Australian Open semifinalist lost in the third round this year and is thus down to No.24 in the rankings.
