Women's Tennis - Season Archive 2021

The season archive consists of a short summary, an overview of news items and a list of rankings.

Season Summary

The 2021 season was still influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the program was a lot more complete than the 2020 season. It was mostly the Asian tournaments that suffered from travel restrictions, so they were replaced by extra European tournaments on the WTA-tour. Apart from the Australian Open, the Grand Slams were played at their regular time of season.

A major headline of the 2021 season was the story of Naomi Osaka, who won the Australian Open in February, reached #1 in the ranking for a few weeks, and later in the season took time off due to mental health issues, mostly due to the immense pressure and criticism that players have to endure from the press. She received widespread support from other players and fans for her stance on this issue. Another highlight of 2021 was the sudden rise of Emma Raducanu, who entered the circuit with a fourth round showing at Wimbledon, and then won the US Open in an incredibly dominant fashion, beating Leylah Fernandez, another surprise, in straight sets in the final. It will be interesting to see Raducanu's development in the coming years, and what her consistent level will be. The French Open was won by Barbora Krejcikova, whose rise in singles was also remarkable. And finally, in 2021, Ashleigh Barty was the player spending the most time at number 1, winning Wimbledon and playing at a consistently high level. Her position has been challenged, though, mostly by Aryna Sabalenka who spent a few weeks at #1 as well, and will possibly be challenged by the surge of Anett Kontaveit, who showed a remarkably improved level in the last three months of the season, rising to #2 in the rankings. Kontaveit ended up losing the final of the WTA-finals to Garbine Muguruza, #3 in the season-end ranking, and certainly another player to watch.

Emma Raducanu was also the player who gained the most rating points in 2021, at 556 points, 329 of which she gained at the US Open alone. Raducanu ended the year at #44. The other major risers in 2021 were Paula Badosa, who gained 476 points, winning Indian Wells and reaching the semifinals of the WTA-finals, ending the year at #11, and Nuria Parrizas-Diaz, who rose from outside the top 400 to #129, gaining 389 points. The most points were lost by Nao Hibino (-273, #176), followed by Anna Blinkova (-265, #163).

The rising stars of 2021 (top 10) were:

#	Player	Start rating	End rating	Difference
1	Raducanu	4450	5006	+556
2	Badosa	4829	5305	+476
3	Parrizas-Diaz	4337	4726	+389
4	Niemeier	4340	4723	+383
5	Tauson	4607	4962	+355
6	Krejcikova	4923	5271	+348
7	Pegula	4971	5286	+315
8	Cristian	4493	4794	+301
9	Osorio Serrano	4512	4806	+294
10	Kalinina	4626	4912	+286