For the first time in a while, the No. 1 ranking in women’s tennis is there for the taking. Aryna Sabalenka continues to hold the top spot in the PIF WTA Rankings, but her lead has shriveled to just 407 points over No. 2 Elena Rybakina. By the end of the U.S. Open, Sabalenka could lose her grip on the No. 1 ranking she has held since October 2024.
Rybakina would have overtaken Sabalenka already if she had reached the semifinals at Wimbledon. Rybakina has considerably fewer summer hard-court ranking points to defend. A win at one of the summer WTA 1000 events or a run to the final weekend at the U.S. Open would probably be enough for Rybakina to ascend to No. 1.
There are also some less-likely scenarios where No. 3 Jessica Pegula or No. 4 Coco Gauff could reach No. 1 by the end of the summer. Current No. 5 Mirra Andreeva leads the Race to the WTA Finals – meaning if the 2026 season ended today, she’d be considered year-end No. 1.
Who moved up the WTA rankings during the grass-court season?
Linda Noskova’s reward for winning Wimbledon was a six-spot boost since the start of the grass-court season to a career-best ranking of No. 7 in this week’s rankings.
Donna Vekic’s reward for winning the pre-Wimbledon HSBC Championships WTA 500 event - after only getting into the main draw as a lucky loser – was a 41-spot leap to No. 35.
Keep an eye on another young Czech, 20-year-old Nikola Bartůňková, who moved up 18 spots to No. 43 with a solid grass-court season.
Bartůňková’s early summer included a victory in the Birmingham semifinals against Ashlyn Krueger, who re-established herself in the top 100 – at No. 66 - with a strong grass-court season of her own. Krueger won 17 of 19 grass-court matches over the past month, capped by a run through Wimbledon qualifying all the way to the main draw round of 16.
Who moved down?
Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova – last year’s Wimbledon finalists – both dropped four and three spots, respectively, during the grass-court season after early exits at the All-England Club this summer. Swiatek is now No. 8. Anisimova is No. 9.
Clara Tauson suffered the biggest drop in the top 30. She fell from No. 24 at the start of the grass-court season to No. 30 after losing in the first round at Wimbledon.
Who could rise?
Current No. 28 Alexandra Eala could make a push for the top 20 if she plays all the main summer events and reaches the latter stages at one or two of them.
Who could fall?
Sabalenka losing the No. 1 ranking would be the biggest story. Also keep an eye on Swiatek, who hasn’t made a final all year and probably needs a big run at a summer WTA 1000 event or at the U.S. Open to avoid falling all the way out of the top 10 for the first time since 2021.
48 years ago this happened
Days after winning the 1978 Wimbledon title for her first major championship, Martina Navratilova rose to No. 1 in the women’s tennis world rankings for the first time. Navratilova accumulated a total of 332 weeks at No. 1 between 1978 and 1987, a record at the time and still the second-most of all time.
