The WTA Year-End Rankings, consisting of the top 100 players in the world, were released yesterday after the conclusive end of the women's tennis season. Serena Williams once again secured the number one spot in lieu of her impeccable season where she shone in the spotlight for all the world to see for most of the year.
The American completed her second Serena Slam by winning the Wimbledon Championships and thus managing to win four Grand Slam titles consecutively. She was an untouchable force for most of the season, and just fell short of winning the Calendar Slam in light of her US Open semifinal loss against Roberta Vinci. Even despite this, the world number one was able to create more than enough history in the course of the season to secure the top ranking once again.
Simona Halep cemented the number two spot, making this her best season on paper in terms of rankings. It can be said that the latter part of her season was less impressive than the former, but the Romanian powerhouse managed to keep her level up and do one better than last year's number three finish.
The number three spot for this year was clinched by the biggest rising star of 2015: Garbine Muguruza. Her incredible rise became fruitful once she reached the final of the Wimbledon Championships and when she won the title at Beijing. She had a consistently solid record against the other top ten players this year, which comfortably cemented her place as the youngest player amongst her rivals.
Maria Sharapova took the fourth spot due to impressive results at the beginning of the year, even though injuries forced her out of a large chunk of tournaments near the end.
Agnieszka Radwanska managed to turn a bad season into an impeccable one as she recovered from early disappointments to win titles in both Tokyo and Tianjin. Winning the WTA Year-End Championships illuminated her late rise even further and she managed to make the top five despite leaving the US Open at number thirteen.
Petra Kvitova may not have had a year as solid as 2014 or 2011, but she remained consistent and fought illness to take the sixth spot in the rankings.
Venus Williams also made a return to the top ten rather emphatically, in lieu of her winning the title in Zhuhai last week. She cemented the seventh spot—her first entry into the top ten since 2011.
The top ten was rounded out by three more exceptional players for the year. Flavia Pennetta, the US Open champion made her first and last entry into the top ten at number seven. Lucie Safarova, French Open runner up, managed to sit nicely at number nine, and Angelique Kerber took number ten in light of her consistent year.
The WTA Rising Stars are slowly making their way up into the rankings as we see Belinda Bencic and Madison Keys both staying comfortably in the top twenty. Amongst them are Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic, who will look to improve their results in the coming season. Victoria Azarenka is residing right below all of them at number twenty two; we can surely expect her to rise in the rankings next year.