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How Ash Barty stays World Number 1

Most Aussies are hollering for Ash Barty to win Wimbledon, but behind the scenes there’s a much more complex mathematical equation playing out which will determine whether she holds on to her World Number 1 ranking.

Before we look at the nitty gritty, let’s see who we should be looking out for.

After Naomi Osaka’s first round loss, she no longer remains a threat to Ash’s crown.

The biggest threat is World Number 3 Karolina Pliskova who, if she wins Wimbledon, would nestle into the WTA’s top position.

There are other possibilities:

  • Pliskova can take the top ranking if she is to make the semi-final, providing our own Ash Barty bows out before the quarter finals.
  • If Pliskova is runner-up, Barty would have to make the semi-finals to retain her ranking.
  • Two others can in theory become the world’s top ranked player – World Number 4 Kiki Bertens and World Number 5 Petra Kvitova. To do so, either would have to win Wimbledon. They would also rely on an early exit from the tournament by Barty.

Confused?

The world rankings system works on a 12-month cycle. Every time a tournament is played, the points a player earned the previous year are deducted from the overall number of points they’ve accrued in the past 12 months.

The points they earn in the current year’s version of the tournament are then added.

So, in the case of Ash Barty, she currently has 6495 points. Last year, she made the third round of Wimbledon which earned her 120 points. These will be deducted, and points from her performance at this year’s event will be added to create a new ongoing total.

In other words, Barty is defending her third round performance of last year. If she gets further this year, she achieves more points. If she’s knocked out earlier, her number of points will decrease.

Grand Slam tournaments are worth the most number of points. For winning the French Open, Barty received 2000 points which is why her ranking jumped so dramatically.

There are mid-ranked tournaments such as the Miami Masters which Barty won earlier this year. A win there gained her 1000 points.

There is a WTA Finals event in October which offers up 1500 ranking points to the winner. Only eight players are invited to this event, and the good news for Barty is that she didn’t play in this one last year.

This means any points she is awarded at the WTA Finals this year are an addition to her points kitty.

In the US Open later this year, Barty will be defending 240 points for her fourth round exit in 2018.

Rankings points are awarded a maximum of 16 times per year. That is, each player’s best 16 performances.

All these points do of course come with a hefty pay cheque which has amounted to more than $5 million for Barty and her support team.

Remarkably, Barty is also ranked Number 7 in the world for doubles, and is the only player to be ranked in the Top 10 of both Singles and Doubles.

Ipswich: Home to the world #1 tennis star Ash Barty

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