Welcome to Pete’s Power Rankings, where we paint a picture of the WTA Tour by looking at recent results and ranking players based on their current form, rather than the WTA’s point system.
The power rankings will be updated weekly all the way up to the Omnium Banque Nationale.
And just like that it’s over. Wimbledon is behind us.
On to the hard courts.
The surface switch always shakes up the dynamics on the tour, but if one thing was learned at Wimbledon, it is that everyone is chasing Ashleigh Barty after the Aussie scored her first Wimbledon crown on Saturday.
With the grass in the past and the hard courts on the horizon, here are the post-Wimbledon WTA Power Rankings:
PETE’S WTA TOUR POWER RANKINGS – Week of July 12, 2021
| 1. | Ashleigh Barty | Change: – | |
| 2021 Record: 35-6 (4 Titles) | Actual Rank: 1 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – W |
World number one and now Wimbledon champion. The WTA tour now firmly belongs to Barty after she won her second major title on the weekend.
And if the rumours about her having to speed-heal to overcome the hip injury she suffered at Roland Garros are true, then she just claimed that title not even at 100%, which is a terrifying prospect for the rest of the women’s tour.
| 2. | Karolina Pliskova | Change: +3 | |
| 2021 Record: 21-13 | Actual Rank: 7 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – F |
Pliskova has been a steady player for years, but has always fallen just shy of the big wins. While that remains the case as she lost in three sets in the Wimbledon final, the shear fact of making that final was her best result in years.
Now can she turn it into consistency. Her odds are pretty good heading to the fast hard courts which are her preferred surface. She is a former US Open runner-up after all.
| 3. | Aryna Sabalenka | Change: – | |
| 2021 Record: 34-11 (2 Titles) | Actual Rank: 3 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – SF |
Will her run to the Wimbledon semi-final be a catalyst for regular success for Sabalenka? The Belarusian has now proven she can win big matches and go deep at Slams. She just needs to do it more often.
What is encouraging is that her Slam breakthrough came on grass, right before the tour heads to the speedy hard courts that she loves so much. If Sabalenka can make a run on grass, why can’t she clean up on hard courts?
| 4. | Angelique Kerber | Change: -2 | |
| 2021 Record: 19-11 (1 Title) | Actual Rank: 22 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – SF |
After a long period of struggling, Kerber broke out of a multi-year slump by reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon. But will she sustain it? She is 33 years old but is also a former US Open champion. She certainly has the game to succeed over the coming months and still looks to be in form.
| 5. | Ons Jabeur | Change: -1 | |
| 2021 Record: 33-12 (1 Title) | Actual Rank: 23 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – QF |
Jabeur is a player who seems to be growing in confidence and is, if she was not already, certainly worth keeping an eye on in every event she plays.
She does not have a ton of experience at the North American hard-court events which make predicting her results a little tricky. But based purely on form, she is coming to North America in a good spot.
| 6. | Cori Gauff | Change: – | |
| 2021 Record: 31-12 (1 Title) | Actual Rank: 25 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R4 |
Interestingly, Gauff’s best results in her career have come on clay and grass, while she is yet to have a big breakout on hard courts. She will get that opportunity over the coming weeks and will have the advantage of major crowd support on home soil in Cincinnati and New York.
| 7. | Iga Świątek | Change: +1 | |
| 2021 Record: 27-8 (2 Titles) | Actual Rank: 8 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R4 |
The Pole has been one of the better cross-surface players in 2021, winning a title on hard court and clay while performing well at Wimbledon. She has been quite consistent at the big events too regardless of surface, reaching the last sixteen at all three Slams in 2021, the only woman to do so.
That’s a long way of saying there is no reason to believe Świątek won’t continue to be a contender as the tour switches back to hard courts.
| 8. | Barbora Krejcikova | Change: -1 | |
| 2021 Record: 29-10 (2 Titles) | Actual Rank: 13 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R4 |
The debut tour of Krejcikova will continue this summer as she will compete at the summer hard-court events in singles for the first time, qualifying excluded, at every big event except Montreal, where she lost in the first round in 2018.
If her Wimbledon result, a fourth-round appearance in her debut, is any indication, there is no reason to worry. She also reached the final of Dubai on hard courts earlier this year, also in her debut.
| 9. | Victoria Azarenka | Change: +3 | |
| 2021 Record: 15-5 | Actual Rank: 14 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R2 |
Last year, Azarenka’s renaissance peaked during the summer hard courts when she won Cincinnati and reached the final of the US Open. Her form has been erratic over recent months but a return to the hard courts will be an opportunity for her to settle down, and settle in, and contend for some big titles where she played well a year ago.
| 10. | Serena Williams | Change: -1 | |
| 2021 Record: 12-5 | Actual Rank: 16 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R1 |
Again, Williams’ health remains the question after her nasty fall at Wimbledon. But if there is anywhere for her to bounce back in a big way, it’s on home soil in August.
She has won Cincinnati twice in her career and the US Open six times. In fact, she has not failed to reach the semi-finals of the US Open, minus withdrawals, since 2007.
| 11. | Madison Keys | Change: – | |
| 2021 Record: 10-9 | Actual Rank: 26 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R4 |
Keys started picking up form during the grass swing, which sets her up well for the summer hard courts where she has historically experienced success, reaching the fourth round or better at the US Open all but once since 2015 and winning Cincinnati in 2019.
| 12. | Elena Rybakina | Change: -2 | |
| 2021 Record: 19-13 | Actual Rank: 20 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R4 |
Rybakina is another player who is inexperienced on the North American hard courts, but generally, the Kazakh has played well on the surface, with five of her career finals coming on hard court.
She has been one of the more consistent players at the Slams this year, so the question is now can she bring that Slam play to regular tour events.
| 13. | Maria Sakkari | Change: – | |
| 2021 Record: 22-11 | Actual Rank: 19 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R2 |
If only every hard-court event was Cincinnati, where Sakkari has reached the quarter-finals each of the last two years, including a win over Serena Williams in 2020. The Greek has erratic hard-court results elsewhere, but has shown flashes of being able to do damage on the surface. Her style fits it fairly well.
| 14. | Sofia Kenin | Change: – | |
| 2021 Record: 11-10 | Actual Rank: 4 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – R2 |
Will a homecoming be Kenin’s salvation?
Not a lot has gone right for the young American in 2021, but perhaps a return home is just what the doctor ordered. She has reached the semis of both Canada and Cincinnati in the past.
| 15. | Karolina Muchova | Change: – | |
| 2021 Record: 17-6 | Actual Rank: 24 | Last Week Result: Wimbledon – QF |
The quicker surfaces have been better this year for Muchova, with her best results coming at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, so she should like her odds heading into the hard courts on the heels of a solid quarter-final showing in London.
