We had a look back at some of the biggest rankings drops on the WTA Tour, but what about the climbers? The players who have shot up the rankings for the first time, or perhaps those who have returned from injury, or time off? There are quite a lot of WTA ‘rocketing up the charts’ in 2024. Many of these players have jumped more than 50 places in the rankings. Here is part 1 of our rankings movers:
Rebecca Sramkova: End of 2023 ranking – 129 – End of 2024 ranking – 43
At age 28, Sramkova is proving that it’s never too late to make a run up the rankings. Having spent a decade out of the top 100, she surprised most tennis fans, by completing a 30/16 W/L season. Winning her first WTA event at the Hua Hin 250, and reaching the final of Monastir and Jiujiang were the obvious highlights.
Olga Danilovic: 116 – 51
Goin 29W/12L across all events this year, Danilovic has found herself on the brink of a top 50 ranking. Finishing the year with a W100 win in Spain, and the Guangzhou 250 title, has been a huge reward for a consistent season.
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro: 152 – 54
A huge jump from the young Spaniard, who won 3 lower tier events early in the year, giving her the opportunity to play on the main WTA tour. Bouzas-Maneiro made the 3rd round of both Wimbledon and the US Open, and is sure to consolidate her ranking in 2025 with a full season on the tour.
Moyuka Uchijima: 181 – 55
A stunning run on the ITF tour early in the year, where she won 4 titles in 5 weeks, elevated Uchijima into the top 100, just in time to qualify for the French Open. The step up to playing regular events on the WTA Tour was tough, but I would expect Uchijima to learn a lot from this season, and 2025 should be quite exciting.
Emma Raducanu: 285 – 57
An interesting year, which as always, drew plenty of opinions from the general public. Coming back from multiple surgeries, you’d have to say finishing the year inside 60 is a very strong result. Reaching the 4th round of Wimbledon, 4 quarter-finals, and a semi-final, in a very limited schedule, is a nice platform to build on. If Raducanu does indeed play a full schedule in 2025, top 20 is absolutely achievable.
Naomi Osaka: 833 – 58
No-one was really sure how high Osaka would rise after a year away, and perhaps we expected a bit much of her, but finishing in the top 60, just like Raducanu, is a nice base to start season 2025 from. She made 2 quarter-finals and a 4th round appearance in 3 Masters events, as well as playing one of the matches of the year at Roland Garros, pushing Iga Swiatek to the brink of defeat in round 2. Can she go a bit deeper, more often next year?
McCartney Kessler: 231 – 67
Fair to say she might’ve flown under the radar a little, but Kessler has made huge strides this year. Winning 4 tournaments, including a 75, 100, 125, and the Cleveland 250, propelled her into the top 100 for the first time. A full season on the main tour in 2025 will be a great challenge for her.
Caroline Wozniacki: 236 – 70
The former world No.1 continued her comeback this year, breaking back into the top 100 off the back of a quarter final run in Indian Wells, a 3rd Rd. at Wimbledon, and a 4th Rd. at the US Open. At age 34, it will be interesting to see if she can improve on 2024, or whether she’s found her ceiling for this second act of her career.
Sonay Kartel: 235 – 84
A similar rankings jump to Wozniacki, but all things considered, probably a lot more unexpected. A brilliant year, playing a mix of ITF’s, and WTA events, which included 7 titles (5 W35’s, a W100, and a breakthrough 250 win in Tunisia). She will now get a genuine shot at some big events early in 2025, which could catapult her much higher.
Zeynep Sonmez: 159 – 88
The 22-year-old from Turkey was seemingly meandering along to the end of 2024 without a lot to show for it (at least as far as a rankings gain goes), before hitting her straps in the final months. Sonmez qualified, and made the quarter-finals at the Tunisia 250, then qualified, and won a round (against top 30 player, Magdalena Frech) at the Tokyo 500, before finishing her season on the highest of highs, winning her first ever WTA title, taking out the 250 event in Mexico. Let’s hope she can ride this momentum into Australia.
Ann Li: 174 – 96
Another late season push, saw Li get her ranking back into the top 100. She has been as high as 44 a few years ago, but a couple of down seasons had seen her fall back in the pack. However, finishing runner up in Mexico to Sonmez, and going deep in a couple of ITF W100 events, have seen her give herself the chance to build her ranking up to where is once was.
Check out Part 2 of our WTA Rankings Climbers here.
Follow The Tennis Site on Facebook and X: @thetennissite
Follow Todd Scoullar on X: @toddscoullar
