The top two players in women’s tennis have once again been punished for not playing enough mandatory WTA 500 events during the 2025 season, but their positions in the latest WTA Rankings remain unchanged.
Players are required to participate in at least six WTA 500 tournaments every season unless they are injured or have a valid personal reason, but if they fail to adhere to the rule they are hit with so-called zero-pointers.
Those who break the rule drop the ranking points that they earned from a bigger event during the campaign and are then handed zero points for missing a 500-level tournament.
With the 2025 WTA Tour campaign coming to a close, there are no more WTA 500 events left on the calendar and the updated WTA Rankings reveal the players’ latest points deductions.
Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have once again been penalised, but their punishment is harsher this week.
Last week Sabalenka dropped 10 points, Swiatek 65, Coco Gauff 10, Amanda Anisimova 10 and Madison Keys 54.
In the October 27 update, Sabalenka lost 120 points from Dubai and Swiatek 108 for Stuttgart, but they stay at No 1 and No 2 in the rankings respectively.
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Gauff didn’t receive any penalty this week, while Anisimova is down 27 points and Keys lost 60 points.
On top of this week’s zero pointers, players also dropped the points they earned from the 2024 WTA Finals so although Gauff didn’t receive a penalty, she is down 1,300 points in the latest rankings as she is the defending champion at the season-ending event.
Sabalenka and Swiatek both dropped an additional 400 points from the Finals and the former now sits on 9,870 points with the Pole on 8,195 and Gauff a distant third on 6,563.
WTA Top 5 After Latest Update
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 9,870 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland – 8,195
3. Coco Gauff United States – 6,563
4. Amanda Anisimova United States – 5,887
5. Jessica Pegula United States – 5,183
That 1,675-point gap means Sabalenka has now officially wrapped up the year-end No 1 ranking as the WTA Finals is the only tournament left on the calendar and players can earn a maximum of 1,500 points.
Gauff, meanwhile, stays ahead of Anisimova in the race to finish the year as the American No 1 with the latter needing to reach at least the semi-final to stand any chance of overtaking the reigning French Open champion.
Jessica Pegula also has a slim chance, but she will need to win the tournament undefeated and hope Gauff exits after the group phase without winning any round-robin matches as players earn 200 points for reach victory.
The post WTA Rankings: Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek hit with bigger points penalties appeared first on Tennis365.
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