The WTA Finals is just days away, and there is plenty at stake for the ‘Elite 8’ in Riyadh — with big prize money and ranking points on offer at the year-end championships.
The respective groups for the 2025 WTA Finals have now been revealed, and all eight WTA stars in action enter their final tournament of the season with a clean slate, with any ranking points from the 2024 Finals already dropped.
Here, we look at what ranking points the tournament’s biggest names dropped from 2024 ahead of the start of this year’s action in Riyadh.
How do ranking points work at the WTA Finals?
While each player will earn prize money for having qualified for the year-end championships, ranking points are not handed out solely for qualifying.
Every player in action will have to win at least one match to earn any points, with 200 ranking points on offer for a round-robin win in Riyadh.
A further 400 ranking points are then on offer for the two players who triumph at the semi-final stage, before a further 500 points are awarded to whoever wins the final and lifts the title.
An unbeaten champion will earn themselves 1,500 points.
Group Steffi Graf
1) Aryna Sabalenka: World No 1 Sabalenka won two round-robin matches in 2024 before tasting defeat in the semi-final, meaning she has dropped 400 points from last year.
3) Coco Gauff: After winning two group stage matches in 2024, Gauff went on to beat Sabalenka in the semi-final and Zheng Qinwen in the final, meaning she has already dropped a staggering 1,300 points. However, she remains as the world No 3.
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5) Jessica Pegula: Beaten in two round-robin matches before withdrawing due to injury in 2024, Pegula has dropped zero points from the 2024 finals heading into action this year.
8) Jasmine Paolini: Picking up one round-robin win over Elena Rybakina in her tournament debut twelve months ago, eighth seed Paolini dropped 200 points from last year’s WTA Finals.
Group Serena Williams
2) Iga Swiatek: Despite failing to reach the knockout stages in 2024, Swiatek still picked up two round-robin wins, meaning she has dropped 400 ranking points from last year’s event heading into her fifth WTA Finals appearance in 2025.
4) Amanda Anisimova: Having qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time, world No 4 Anisimova had no points to drop coming into the tournament, and could battle it out with Gauff for the US No 1 ranking in Riyadh.
6) Elena Rybakina: Rybakina triumphed in one of her three round-robin matches in 2024, meaning the Kazakh dropped 200 points from last year’s Finals before her third appearance in 2025.
7) Madison Keys: Nine years on from her previous WTA Finals appearance, Keys is back at the year-end championships in 2025. Having not qualified last year, the Australian Open champion naturally dropped zero Finals points before this year’s event.
Who else has dropped points from the 2024 WTA Finals?
Having starred at the 2024 WTA Finals before failing to qualify in 2025, both Zheng Qinwen and Barbora Krejcikova — who have been affected by injuries this season — have been significantly affected by the ranking point removal.
Reaching the final in 2024 after two round-robin wins, Qinwen has dropped 800 points from the 2024 WTA Finals, seeing her fall 11 places to world No 24 in the WTA Rankings.
After two round-robin wins at the WTA Finals last November, Krejcikova has dropped 400 points, and has fallen 28 spots to 64th in the world.
The post WTA Finals: What ranking points have Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff & co dropped from 2024 tournament? appeared first on Tennis365.
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