The 2026 grass-court season is done and dusted and now the focus switches back to hard courts with Canada and the United States hosting the North American swing.
Last year’s hard-court campaign was productive for the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova, which means they have a lot of points to defend in the next few months.
The North American swing gets underway on 27 July with the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington DC and the Memphis Classic before attention turns to the WTA 1000 scene with Toronto hosting the Canadian Open from 3 August and Mason staging the Cincinnati Open from the 13th.
There is one tournament before the US Open with the WTA 500 Monterrey Open in Mexico taking place from 24 August, before the swing ends with the final Grand Slam of the year in New York (30 August-13 September).
With the WTA Rankings determined via a rolling 52-week, cumulative system, players have to defend the points they earned from the same tournament/period 12 months ago.
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Example: If Player A won the Canadian Open last year, they earned 1,000 points and those points will be removed at the start of the 2026 edition in the Live Rankings, but the player will then earn points for every round at this year’s tournament. The only way they can keep those 1,000 points is by winning the tournament again.
Points The Big Names Will Drop
Aryna Sabalenka – 2,215
The world No 1 – who is under pressure to keep top spot in the WTA Rankings as she is only 407 points ahead of Rybakina – played only two events during the swing last year and that was the Cincinnati Open and the US Open.
Sabalenka lost in the quarter-final in Cincinnati (215) and won the US Open (2000).
Elena Rybakina – 1,215
The reigning Australian Open champion had a busy North American campaign last year as she played in four events, reaching the semi-final in Washington DC (195), the semis in Canada (390), the semis in Cincinnati (390) and the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows (240).
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She won’t defend her points in Washington DC, but is still favourite to overtake Sabalenka at No 1 after the hard-court campaign.
Jessica Pegula – 911
The American climbed to No 3 after Wimbledon and she lost in the second round in Washington DC (1 point), the round of 32 in Canada (65), the round of 32 in Cincy (65) and was a semi-finalist at the US Open (780).
Coco Gauff – 575
The 2023 US Open champion had a poor campaign last year as she was beaten in the round of 16 in Montreal (120), quarter-final in Cincinnati (215) and the round of 16 at the US Open (240).
But with many of the players around her dropping more points, it opens an opportunity for Gauff to edge closer to the top three.
Mirra Andreeva – 165
The reigning French Open champion also has an opportunity to move up the rankings as she will drop 35 points from the 2025 Canadian Open and 130 from the US Open.
Karolina Muchova – 650
Fresh from finishing runner-up at Wimbledon, Muchova will defend 120 points from a round of 16 appearance in Canada, 65 from a round of 32 run in Cincy and 430 from a quarter-final at the US Open.
Linda Noskova – 411
The 2026 Wimbledon winner – who will also drop 163 points next week from Prague 2025 – lost in the round of 64 in both Montreal (10) and Cincinnati (10) last year, but only 10 points will drop as Montreal is non-countable.
Noskova also played in Monterrey in 2025 and reached the quarter-final (108) and the round of 32 at the US Open (130).
Iga Swiatek – 1,550
Having slipped to No 8 in the rankings after her failure to defend her Wimbledon crown, Swiatek is in danger of slipping out of the top 10.
The Pole reached the round of 16 in Montreal 12 months ago and earned 120 points and then went on to lift the Cincinnati Open trophy (1,000) before losing in the quarter-final of the US Open (430).
Amanda Anisimova – 1,455
Anisimova picked up 130 points at the Canadian Open and 35 in Cincy before going on an incredible run at Flushing Meadows as she finished runner-up to Sabalenka and that was worth 1,300 points.
Victoria Mboko – 1,060
The Canadian has already dropped out of the top 10 after she was forced to miss Wimbledon due to injury and she is set to drop a few more spots as she won’t defend her points at Washington DC (60) and Canada (1,000).
Last year, Mboko became the second wildcard to win the Canadian Open, but she has already confirmed she won’t play this year due to her knee injury.
It remains to be seen if she will play at Cincinnati (she didn’t feature last year) or the US Open (10 points after losing in the first round).
Alex Eala – 205
Fresh from a historic run to the round of 16 at Wimbledon, Eala finds herself in a good position as she has 10 points to defend in Canada, 0 in Cincinnati and 70 at the US Open.
Following her second-round exit from the US Open last year, the Filipina entered the WTA Challenger event in Guadalajara and won the event, earning 125 points.
Emma Raducanu – 455
The British No 1 was a semi-finalist in Washington DC last year (195), reached the round of 32 in Montreal (65) and Cincinnati (65) before losing in the round of 32 at the US Open (130).
Raducanu is currently struggling with a leg injury and won’t play in Washington DC while it remains to be seen if she will be fit for the remainder of the swing.
The post WTA Rankings: Points Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, Raducanu, Eala will drop during North American swing appeared first on Tennis365.
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