Tours
How the WTA works
The women’s tour. Ranking points come from the Grand Slams, the WTA 1000s, and the smaller events, and the season ends at the WTA Finals.
The categories
WTA events are grouped by category: WTA 1000, WTA 500, WTA 250, and WTA 125, plus the Grand Slams and the WTA Finals. A title at a higher category is worth more, and the draw is larger.
A combined WTA 1000 with a 96-player singles draw pays 1,000 points to the champion. The Grand Slam singles champion earns 2,000. The round-by-round table is on the WTA rankings page.
What counts
The PIF WTA Rankings are a rolling 52 weeks. A singles ranking uses at most 18 tournaments. For the players at the top, that set is the four Grand Slams, the best six of the seven combined WTA 1000s, the best one of the three WTA-only WTA 1000s, and the next best seven results from WTA 1000, 500, 250, 125, and ITF events.
The combined WTA 1000s are Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, Toronto or Montreal, Cincinnati, and Beijing. The WTA-only WTA 1000s are Doha, Dubai, and Wuhan. Points from the WTA Finals count as a 19th tournament. Doubles uses a player’s best 12 results. A player appears on the singles list once she has points from three tournaments, or at least 10 points from one.
The Race
The Race to the WTA Finals is a separate season total, not the 52-week ranking. It uses 18 results: the four Grand Slams, six of the seven combined WTA 1000s, one WTA-only WTA 1000, and the best seven from WTA 1000, 500, and 250 events. WTA 125 and ITF results do not count on the Race.
A player needs at least eight WTA 1000 or WTA 500 events in the Race year, unless a long-term injury applies. The field is the top seven on that list, then the highest current-year Grand Slam winner ranked 8th to 20th who is not already in. If there is no such champion, the next player from 8th down takes the last place. Eight singles players and eight doubles teams then split into two groups of four.
WTA desk · Women’s schedule and drawsheets · WTA Finals · How the ITF events work · Rankings