So, according to everyone, she hasn't played a WTA tour match since she beat Zvonareva in the final of Wimbledon last year. So, that would SEEM to indicate that she's only played ONE tournament in the past year. So, why does the current WTA rankings say she's played 9 tournaments in the past 52 weeks?
Just a question. I just don't get how the rankings work in this case. According to what I know of the system, you can't even have a ranking if you haven't played three tournaments in the past year. So, technically, shouldn't Serena be unranked?
Every player that qualifies for a mandatory tournament is automatically entered into every mandatory tournament. She gets a 0 pointer when she does not play
Every player that qualifies for a mandatory tournament is automatically entered into every mandatory tournament. She gets a 0 pointer when she does not play
Yeah the rule to be ranked is to either have 3 tournaments played, or 10 points gained which ever happens first.
All top-10 players (which Serena was until RG fell off), are forced to commit to all 4 Premier Mandatories, and an additional 4 Premier 5s, and 2 Premier 700s, so some of those must account for her tournament number.
IIRC , players submit which 4 Premier 5s and 2 Premiers they intend on playing to the WTA in advance.
^^ Just to be clear, the top 10 ranking is based on the prior year's year-end rankings. Serena is still considered top 10 for the rest of the year in terms of those commitments.
It means that this WTA compiled "amount of tournaments played" stat is basically a crappy, Stalinist, bureaucratic convenience that is worthless from record-keeping/historical pont of view (because it doesn't have anything to do with reality).