{"id":41535,"date":"2021-03-05T19:30:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T20:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=41535"},"modified":"2021-03-06T02:58:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T02:58:14","slug":"major-wta-changes-could-affect-bartys-no-1-ranking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=41535","title":{"rendered":"Major WTA changes could affect Barty's No.1 ranking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian Ash Barty's world No.1<\/a> ranking could be affected after the women's professional tennis tour revealed it's considering whether to make changes to its "frozen" ranking system adopted because of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

WTA CEO Steve Simon said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press the tour is "currently reviewing if any further adjustments to the rankings process will be made."<\/p>\n

As things stand, the WTA is allowing players to count the points from their top 16 tournament results since March 2019. That allows someone such as No. 1 Ash Barty to avoid being penalised for sitting out most of 2020 after the COVID-19 outbreak took hold.<\/p>\n

Barty, for example, did not defend her 2019 title at the French Open in October, but still gets credit for the previous year's championship.<\/p>\n

\"Ash<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Australian, who became the No.1 ranked player in the world on June 24, 2019, currently leads Naomi Osaka by 1351 rankings points, the current world No.2.<\/p>\n

The ATP announced Wednesday that it is tweaking its rankings rules with an eye to restoring the regular 52-week system fully by August 2022. <\/p>\n

The men's tour also said it will add about $5 million to prize money being offered between now and June at some smaller tournaments by increasing payouts that had been cut to 50% because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

As for WTA prize money, Simon said in his statement: "In addition to the over $3 million in relief we provided to players in 2020, the WTA has assisted both players and tournaments by subsidizing 100% of the onsite prize money in 2021 through the utilization of broadcast revenues, bonus pool re-allocations and central organizational funding as we feel very strongly in supporting both of our members during these challenging times."<\/p>\n

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