How Do Tennis Rankings Work?
6 min read
Rankings add up points earned at tournaments over a rolling period, usually 52 weeks. Bigger events award more points, and the best results count toward a player's total.
Ranking points come from results
Players earn ranking points by winning matches at sanctioned tournaments. The further a player goes in a draw, the more points that tournament awards, and larger tournaments award more points than smaller ones.
Friendly matches, practice sets and unsanctioned events do not earn ranking points.
The rolling ranking period
Most ranking systems use a rolling 52-week period. Points earned at a tournament stay on a player's total for a year and then drop off, usually when the same tournament is played again.
This means rankings reward consistency: a player must keep repeating or improving results to protect a ranking position.
Counting tournaments
Many systems count only a player's best results — for example the best six, eight or eighteen tournaments in the period. Playing more events than that does not automatically raise a ranking; better results do.
Some systems also apply mandatory events, bonus points for beating higher-ranked opponents, or an average rather than a total.
Seeding and entry
Rankings decide two practical things: whether a player gets into a tournament draw, and whether that player is seeded. Seeding keeps the strongest players apart in the early rounds.
Where a ranking is missing or too low, players can enter qualifying draws or receive a wild card from the organiser.
Junior and national rankings
Junior rankings work the same way but are organised by age group, such as under-12, under-14, under-16 and under-18. National federations also publish domestic rankings that feed national team selection and national championship entry.
A young player usually climbs a national junior ranking first, then adds regional and international events as the level rises.