Ashleigh Barty has officially clinched the World No. 1 ranking for the entire 2021 season. This will be Barty’s third year in a row with the WTA World No. 1 ranking at the end of the year.
However, the Australian just announced her resignation from the remainder of the season, which includes the WTA finals in Mexico.
Ashleigh Barty has now matched Serena Williams’ long-standing record of finishing World No. 1 for three consecutive years, thanks to her outstanding position in 2021.
However, unlike Barty, some tennis fans believe Williams fought hard for the title. Because to the fixed ranking methodology, the Australian remained number one in 2020.
Serena Williams’ record is matched by Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh Barty, an Australian, set a number of records in the 2021 season. She won the title in Cincinnati, Stuttgart, Miami, and Melbourne, among other places.
She also won the Wimbledon Championships in London, her second major Slam of her career, in addition to her wins. As previously stated, she has also maintained her World No. 1 ranking in 2021.
Following this, Ashleigh Barty has remained at the top of the rankings for the third year in a row. She first achieved her goal in June of this year, as per reports on Yahoo Sports.
Since then, the Australian has been able to hold on to her preferred spot. Surprisingly, she has now tied Serena Williams’ record of holding the World No. 1 ranking for the third year in a row.
Many tennis fans, on the other hand, have expressed their dissatisfaction with this. Serena Williams, they claim, put in a lot of effort to reach this milestone.
On the other hand, because to the frozen ranking system in the pandemic year 2020, Barty has remained at the top of the rankings. This dispute has raged among hardcore fans for a long time.
Apart from Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty, three other players have won the World No. 1 ranking for three consecutive seasons.
Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert have all reached this impressive milestone.
Despite having had a spectacular year, Ashleigh Barty has announced her resignation from the rest of the season, including the WTA finals in Mexico.
She has chosen to remain in Australia because she has been away from her homeland for a long time.
Read More: Ashleigh Barty expected to withdraw from the WTA Finals in 2021