(UPDATE) THE Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) live rankings can be uplifting during victories and brutal in defeat.
Less than 24 hours after Alex Eala achieved a career-best No. 29 in the official rankings, the live rankings already dropped her to No. 49 Monday evening, a few days before she returns to the WTA 1000 Miami Open.
The live rankings already reflected the expiration of the 390 points the Filipino tennis ace earned last year for her historic semifinal finish at the Miami Open.
Since Eala received a first-round bye and automatically advanced to the round of 64 this year as a 31st seed, the lefty netter secured 10 points already, reducing the 390-point deduction to 380.
From 1,525 ranking points, Eala is left with 1,145.
Points gained from last year expire after 52 weeks (one year) and is replaced by a player’s latest points.
The 20-year-old Eala can regain those points if she matches her semifinal run last year as a wildcard entrant, and even add more if she defies the odds to reach the final or win the title.
The runner-up earns 650 points while the champion wins the full 1000 points.
That translates to a net gain of 260 points if Eala reaches the final and 610 if she wins the title.
On the other hand, if Eala fails to match or surpass last year’s semifinal finish, she will lose significant amount of points.
If Eala reaches the quarterfinals, just one win short of matching her semis run, she will get 215 points.
That would translate to a net loss of 175 ranking points.
A 175-point ranking deduction would drop Eala from the 28th to 32nd ranking range to the 36th to 40th in the official rankings.
Eala’s ranking would drop further if she fails to reach the quarterfinals.
Eala will only get 120 points for a round of 16 finish (270-point deduction from her 390); 65 points for the round of 32 (335-point deduction); 35 points for the round of 64 (365-point reduction).
It’s not so bad
While the potential setback could be crashing, it isn’t so bad for Eala, who was in 140th place entering the Miami Open this time last year.
Should she lose all 390 points, she falls back to No. 49 or No. 50, which is roughly how she finished last season for a then career-best rank.
The silver lining now is that she has seven to eight months to regain those points and break back into the top 30 or even climb higher.