Naomi Osaka slips out of top five in WTA Rankings, Ashleigh Barty grabs top spot

Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka has slipped out of the top five in the latest WTA singles rankings. Osaka, who was in the fifth spot, dropped three places down to occupy the eighth position in the latest rankings. The four-time grand slam champion now has 4326 points to her name. Meanwhile, Australia's Ashleigh Barty retained her top spot in the WTA rankings with 10075 points. The latest entrant in the top five is Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova, who moved two places up to attain Osaka's fifth spot. 

Despite winning the Australian Open title earlier this year, Osaka has had a turbulent 2021 season. Osaka withdrew from French Open citing mental wellbeing as the reason and then opted out of Wimbledon as well. After a mid-season break from tennis, the 23-year-old returned to take part in the Olympics, the US Open, and Cincinnati Open only to lose all of them in the third round. After facing a defeat in the US Open, Osaka announced another hiatus from the sport. 

Simona Halep slips 3 places down to 14

American player Sofia Kenin also lost her spot in the latest rankings update as she dropped down from the sixth to seventh position. Former world number one Simona Halep lost three places in the latest rankings as she slipped from 11th to the 14th position. Halep missed most of the 2021 season due to calf injury, which is the primary reason for her downfall in the latest rankings. Belinda Bencic, Maria Sakkari, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova have moved one place each to 11th, 12th, and 13th positions, respectively. 

Image: AP