Ranking Reaction: Fiona Ferro cracks Top 50 as WTA rankings unfreeze

The WTA rankings were officially unfrozen on Monday after the first tour-level event of tennis’ return took place in Palermo, and Fiona Ferro—who won the title—made her Top 50 debut.

The 23-year-old Frenchwoman rose from No. 53 to No. 44, jumping past her previous career-high of No. 52, which she set in February just a few weeks before the rankings were frozen in March.

Ferro also became the new French No. 2, moving past Caroline Garcia, who's ranked No. 47. And she’s only two spots away from French No. 1 Kristina Mladenovic, who’s currently at No. 42.

Rankings aren’t really on Ferro’s list of goals, though.

“I don’t really like to have ranking goals, because in the past it used to put too much pressure on me,” she said in her post-match press conference. “So this result doesn’t really change anything—I’m still going to work as hard as I was before, and I’ll try to work hard to get some more trophies.

“I think it’s just better to focus on the things that I can improve in my game.”

Ferro won’t have to wait long to go for another WTA trophy, as she’s playing the Prague Open this week. World No. 2 Simona Halep is the top seed at the International-level clay-court event.

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Another player who made a noteworthy move on the WTA rankings on Monday was Anett Kontaveit, who moved back into the Top 20—from No. 22 to No. 20—after reaching the final in Palermo. Kontaveit, who reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open earlier this year, set a career-high ranking of No. 14 last year, making her the highest-ranked Estonian in WTA history.

And Petra Martic, who reached the semifinals in Palermo before falling to Kontaveit, inched up from No. 15 to No. 14, a return to her previous career-high ranking, which she set in January.

Another effect of the WTA rankings being unfrozen is Ashleigh Barty’s reign at No. 1 officially continues now. She had previously spent 35 career weeks at the top spot: seven from June 24 to August 11, 2019, and 28 from September 9, 2019 to March 22, 2020, when the rankings were frozen.

The Australian spends her 36th career week at No. 1 on the WTA rankings this week.