WTA rankings: Muguruza under pressure on grass

Garbine Muguruza got to within one win of reclaiming the No.1 ranking during Roland Garros – now she could be under pressure to maintain a top-five spot.

The 24-year-old Spaniard is the reigning Wimbledon champion and has 2186 ranking points to defend during the grass-court season – the most of any WTA player. This equates to 33 per cent of her current ranking-points total.

Simona Halep, who retained her No.1 ranking by winning her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, has 530 points to defend.

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The Romanian’s Paris performance extended her lead over world No.2 Caroline Wozniacki to 1225 ranking points, guaranteeing she will enter Wimbledon in the top position.

World No.4 Sloane Stephens has not entered any lead-in tournaments before Wimbledon but with only 10 points to defend at the All England Club, the American has the least ranking pressure on her of all top-20 players.

Grass-court season rankings scenario:

One to watch: Magdalena Rybarikova won two ITF titles on grass last year before reaching the Wimbledon semifinals. The Slovakian’s 18-2 win-loss record during this run saw her ranking skyrocket from No.192 to No.33 in the space of six weeks. The 29-year-old is now defending 53 per cent of her current points total on grass.

High expectations: It is no secret five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams thrives on grass courts – but as she celebrates her 38th birthday this week, pressure is also building on her ranking. Last year’s finalist is defending 32 per cent of her current ranking total on grass and after two consecutive Grand Slam first round exits for the first time in her career, the American needs another deep run in London to maintain her top-10 ranking.

In trouble: Former top-five stars Johanna Konta and Svetlana Kuznetsova need to return to form on grass or else their rankings will continue to tumble. Konta, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2017, earned 58 per cent of her current points during last year’s grass swing. The British world No.22 has 1200 points to defend.

No.57-ranked Kuznetsova is defending 530 ranking points, which equates to 55 per cent of her current total. The Russian, who missed the start of this season after wrist surgery, is at risk of falling out of the world’s top 100 for the first time since 2002 if she has a poor grass season.