Only Playing In 6 Tournaments Throughout 2021, Serena Williams Eliminated From Top 50 WTA Rankings

Serena Williams (instagram @serenawilliams)

JAKARTA - Serena Williams has been knocked out of the world's top 50 for the first time since 2006. The American tennis player is currently sitting at position 59 in the WTA rankings released last Monday.

The 40-year-old has played just six tournaments in 2021 and has been out of action since being knocked out of the first round at Wimbledon with a foot injury that ended the 23-year-old holder of the Grand Slam title bid to equal Margaret Court's all-time record.

Williams dropped 12 places in the rankings now led by Australian Ashleigh Barty as the Australian Open kicks off in Melbourne.

Grand Slam warm-up tournament winner, Sydney International, Paula Badosa, moved up to sixth, a career-high. The 24-year-old Spaniard started the 2021 season ranked 67th, and reached the quarter-finals of the French Open.

American Madison Keys, a former world number seven, moved up 36 places to 51 after her win at Adelaide International 2, claiming the WTA title more than two and a half years after her last win of the tournament in Cincinnati.

Here are the WTA top 20 rankings.

1. Ashleigh Barty (Australia) 7,111 points

2. Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) 5.698

3. Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 5.425

4. Barbora Krejcikova (Czech) 5,213

5. Karolina Pliskova (Czech) 4,582

6. Paula Badosa (Spain) 4,264 (+3)

7. Anett Kontaveit (Estonia) 4.231

8. Maria Sakkari (Greece) 4,071 (-2)

9. Ribs Swiatek (Poland) 3,916 (-1)

10. Ounces of Jabeur (Tunisia) 3,500

11. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 2,968

12. Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) 2,765 (+1)

13. Sofia Kenin (United States) 2,762 (-1)

14. Naomi Osaka (Japan) 2,696

15. Simona Halep (Romania) 2,657

16. Cori Gauff (United States) 2,655 (+3)

17. Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 2,641 (-1)

18. Emma Raducanu (England) 2,595

19. Petra Kvitova (Czech) 2,530 (+2)

20. Angelique Kerber (Germany) 2,517 (-3)

Some outside the top 20:

51. Madison Keys (United States) 1,153 (+36)

59. Serena Williams (United States) 1,061 (-12)