Spaniard Garbine Muguruza will be the World No. 1 on Monday. That is guaranteed despite her exit from the 2017 US Open in the fourth round. Recent developments that have helped Muguruza get to No. 1 include losses for Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova. Svitolina's elimination from the US Open is old news, while the Czech player fell to Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday.
Pliskova was a short-term No. 1
The result of that match will bring to Pliskova's reign on top of the world to an end, at least for the time being.
Her stay was a relatively short one and totaled only eight weeks since originally getting to top spot in mid-July. She certainly didn't do anything significant on the all-time list for cumulative weeks. Pliskova is still three weeks behind Venus Williams, who has thus far has been ranked No. 1 for 11 weeks in her career. Pliskova also continued a trend on the women's tour, one that has seen the World No. 1 player fail to win a tournament.
You still have to go back to Wimbledon 2016 to find a time when the top women's player in the world actually won a tournament. At that time, Serena Williams was ranked No. 1 when she won the title at the All England Club. Williams would fall in a couple tournaments after that, Angelique Kerber would subsequently lose in over a dozen tournaments as the World No.
1, and Pliskova has now fallen in three events as the top-ranked player. The three players' totals include 19 events that the World No. 1 has entered post-Wimbledon 2016. Their tournament records are a compiled 0-19. Certainly, the World No. 1 player doesn't always win tournaments, but that stat is still out of line with what tennis fans have come to expect.
Muguruza should be active in the tournaments ahead for the balance of the season and she will try to end that trend.
Muguruza could be in for the long term
Muguruza could certainly be in line for an extended stay on top of the world. She is only 23 years old, her talent is immense, and a lot of the ranking points affiliated with her rise to the top are ones she recently earned.
For instance, the ranking points Muguruza earned for titles at Wimbledon and in Cincinnati will stay with her for the next 10 to 11 months. The start of Pliskova's reign contrasted that situation as the Czech player assumed the No. 1 ranking with points that she had earned in 2016, points she was in danger of dropping at the time of her ascension.
Muguruza did not do well in late 2016 with poor results in Tokyo, Wuhan, Beijing, Linz, and Singapore last season. What that means is that she has a lot of room for growth in 2017 still and can thereby pad her lead on top of the rankings. Don't be surprised if her stay on top of women's tennis is a lengthy one, especially with Serena Williams on maternity leave and returning to tennis in unclear form in 2018 at an advanced age for athletes. It may be Madison Keys, a player still alive in the 2017 Us Open at time of writing, that emerges as Muguruza's main competitor for top spot.
