Ex-top 10 player falls to her lowest ranking in four years after admitting being at ‘breaking point’

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The latest update on the WTA rankings has heavily impacted this former top 10 player.

Two main tour events were taking place over the past week, with a WTA 500 level tournament in Ningbo and a WTA 250 caliber event in Osaka.

Leylah Fernandez won the Japan Open for the first time in her career after beating Tereza Valentova in the final.

While in Ningbo, Elena Rybakina kept herself in the race to the WTA Finals after winning her second title of the season, while last year’s champion has suffered a significant ranking drop.

Daria Kasatkina falls to her lowest ranking in over four years after ending her season

Daria Kasatkina has a career-high ranking of world number eight and also began the 2025 season ranked inside the world’s top 10.

However, her results have not managed to reflect that ranking, with Kasatkina only winning 19 of her 41 matches this year.

These struggles were all explained in a recent social media post when Kasatkina announced she was prematurely ending her season after admitting she had reached her breaking point.

Kasatkina ending her season early meant that she would not be present to defend her title at the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo.

As a result, the 28-year-old has dropped 500 ranking points this week and has fallen 13 places down to world number 35.

This is Kasatkina’s lowest ranking since 2021, and could be particularly impactful at the Australian Open next year.

Despite her struggles in 2025, Kasatkina has been able to reach at least the third round at every Grand Slam this year.

However, with her new ranking, this means that she will be outside the seeded places and could be dealt a much tougher draw at the Australian Open.

New Australian number one crowned after Daria Kasatkina drops title

There is also another significance to this ranking shift for Russian-born Kasatkina, who switched nationality to Australia earlier this year.

Since her nationality change, Kasatkina has been the Australian number one, but that is no longer the case after her recent drop.

Kasatkina falling to world number 35 means that up-and-coming teenager Maya Joint has become the Australian number one for the first time in her career.

This is unlikely to change until next year, with Kasatkina dropping another 108 points next week, while Joint only has 40 points to defend and is playing the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo.

The closest Australian player to Joint and Kasatkina is Ajla Tomljanovic, who is currently the world number 89.