Women's Tennis:
Women's Tennis - Season Archive 2012
The season archive consists of a short summary, an overview of news items (not available for 2012) and a list of rankings (which for 2012 is a selection).
Season Summary
The 2012 season saw a very good start for Victoria Azarenka, who rose to a 5996 rating after Indian Wells (March 18). Azarenka was #1 from the Australian Open until the French Open. Agnieszka Radwanska also had a very good start to the season, only losing to Azarenka in the first months.
The clay court season saw the rise of Maria Sharapova, who won the French Open and claimed the #1 position as a result.
Serena Williams claimed the top spot by winning Wimbledon, and built a sizable lead by winning the Olympics, the US Open and the WTA Championships as well. She ended the season with a record rating of 6055.
The rising stars of 2012 (top 10) were:
| # | Player | Start rating | End rating | Difference |
| 1 | Hsieh Su-Wei | 4575 | 5048 | +473 |
| 2 | Hampton | 4705 | 5068 | +363 |
| 3 | Giorgi | 4581 | 4921 | +340 |
| 4 | Kerber | 5253 | 5582 | +329 |
| 5 | Robson | 4806 | 5134 | +328 |
| 6 | Radwanska, U. | 4822 | 5136 | +314 |
| 7 | Wozniak | 4907 | 5209 | +302 |
| 8 | Errani | 5179 | 5469 | +290 |
| 9 | Barthel | 4884 | 5171 | +287 |
| 10 | Lepchenko | 4932 | 5210 | +278 |
The biggest downfalls of 2012 came from Francesca Schiavone (-328), Jarmila Gajdosova (-304) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (-283).
List of rankings
The November 6, 2011 ranking marks the end of 2011 and the start of 2012. The November 11, 2012 ranking marks the end of 2012 and the start of 2013.