THIS MONTH: Just in time for Christmas, the end-of-year alternative women's rankings. The Tour Championship final was again between Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport, but this time Davenport was an eady winner. Davenport is barely behind Serena Williams on the final 1999 list, with Martina Hingis slightly ahead of that pair.

While a lot of the same faces occupy similar places to last year, and seem to have found their level (witness Elena Likhovtseva at 25, Conchita Martinez at 12, and Sabine Appelmans at 31 after a topsy-turvy year), some players have genuinely lifted their game to an unprecedented level.

In that list we would not count Magdalena Maleeva, because we knew she was capable of that form (she won the last WTA tournament of the year in Thailand). Nor would we include the strong comeback of Jennifer Capriati, who finishes the year inside the SRI Rankings top 10.

The rise of the unheralded Ines Gorrochategui was quite dramatic: in 1998, she won just 3 matches, losing 6. This year, she went 31-11! But in August 1997, she was on the verge of the SRI Rankings Top 50 Women - this level of performance had been seen before.

Denisa Chladkova's graph is very similar, with fringe appearances in 1997 followed by a tragic 1998. In a streak between January and August, Chladkova won just two matches of 22, to finish as the worst of the qualified players on the SRI Rankings computer. After the U.S. Open, she took a break, but in October announced her return by beating Amy Frazier. Highlights this year included a semi-final at Strasbourg, and quarter-final at Linz, both as a qualifier.

Brie Rippner (up from 126 to 39 in a year, WTA #92), is one with unforeseen promise, and Fabiola Zuluaga's explosion onto the tournament scene (up from 138 to 40 in a year, WTA #48) was well documented.

A quick mention of the Eastern European disappointments of 1999: Irina Spirlea, Mirjana Lucic, and Iva Majoli fell the most. The signs are not promising, but we will continue to track them all in 2000.

SRI Rankings Top 50 Issue #W91 (Year-End Special). 24th Dec 1999
Rank	Name	Rating Points	Rank Change	End of 1998	ATP Rank
1	Martina Hingis	1898	0	2	1
2	Serena Williams	1866	0	9	4
3	Lindsay Davenport	1852	0	1	2
4	Venus Williams	1770	0	4	3
5	Monica Seles	1503	0	5	6
6	Mary Pierce	1334	0	7	5
7	Barbara Schett	1240	+1	22	8
8	Anna Kournikova	1227	-1	10	12
9	Amelie Mauresmo	1180	0	33	10
10	Jennifer Capriati	1151	0	55	23
11	Nathalie Tauziat	1135	0	13	7
12	Conchita Martinez	1102	+4	12	15
13	Jana Novotna	1101	+2	6	(18)
14	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	1100	-2	8	17
15	Kim Clijsters	1096	-1	NQ	47
16	Sandrine Testud	1096	+2	15	13
17	Amy Frazier	1095	0	27	19
18	Chanda Rubin	1092	-5	32	22
19	Dominique van Roost	1075	+1	14	14
20	Anke Huber	1071	+1	17	16
21	Mary Joe Fernandez	1048	+1	46	38
22	Julie Halard-Decugis	1043	-3	21	9
23	Amanda Coetzer	1010	0	18	11
24	Ruxandra Dragomir	995	+1	42	20
25	Elena Likhovtseva	983	-1	25	18
26	Silvia Farina	964	0	29	26
27	Lisa Raymond	957	0	20	28
28	Magdalena Maleeva	957	+3	(161)	77
29	Nathalie Dechy	940	-1	53	25
30	Natasha Zvereva	931	+2	19	27
31	Sabine Appelmans	930	-2	34	30
32	Ai Sugiyama	930	-2	23	24
33	Silvija Talaja	901	+1	47	29
34	Patty Schnyder	892	-1	11	21
35	Karina Habsudova	864	+1	68	45
36	Jelena Dokic	861	+1	NQ	43
37	Ines Gorrochategui	843	+1	(187)	70
38	Corina Morariu	836	+1	51	37
39	Brie Rippner	830	+1	126	92
40	Fabiola Zuluaga	826	+1	138	48
41	Magui Serna	825	+1	26	39
42	Henrieta Nagyova	821	+1	30	32
43	Anne-Gaelle Sidot	819	+1	60	34
44	Denisa Chladkova	818	+3	184	56
45	Nadejda Petrova	813	0	(195)	94
46	Irina Spirlea	811	-11	16	33
47	Kvetoslava Hrdlickova	805	-1	49	44
48	Andrea Glass	797	0	119	81
49	Cristina Torrens Valero	794	0	120	52
50	Barbara Rittner	788	0	44	59
NQ	Justine Henin	1141	NQ	NQ	69
55	Mirjana Lucic	771	0	24	50
61	Anne Kremer	749	+4	70	31

Rating Winners:
Magdalena Maleeva	+31	(W Pattaya 99)
Anne Kremer	+29	(RU Pattaya 99)
Lindsay Davenport	+17	(W Tour Champs. 99, RU 98)
Silvija Talaja	+17	(SF Pattaya 99, SF 98)
Natasha Zvereva	+16	(1R Tour Champs. 98)

Rating Losers:
Irina Spirlea	-70	(SF Tour Champs. 98)
Julie Halard-Decugis	-41	(W Pattaya 98, 1R Tour Champs. 99)
Monica Seles	-28	(QF Tour Champs. 98)
Mary Pierce	-27	(QF Tour Champs. 98, QF 99)
Martina Hingis	-24	(W Tour Champs. 98, RU 99)

[ wo - walkover, wd - withdrew, ret - retired, def - defeated ]

blurb version 3.0