ONE continued powerhouse, two nations with great depth, and a couple that are held up by top-end stars, Rookie Me Central presents five WTA Tour nations that impressed with overall titles in 2021. The five included won four or more singles titles in 2021.

#1 United States

Total Top 100 Singles Players: 16
2021 Singles Titles: 5 (eq. 2nd)
2021 Total Titles: 17 (1st)

Far and away the dominant nation inside the Top 100 WTA Tour rankings, the United States is the only country with double-figure representatives. A whopping 16 players in the Top 100 – eight in the Top 50 – and the most total titles across all formats, and the nation still remains the most powerful in terms of depth. The question marks remain over which players will be there at the pointy end of tournaments, with four of the five singles titles coming at the 250 level, and one at the 500 level. Despite having a down year, 23-year-old Sofia Kenin is the nation’s highest ranked player, with Coco Gauff, Jennifer Brady and Jessica Pegula among the big improvers this year.

#2 Czech Republic

Total Top 100 Singles Players: 8
2021 Singles Titles: 4 (eq. 3rd)
2021 Total Titles: 14 (2nd)

Breaking through for a Grand Slam win this year, Barbora Krejcikova came from the clouds in 2021 to finish the top ranked Czech. She was outside the Top 60 at the start of the year, but a breakout season saw her leapfrog her contemporaries such as Karolina Pliskova, Petra Kvitova and Marketa Vondrousova. In stark contrast to the Americans, the Czechs do have plenty right up the pointy end, with as many as three Top 10 players at one stage, and seven of their eight representatives inside the Top 50.

#3 Russia

Total Top 100 Singles Players: 8
2021 Singles Titles: 4 (eq. 3rd)
2021 Total Titles: 10 (4th)

Despite being level with the Czech Republic on total Top 100 singles players and singles titles for the 2021 season, Russia is still third overall on this list just because their representatives are further down the order. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova comes in at number 12 as the nation’s top representative, but then there are four others in quick succession with Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Liudmila Samsonova.

#4 Australia

Total Top 100 Singles Players: 3
2021 Singles Titles: 6 (eq. 1st)
2021 Total Titles: 11 (3rd)

Realistically Australia could just be renamed to Ash Barty, with a list of her accomplishments, having won five titles in 2021. Wimbledon, two WTA 1000 tournaments and a couple of WTA 500 events helped the world number one retain the position for a third straight year, and rank Australia equal first for overall titles. The Australian depth is still a huge question mark though with only two other players – Ajla Tomljanovic and Astra Sharma – inside the Top 100.

#5 Spain

Total Top 100 Singles Players: 4
2021 Singles Titles: 6 (eq. 1st)
2021 Total Titles: 6 (8th)

Much like Australia, Spain does not have the depth of the top three nations, and the bulk of the work was done by Garbine Muguruza and Paula Badosa late in the year. They are equal first for overall singles titles, but did not win a Grand Slam, though Muguruza triumphed in the WTA Finals event. She helped draw the nation level with Australia for singles titles, and surprisingly, it was the only format where Spain won a title. Like Australia, Spain have minimal Top 100 players – which might come as a surprise – with only Sara Sorribes Tormo and Nuria Parrizas Diaz rounding out that group.

OTHERS

The sixth nation to win four or more titles is Estonia, but that was just Anett Kontaveit who won four titles in her last six tournaments, and is the only Top 100 player for the nation. Belgium won three singles titles – but nine overall – led by Elise Mertens, whilst Japan – just Naomi Osaka‘s Australian Open in singles – triumphed for seven overall titles, six of which were in doubles. Romania – which has Simona Halep as its top ranked player – won seven titles, five of which came in doubles.