The Wuhan Open is the final WTA 1000 event of the 2026 season and there is good news for most players in terms of points they will drop, but Elena Rybakina is not one of the fortunate ones.

The WTA uses a rolling 52-week, cumulative system to determine the rankings and it means the points players earned at the corresponding period or tournament 12 months ago are removed in the Live WTA Rankings every week.

Of course, the players can then earn points for their round-by-round progression at the current event, but they will only earn the same amount of points if they equal their results from a year ago.

For example, if player A earned 250 points in 2025, but only earns 100 points this year, they end up with a negative of -150.

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Now, to make the situation a little more perplexing, the Wuhan Open took place a week earlier last year and points from the 2025 edition were removed last week.

So players are NOT defending points from the 2025 Wuhan Open at the, erm, 2026 Wuhan Open, but from the Ningbo Open and Japan Open as those events took place during the week of 13 Ocotber.

But that is not all, some players are defending points from their 18th-best result as players’ best results from a maximum of 18 tournaments are used to determine the rankings.

Points The Big-Name Players Will Drop

Elena Rybakina – 500

Rybakina – who won’t play at the Wuhan Open due to a foot injury – is one of the few top players who will drop points and she will drop a lot of points as she won the Ningbo Open 12 months ago.

The three-time Grand Slam winner has a 2,211-point lead over Aryna Sabalenka in the Live Rankings, but that will be down to 1,711 once the 500 points are removed.

Sabalenka, of course, can then reduce the gap further by going deep at this year’s tournament.

Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Marta Kostyuk, Coco Gauff – 0

These players did not feature on the WTA Tour duuring the corresponding period 12 months ago so they won’t drop any points and it does mean Sabalenka could close the gap to Rybakina to just 711 points by winning the title.

Gauff, of course, is the defending champion, but the 1,000 points from last year were removed during the China Open and she won’t be able to make up any of those points as she is not competing in Wuhan this year.

Mirra Andreeva, Elina Svitolina – 10

French Open champion Andreeva and Ukrainian Svitolina didn’t play in Wuhan last year, but they are defending 10 points from their 18th-best result.

Both, though, will automatically earn those 10 points back as they are among the top eight seeds who have received byes into the second round.

A title run for Andreeva coupled with an early exit for Sabalenka could result in the teenager surpassing the Belarusian at No 2 in the rankings.

Linda Noskova, Iga Swiatek – 1

Wimbledon champion Noskova lost in the first round of the Japan Open last year while Swiatek is defending points from her 18th-best result.

They are also guaranteed to earn at least 10 points as they also have byes into the second round.

Belinda Bencic – 108

World No 12 Bencic reached the quarter-finals in Ningbo in 2025 and could drop further down the rankings if she fails to make up those points in Wuhan.

Iva Jovic – 49

Another player who is defending points from her 18th best result, but if you are not already confused, here is another rule to baffle you.

Jovic is keeping her 18th-best result as it is higher than the Wuhan result, which does not need to be counted in her ranking points.

So it’s a case of -49, +49.

Alex Eala – 60

Like Jovic, Eala is also defending points from her 18th-best result, but she will also keep those points as it is higher than the Wuhan result. Of course, if she manages to go deep in Wuhan, then those points will be removed.

The Filipina sits at No 19 in the Live WTA Rankings with 2,276 points after missing the China Open and is currently a couple of hundred points behind Victoria Mboko in 15th place (2,502).

Leylah Fernandez – 250

The Canadian was the other title winner 12 months ago as she won the Japan Open, but that is a WTA 250 event so she will only drop 250 points.