Williams tops WTA Year-End rankings for the first time since 2009, and third time in career

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  Errani/Vinci achieve WTA Year-End No.1 in back-to-back seasons

ISTANBUL, TURKEY – The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) today honored Serena Williams and the doubles team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci as the WTA’s Year-End World No.1s in singles and doubles, presented by Dubai Duty Free.

The players received their year-end No.1 trophies, presented by Salah Tahlak, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Dubai Duty Free, during an on-court presentation at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships-Istanbul.

“Serena, Sara and Roberta have had outstanding seasons,” said Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the WTA. “They are truly inspirational women whose hard work and dedication has taken them to the very top of the game, and their feats continue to motivate many young athletes around the world.”

“Dubai Duty Free congratulates Serena, Sara and Roberta on reaching the pinnacle of the sport in singles and doubles,» said Mr. Tahlak, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Dubai Duty Free. “We are delighted to present these players with their Year-End No.1 trophies which symbolizes outstanding results in 2013. We are a proud partner of the WTA and look forward to welcoming all three players back to Dubai in 2014.”

Williams has accumulated a personal-best 10 singles titles during 2013, including two Grand Slams. She has earned this honor for the third time in her illustrious career, having also topped the rankings in 2002 and 2009. With 56 career titles, Williams is now seventh on the all-time list of most titles won.

Her $3.6 million prize money payout from the US Open is the largest single prize money purse in tennis history, and is projected to be the first woman to reach $10 million in a single season, pushing her career earnings past $51 million. Her 76-4 win-loss record for the season includes a career-best 34-match win streak.

The American becomes the seventh player to finish the season as the WTA’s year-end No.1 three or more times during her career, joining Steffi Graf (8), Martina Navratilova (7), Chris Evert (5), Lindsay Davenport (4), Justine Henin (3) and Martina Hingis (3).

Errani and Vinci have captured three titles in 2013, highlighted by winning the Grand Slam doubles title at the Australian Open and finishing as runners-up at Roland Garros. Their other titles came at the Open GDF Suez [Paris Indoors] and Qatar Total Open (Doha). They also reached a further two finals at the Apia International Sydney and Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome). As a result of their success, they return to Turkey as the top-seeded doubles team at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships – Istanbul for the second year in a row. They are the first doubles team to finish Year-end No.1 in back-to-back seasons since Cara Black and Liezel Huber achieved feat three straight years in 2007-2009.

First teaming up on a regular basis in 2010, Errani and Vinci collected a total of 16 doubles titles as a team throughout their career. Both also have three more titles with different partners, bringing their individual doubles title count to 19 each.

The Italians achieved strong seasons in 2013 in both singles and doubles. In singles, Errani made her Top 5 debut following her SF run in Rome (becoming the second Italian after Schiavone to rank in Top 5). Meanwhile, Vinci reached a career-best singles ranking of No.11, whilst winning her 8th and 9th career singles titles, at the BNP Paribas Katowice Open and XXVI Italiacom Open (Palermo), where she defeated Errani in the final, having lost five previous matches to her friend. The Italians each ascended to the No.1 ranking in 2012, Errani was the first of the pair to reach the top spot on September 10, 2012, while Vinci took over from her on October 1, 2012. The team have now been co-ranked world No.1 since April 29, 2013.