5 players with the most ranking points to lose due to the 6-week suspension of the WTA Tour

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has announced the cancellation of all tournaments scheduled in the remainder of March and the month of April in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Events in Stuttgart, Istanbul, and Prague will not take place as planned, following the cancellations of the Indian Wells Open, Charleston Open, and Miami Open, along with events in Bogota and Guadalajara.

The suspension will mean that the players will miss out on the second WTA premier mandatory event in Miami, and a couple of other premier tournaments in April. As per rankings guidelines, players are liable to lose all the points earned during this time last year. The top five players who are set to face the brunt of this in the coming weeks are:

#5 Petra Kvitova (685 points approx.)

Czech star Petra Kvitova had a rocketing start to the 2019 season and was the first woman on tour to win two titles. The second one came on the red clay in Stuttgart, but unfortunately she will not be able to defend those points following the tournament's cancellation this year.

Add a quarter-final in Miami and that's 700 points that Kvitova stands to lose. It's a good thing for the 2-time Wimbledon champion that she does not have too many points to defend in the back half of the season.

#4 Angelique Kerber (870 points approx.)

The finals showing in Indian Wells meant a huge rankings boost for the former world no. 1 Angelique Kerber. But the cancellation of the premier tournament will see her slip down the rankings significantly. A semi-final and quarter-final in two tournaments last April will further mount trouble for the German who is already struggling for form in this season.

#3 Karolina Pliskova (875 points approx.)

Karolína Plíšková had a successful few weeks in March 2019, making the finals in Miami and the quarters in Indian Wells. She stands to lose 800 plus points in just these two tournaments. Luckily for Pliskova, that's almost all of the extent of her losses as she did not play too much tennis in April last year.

#2 Bianca Andreescu (1000 points approx.)

Bianca Andreescu's breakthrough run in Indian Wells was her first major claim to the elite league. Although she had withdrawn from the tournament this year before cancellation, she still stands to lose 1000 ranking points.

#1 Ashleigh Barty (1100 points approx.)

Current world number 1 Ashleigh Barty reached the fourth round of the Indian Wells last year, before going all the way in Miami just two weeks later. Her very successful month of March 2019 directly translates to huge losses in terms of ranking points this year, which total to about 1100, the most for any player in these 6 weeks of shutdown announced by the WTA.