Every year on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, new champions emerge and new faces from various countries surge up the rankings. However, the one constant in recent history is Russia as the dominant country on the women's tennis scene. Players from Russia may not win all the Grand Slams (just one in 2009), but they had more than twice as many Top 100 players in the 2009 year-end rankings as the second-place country and won more than twice as many Tour singles titles as the second-place country. Don't expect the Russians' dominance to diminish anytime soon, as a now-healthy Maria Sharapova should return to prominence and Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva, and Vera Zvonareva are all in their primes.
Players Ranked in 2009 Year-End Top 100 (As of November 9, 2009)
Russia: 15
Czech Republic: 6
France: 6
Germany: 6
Italy: 6
United States: 5
Romania: 4
Spain: 4
Belarus: 3
Belgium: 3
China: 3
England: 3
Slovakia: 3
Switzerland: 3
Ukraine: 3
Australia: 2
Austria: 2
Chinese Taipei: 2
Croatia: 2
Hungary: 2
Japan: 2
Poland: 2
Serbia: 2
Argentina: 1
Bulgaria: 1
Canada: 1
Denmark: 1
Estonia: 1
India: 1
Israel: 1
Kazakhstan: 1
Latvia: 1
Slovenia: 1
Uzbekistan: 1
Notes: Russia had four players in the year-end Top 10. It had the most players it's ever had in the year-end Top 10 in 2008 with five ... The United States has the record with six players in the year-end Top 10 in 1981, 1982 and 1983. In each of those years the Top 4 players were all from the United States. ... There have been at least three Russians ranked in the year-end Top 10 every year since 2004 and at least two every year since 2003.
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Titles in '09
Russia: 13
France: 5
United States: 5
Belarus: 4
Italy: 4
Denmark: 3
Spain: 3
Belgium: 2
Israel: 2
Germany: 2
Hungary: 2
Serbia: 2
Australia: 1
Austria: 1
Czech Republic: 1
Japan: 1
Romania: 1
Slovakia: 1
Switzerland: 1
Thailand: 1
Notes: Six different players captured the 13 titles won by Russians in 2009, led by Safina, Kuznetsova and Dementieva, who each won three ... Players from Russia won eight of the 19 Premier-level events in 2009. No other country had more than two ... Russia has won four of the past six Fed Cups.
