Ranking rockets: Nadal returns to world No. 1

The WTA season is essentially over, with Ashleigh Barty as the champion in Shenzhen, signaling the end of the regular season. Many players ended their season with career-high rankings. Of course, on the men's side the ATP year-end No. 1 ranking is still up for grabs.

Here are this week's top ranking movers:

1

+1 — No. 2 to No. 1

Despite dropping out of Paris in the semifinals with an injury, and despite then-world No. 1 Novak Djokovic winning the tournament, the Spaniard has managed to pull ahead. It's the 33-year-old's eighth time in the top spot.

2

+0 — Doubles No. 1 to No. 1

While Strycova was already world No. 1 in doubles last week (and first reached the peak in July), her victory at the WTA Finals secured her place as the year-end best player in the world. She won Wimbledon this year with Hsieh Su-Wei, her first Grand Slam title, and they reached the finals in Shenzhen.

3

+0 — No. 1 to No. 1

Another player securing the throne is Barty. She is the first Australian to end a season at No. 1, a honor she earned after defeating Elina Svitolina in the final of the WTA Finals. Starting the season at No. 15, Barty has become the most dominant player on tour, holding the top ranking for 15 weeks and winning the most WTA matches at 56.

4

+2 — No. 8 to No. 6

The WTA Finals runner-up won zero titles this season—though she won four last year—but she'll still finish her third consecutive year inside the Top 6. She nearly defended her title last weekend in her only WTA final appearance of the year.

5

+12 — No. 95 to No. 83

You may have first heard her name when she upset Elise Mertens in Dubai in February. The sixth-best Chinese player in the world started the fall off strong with a quarterfinal run in Nanchang and kept the momentum going. Last week, the 25-year-old won the Liuzhou ITF 60K title (her second ITF title of the year) to reach a career-high ranking of No. 83.