WTA Tour changes ranking system

St. Petersburg: The four Grand Slams and a tournament at Key Biscayne, Florida are becoming "mandatory'' events on the WTA Tour, meaning they'll count in the rankings no matter how a player fares. Under the tour's old rules, a player's ranking was based on her top 17 performances - so a first-round exit at a major, for example, could be left out of the points calculation. In changes to the WTA Tour rankings announced on Wednesday, players ranked high enough to go into the main draw at the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and Nasdaq-100 Open will be automatically entered into those events. Any eligible player who doesn't compete in one of the five tournaments will get zero points factored into her ranking. The other change is that quality points are being eliminated from the rankings. Those gave more value to victories over higher-ranked opponents. (AP)