Johannesburg – South Africa's top-ranked men's and women's tennis players both dropped in the global rankings this year, having had mixed fortunes through the season, with both of their 2012 campaigns having come to an end.
Kevin Anderson, the SA men's number one, climbed three places to 36th in the latest ATP list released on Monday. He had started the year ranked 32nd.
With only the top eight players in the world invited to compete at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals this week, Anderson completed his year by reaching the third round of the ATP World Tour Masters in Paris last week.
His best performance this year came at the Delray Beach 250
series event in Florida in February, where he defeated Australian Marinko Matosevic in the final to lift the title, and in March he rose to 28th position – the highest global ranking in his career.
Anderson had mixed fortunes in the four Grand Slam tournaments this season, reaching the third round at the Australian Open in January and the French Open in May before he was eliminated in the opening round of the main singles draw at Wimbledon in June and the US Open in August.
He was the only SA men's player who finished the year ranked among the top 200 in the world.
Meanwhile, SA women's number one Chanelle Scheepers climbed one position to 60th in the latest WTA rankings on Monday, despite also missing out on the season-ending event on the women's tour.
Scheepers completed her campaign by reaching the third round of the HP Open in Osaka, Japan, in October.
She started the season in 38th place, but she had fallen 22
places when the list was updated this week after the final event of the season.
Scheepers struggled in Grand Slam events in 2012. She was knocked out in the first round of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, though she did progress to the second round of the French Open.
Despite dropping some form after a breakthrough season in 2011, Scheepers remained far and away the best SA women's player, with Chanel Simmonds, in 178th position, the only other South African ranked in the top 600 by the WTA. – Sapa