A wooden-spoon list ranks all players in the draw of a tennis-tournament into a total order, based purely on who beats whom in the tournament. Wooden-spoon theory formalises the intuition that it's better to lose to a player who goes on to do well in the tournament than to lose to a player who gets beaten in the next round.

A rigorous explanation of the theory can be found at my website, along with the wooden-spoon lists for women's singles draws at the Majors since 2000.

To receive these wooden-spoon lists by email as they are published, please sign up for Special notices. If you sign up for Individual emails, you will also receive any messages posted by other members.