Aryna Sabalenka will end the year as world number 1 for the first time, 12 months after relinquishing that honor during the latter stages of the season.
3-6, 4-6 defeat of Iga Swiatek against Coco Gauff at WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia leaves Sabalenka with an insurmountable lead at the top of the rankings WTA Rankingeven if Swiatek lifts the trophy for the second year in a row.
Sabalenka won her first two round-robin matches – against Zheng Qinwen and Jasmine Paolini – which increased her lead over Swiatek to 1,446 points. Swiatek won her first match against Barbora Krejcikova, but losing the second means she is now 1,246 points behind Sabalenka with just 1,100 to play:
Sabalenka could have secured the year-end top spot by beating Elena Rybakina in her final round-robin match on Wednesday, regardless of Swiatek’s results. Her two victories in Riyadh also erase the unexpected nature of Swiatek’s fall, announced Monday October 21 after both players lost points for not having played enough WTA 500 level tournaments throughout the season.
“I was like, ‘How? What happened?’ My boyfriend actually said to me, “Oh, congratulations, you’ve become number one in the world.” “I’m like, ‘What?'” she told a news conference in Riyadh.
Astonishing consistency through Grand Slams and on hard courts has propelled Sabalenka, 26, to the top of the rankings, even though she missed Wimbledon with a shoulder injury. She held her Australian Open title in January and won his first US Open in September, beating Zheng Qinwen And Jessica Pegula respectively. A smooth run to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros ended with illness and a loss to Mirra Andreeva, before Sabalenka missed Wimbledon and the 2024 Paris Olympics. She reached the semifinals or better in seven of the last eight major tournaments in which she participated.
Since returning to the Citi Open in Washington, DC, Sabalenka has won 26 of 29 matches played, sandwiching her US Open title by winning the WTA 1000 Cincinnati and Wuhan Opens. She has four titles this year to Swiatek’s five, and a win rate of 82 percent to 87 for Swiatek, who lost 1,100 points by missing the China Open in Beijing for personal reasons, in the midst of a break with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and his replacement by Wim Fissette. Sabalenka’s superior performances in major tournaments in 2024 (4,430 points compared to 2,690) have propelled her to the top.
She also overcame the doubts caused by what happened 12 months ago. She then entered the WTA Tour Finals with a lead in the rankings over Swiatek, having overtaken him at the end of the season. Both players reached the semi-finals, but Swiatek prevailed undefeated, beating Sabalenka and then Pegula to win the title and regain the world rankings, which she would not relinquish for another 50 weeks.
Speaking at the start of this year’s event, she said she came to Riyadh with a different mindset: “I’m more experienced. I believe I can be the best player in the world – it’s just the way I carry myself.
“It’s not about rankings: my results show that I can be the best in the world.”
From now on, the ranking corresponds to his beliefs.
This article was originally published in Athletics.
Tennis, Women’s Tennis
2024 The Athletic Media Society
