Coco Gauff stopped Aryna Sabalenka from ending her memorable season by winning the WTA Finals, but the Belarusian is rightly proud of what she achieved in 2024.
Sabalenka started the year with one Grand Slam title and a brief spell at world No. 1 to her name. She came close to finishing as the year-end No. 1 last year, but Iga Swiatek overtook the 26-year-old by winning the 2023 WTA Finals.
After winning her second Australian Open title to start the season, Sabalenka's form dipped in the following months. She also had to withdraw from Wimbledon because of an injury issue.
However, Sabalenka made a sage decision not to compete at the Olympics. That allowed the world No. 1 to regain some form by starting her North American hardcourt season earlier than most players.
After winning a few matches at the Citi Open and the Canadian Open, Sabalenka secured the Cincinnati Open title. The Belarusian rode that momentum to win her first US Open title a few weeks later.
That success was not followed by a drop in intensity because one of Sabalenka's biggest goals was to finish the season as the year-end world No. 1. She made that hope more likely by winning the Wuhan Open last month for the third time.
Sabalenka overtook Swiatek at No. 1 in the rankings due to a controversial WTA rule about playing six mandatory WTA 500 tournaments. Both women were penalized by having the points from their lowest-earning events removed.
That punishment hurt Swiatek more, and the points the Pole lost allowed Sabalenka to regain the No. 1 spot. The US Open champion had a more than 1,000-point lead before the WTA Finals after Swiatek also dropped the points she earned from winning last year's season-ending event.
Sabalenka was officially confirmed as the year-end No. 1 when Swiatek lost to Gauff in the round-robin stage of the WTA Finals. That meant Sabalenka's only target left was winning the tournament for the first time.
However, Gauff ended those hopes by beating her 7-6, 6-3 in the semifinal. Nonetheless, Sabalenka reflected with pride on her superb season during a press conference after losing to the American.
"I think I achieved a lot this season, and there is no room for disappointment, I believe. I just have to be proud of myself. I won two majors, became world No. 1, finished the year world No. 1 as I wanted last year."
"Just super excited for next year and just want to push myself in those extra moments where I didn't close matches I had to close. So just going to keep working on my game, keep working mentally and make sure I'm fresh at the beginning of the season, and make sure sure that I'll bring my best tennis in Australia again."
The world No. 1 also spoke very graciously about Gauff, admitting she hopes the 20-year-old wins the final against Qinwen Zheng.
"I have respect for her, you know. She's a fighter, she's a great player, she's a nice person. So, I just wish her best of luck in the finals and I really hope she's going to get this match. She deserves it."