Gauff Maintains Olympics Race Lead Ahead Of Sabalenka And Swiatek

| by Nurein Ahmed

Coco Gauff remained in the driver's seat in the Olympics Race, ahead of the world's top two players, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.

The young American can stretch her lead over second-placed Sabalenka at the Qatar Open. The Belarusian has withdrawn from the first WTA 1000 event of the season.

Gauff, who has 5,855 points, edged Sabalenka by precisely 100 points. The 19-year-old has never played at the Olympic Games. She missed the chance to represent her country in Tokyo in 2021 due to a positive Covid-19 test.

Swiatek, however, can mathematically overtake Gauff and take control of the race, but the outcome is not within her control. The Pole is third on the list, with 4,990 points ahead of her Doha title defense this week. Swiatek was knocked out in the second round at the Tokyo Olympics.

Osaka Reveals How Gauff & Sabalenka Inspire Her To Improve
Osaka Reveals How Gauff & Sabalenka Inspire Her To Improve

Jessica Pegula, currently on an injury hiatus, is fourth, with Marketa Vondrousova down in fifth. Qinwen Zheng is ranked sixth, but the Chinese star has qualified for the Olympic tennis tournament by winning the Asian Games last year.

Elena Rybakina is assured to be Kazakhstan's No. 1 player and is seventh in the race. She lost the bronze medal match to Elina Svitolina at the last Olympic Games. Ons Jabeur is the highest-ranked African player, currently ranked 8th in the race.

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old Svitolina will be looking to do even better this summer. She is currently in the running to qualify (20th) and potentially as Ukraine's top-ranked player and flagbearer.

The cut-off entry is 56, which means some countries with many representatives in the world's Top 56 of the race can only choose their four-best ranked players.

Countries like the Czech Republic and the USA might have to leave out several of their most talented players, who meet the ranking criteria but not the stipulation.

The defending women's gold medalist is Belinda Bencic. However, the Swiss is on a maternity break, and it is unlikely she will be ready to compete by then. The Olympics tennis tournament will kick off on July 27th and run till August 4th at Stade Roland Garros.

Swiatek Keeps World No. 1 Spot Under Control In Latest WTA Rankings
Swiatek Keeps World No. 1 Spot Under Control In Latest WTA Rankings

2024 Olympics Women's Race as of February 12, 2024:

Rank Player Points
1 Coco Gauff 5865
2 Aryna Sabalenka 5755
3 Iga Swiatek 5110
4 Jessica Pegula 4045
5 Marketa Vondrousova 3360
6 Qinwen Zheng 3193
7 Elena Rybakina 3148
8 Ons Jabeur 3025
9 Jelena Ostapenko 2725
10 Maria Sakkari 2593
11 Daria Kasatkina 2514
12 Liudmila Samsonova 2169
13 Madison Keys 1922
14 Ekaterina Alexandrova 1858
15 Barbora Krejcikova 1746
16 Beatriz Haddad Maia 1639
17 Emma Navarro 1602
18 Caroline Garcia 1565
19 Karolina Muchova 1510
20 Jasmine Paolini 1415
21 Elina Svitolina 1415
22 Veronika Kudermetova 1389
23 Linda Noskova 1322
24 Dayana Yastremska 1321
25 Katerina Siniakova 1177
26 Victoria Azarenka 1163
27 Elise Mertens 1140
28 Marta Kostyuk 1114
29 Leylah Fernandez 1089
30 Marie Bouzkova 1078
31 Clara Burel 1074
32 Petra Kvitova 1070
33 Xinyu Wang 1049
34 Lin Zhu 1047
35 Sorana Cirstea 992
36 Katie Boulter 988
37 Donna Vekic 983
38 Sofia Kenin 974
39 Anna Kalinskaya 964
40 Ana Bogdan 942
41 Mirra Andreeva 938
42 Yue Yuan 926
43 Cristina Bucsa 917
44 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 900
45 Danielle Collins 890
46 Magdalena Frech 889
47 Arantxa Rus 877
48 Lesia Tsurenko 868
49 Viktorija Golubic 861
50 Tamara Korpatsch 856
51 Tatjana Maria 855
52 Caroline Dolehide 852
53 Magda Linette 842
54 Ashlyn Krueger 829
55 Diana Shnaider 823
56 Xiyu Wang 777
57 Sara Sorribes Tormo 772
58 Belinda Bencic 772
59 Lucia Bronzetti 762
60 Diane Parry 761
61 Anhelina Kalinina 760
62 Anna Blinkova 744
63 Harriet Dart 742
64 Yafan Wang 739
65 Nadia Podoroska 721
66 Jodie Burrage 714
67 Anastasia Potapova 714
68 Zhuoxuan Bai 710
69 Oceane Dodin 705
70 Petra Martic 685
71 Erika Andreeva 680
72 Viktoriya Tomova 679
73 Yulia Putintseva 674
74 Laura Siegemund 660
75 Jaqueline Cristian 658
76 Elisabetta Cocciaretto 652
77 Martina Trevisan 648
78 Karolina Pliskova 645
79 Brenda Fruhvirtova 644
80 Marina Bassols Ribera 642
81 Renata Zarazua 640
82 Sloane Stephens 639
83 Alize Cornet 637
84 Maria Timofeeva 601
85 Greet Minnen 598
86 Aliaksandra Sasnovich 597
87 Arina Rodionova 596
88 Taylor Townsend 594
89 Emina Bektas 565
90 Nao Hibino 553
91 Darja Semenistaja 551
92 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 551
93 Elina Avanesyan 538
94 Clara Tauson 526
95 Mai Hontama 525
96 Kaja Juvan 522
97 Daria Saville 519
98 McCartney Kessler 497
99 Rebeka Masarova 491
100 Varvara Gracheva 486

Read the full article

Just in

Look at more articles