Aryna Sabalenka has had a sensational start to the 2023 season and it can result in her becoming the World No. 1.
Currently, Iga Swiatek occupies the spot and it's been already 59 weeks since she first became the highest-ranked player on the WTA Tour. In five weeks, she can even match Simona Halep, who is currently away from tennis, but that doesn't have to happen.
Sabalenka was never the World No. 1 in her career but she's very close to the spot now. Only recently, Swiatek said that she's not concerned by the challenge of Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina, as it improves her as a player, but she may be concerned about the Belarusian as she threatens her spot atop the rankings.
At the moment, Sabalenka leads the 2023 WTA Race Rankings, and she leads it by quite some margin. The 2023 Australian Open champion collected already 4840 points this season, with Iga Swiatek having only 3145 points to her name in third position.
Although the Pole now leads the WTA Rankings by 1399 points, she's defending 2000 points from the upcoming Roland Garros as the defending champion, while Sabalenka collected only 130 points at the Grand Slam tournament last year.
That means, that heading into the clay-court major, the Belarusian has an almost 500-point advantage over the current world no. 1. That means, that thanks to the unique nature of the points distribution, Swiatek can lose the world no. 1 spot even if she reaches the quarterfinals and Sabalenka loses in the first round.
There are many scenarios that can play out, but the only safe way for the Pole to retain her World No. 1 spot is also retaining her Roland Garros crown, and she'll have a difficult job doing that after the latest injury setback that stopped her in Rome.
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