Aryna Sabalenka won the 2024 US Open, but she wasn't interested in talking about the World No. 1 rank on the WTA Tour, which is not that far away, especially if she keeps playing like this.
Sabalenka has experience with becoming world number one at the US Open because last year's US Open saw her achieve that milestone for the first time in her career. Swiatek was the defending champion, but after losing to Jelena Ostapenko, Sabalenka overtook the Polish player.
The Belarusian held the top spot for a while but eventually lost it as Swiatek dominated during the last part of the season once again. For much of this year, the Pole held the number one rank comfortably, but in recent weeks, Sabalenka has been closing the gap.
Winning the Cincinnati Open and the US Open has greatly boosted her chances. The post-US Open rankings will still show a decent gap between the players, but the 2024 WTA Race, which shows points earned only this year, paints a different picture.
In that ranking, Swiatek has 8,285 points, while Sabalenka, with the US Open points in the bag, has 7,876. That's a difference of 409 points, so the race to finish as World No. 1 at the end of the year is on.
It's within Sabalenka's grasp, and with the way she's played in recent weeks, namely much better than Swiatek, there is a good chance that by the end of the year, she could snatch away the number one rank from Swiatek and even finish the year as the number one player in the world.
It will likely come down to the WTA Finals in Riyadh because the Polish player defends a lot of points there. Still, the World No. 1 rank is not something Sabalenka thinks about that often.
Like her rival for the No. 1 spot, she tries to play well and win matches and events, and if she becomes number one, she will accept it as a direct consequence of her efforts.
That's in line with how tennis players generally approach it because checking the rankings obsessively might become a distraction.
"I mean, I’m not trying to focus on ranking, to be honest. Not like I’m checking where I’m gonna be after the tournament. I’m just trying to focus on myself, and I know that if on each tournament I’ll be able to play my best tennis and I’ll be able to bring this fight spirit on each game, I’ll be able to become World No. 1 again."
"So my focus is on myself, on improving myself as a player and as a person. Yeah, hopefully one day I’ll see myself on the top of the ranking."
The Race to Riyadh is very close, which should make the season's finish really exciting, but there won't be anyone joining Swiatek and Sabalenka, as third Elena Rybakina is just too far behind.
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