“Not trying to focus on that” – Sabalenka wants the year-end No 1 but improvement is priority

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka has her eyes set on the year-end world No 1 finish but standing in her way is Poland’s Iga Swiatek. In the ongoing week’s WTA rankings, Sabalenka sits in second place with 8,716 points behind Swiatek, who boasts of 10,885 points atop.

However, the real equation differs from the current standings with Swiatek set to drop 1,000 ranking points courtesy of her withdrawal from the China Open 2024, where she would’ve been the defending champion.

On the other side, Sabalenka, strong off a triumphant run at the US Open 2024, is in contention as the seed No 1, defending 215 ranking points from her 2023 run to the quarter-finals in Beijing. Thus, winning the China Open this year will take the 26-year-old’s points tally to 9,501, reducing the gap with Swiatek to less than 400 points.

She has already set foot in Beijing ahead of the WTA 1000 tournament.

On Tuesday (September 24), Sabalenka sat with the press and voiced her intention to finish 2024 as the top-ranked WTA singles player.

“Well, yeah, of course, that’s one of my goals, to finish the season at world No. 1,” Sabalenka said.

Notably, the Belarusian came close to earning the year-end world No 1 finish last season after toppling Swiatek off the summit in September. Swiatek, however, regained the pole position in November by clinching glory at the WTA Finals.

Interestingly, the Pole’s success at the Year-end Championships in 2023 leaves her with 1,500 points to recollect in this year’s WTA Finals, to be held from November 2-9 in Riyadh. Sabalenka, meanwhile has only 625 points to redeem in Saudi Arabia.

Thus, the race to year-end world No 1 is expected to intensify as the months turn.

But Sabalenka is more keen on improving herself as a player rather than chasing her rival Swiatek.

I’m not trying to focus on that. I’m trying to focus on my game.”

Aryna Sabalenka

“There is only three tournaments left,” she added during the presser. “I’m just trying to bring my best tennis on court. After the season, I’ll see if it was enough to finish the year at world No 1 or have to improve something else to get to world No 1.”

“To be called as best player in the world, that’s really means a lot. My whole life, I’ve been working so hard to get to the top hundred, then top 50, then top 10, get to the top two. If one day I’ll be world No. 1, to be called best player in the world, that means everything. It’s good to know that you’ve been doing the right thing, all of that, hours of training, wasn’t a wasting of time.”

The world No 2 hopes to be a role model for the generation of budding tennis players:

“I think as the best player in the world, you inspire young generation. For me, that’s been the main goal, always been the main goal for me. That would be really, really cool.”

Sabalenka has already received a bye in the first round of the China Open 2024 and is scheduled to play a qualifier in the second.