US Open champ Sabalenka sets sights on reclaiming world No 1 ranking

The Belarusian trails Iga Swiatek by only 409 points in the Race to the WTA Finals

Image Credit: Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

September 10, 2024

Aryna Sabalenka has won two of the four Grand Slams this year. But the 26-year-old Belarusian is not done and now has set her sights on reclaiming the world No 1 ranking from rival Iga Swiatek.

Following her US Open win on Saturday, Sabalenka held on to the No 2 position, 2,169 points behind Swiatek, in the world rankings (which takes into accounts results over a 52-week period). However, in the Race to the WTA Finals (which considers points only for the 2024 season), the Belarusian trails Swiatek by just 409 points.

Swiatek will be defending 2,600 points from now till the year-end while Sabalenka needs to defend only 840 points during that same span. That sets up an exciting battle for the year-end No 1 ranking between the two best players on the tour at the moment.

“I’m still hungry, for sure,” Sabalenka told the WTA Insider Podcast. “Another goal for sure is to try to become World No.1 again. But I don’t want to talk about this goal. I’m just trying to keep improving myself and keep getting better every day.”

The Belarusian held the No 1 spot for eight weeks between the September-November 2023 stretch before Swiatek reclaimed her throne. The Pole is currently No 1 for the 120th (non-consecutive) week

I’ll definitely have some days off so I can just enjoy this win and I can switch off and forget about tennis for a little bit.
Aryna Sabalenka on enjoying her US Open victory

With her third Grand Slam title in the bag, Sabalenka said she would take a few days off to celebrate her victory to ensure to recharge for the final stretch of the season.

“Now I’ll definitely have some days off so I can just enjoy this win and I can switch off and forget about tennis for a little bit. So I’ll keep this freshness till the end of the season. Six weeks is not that much,” the two-time Australian Open winner said.

Both Swiatek and Sabalenka are the first two players to secure their berths for the season-ending WTA Finals with six more spots to be determined in the coming weeks.