From the end of Iga Swiatek’s second reign to the beginning of Aryna Sabalenka’s second reign

The WTA is experiencing a change of arrangement this Monday in the top ranking position. Aryna Sabalenka became, for the second time in his career, the new world number 1 after seizing the first step from Iga Swiatek. A scoring correction made by the WTA made the scenario change a big possibility a few days later.

This is the second time such an event has happened, since September 11, 2023, after his first US Open title, Sabalenka also went after Swiatek who eventually regained the number 1 ranking at the WTA Finals to end the season there. This time, again, the US Open 2024 The Belarusian’s win means another great step towards world leadership for him.

With the rise of Sabalenka, recognized by the WTA ranking a very good time for the Belarusian. He was proclaimed champion in four tournaments, with titles in two Grand Slams such as Australian Open and the US Open and two WTA 1000 counts Cincinnati and Wuhan. In addition, she has been a finalist in two other WTA 1000 events such as Madrid and Rome and the Brisbane tournament.

It has been a year of regular results for the Belarusian, who have only had to finish them in the final rounds for months. Despite his absence due to injury at Wimbledon, Sabalenka found the strength to sign at a dizzying end to the summer which he was able to extend to the Asian tour after crowning those wonderful sensations.

Sabalenka woke up this Monday with only forty-one points over Swiatek, but it was on ‘race’ (the annual classification) in which Belarusian has the most advantage. With 9081 points, he surpassed the Pole’s 8285, with a profit that, however, is not certain about number 1 at the end of the season. It will be held starting Saturday next week at WTA Finals.

yes indeed Sabalenka He left with the advantage he wanted to seal to finish the first season of his career as world number 1. Now, this Monday it launched the week counter in such a position and added a ninthwhich saw her break a tie with Karolina Pliskova to become the twenty-sixth solo player with the most weeks at the top of the rankings.

Sabalenka spent eight weeks at number 1 between September 11 and November 5, 2023 and, as the ninth is certain (this Monday), she will add at least two more before the WTA Finals are over. This will put him in the historical top25 is tied for eleven weeks with Venus Williams and has the option of moving up several places if she finishes the year at the top of the rankings.

Swiatek, another long and prosperous reign

Because of that WTA Finals she will also have a chance to regain the sceptre Swiatekwith 1,500 points at stake, but with Sabalenka having the greater number of combinations to maintain a nearly eight hundred point lead in the race. Iga will be forced to get a good result to have the option of finishing as world number 1, a pressure he has handled well in 2023.

This time, however, the circumstances are different for a Polish player who has made important decisions for his career in recent weeks. Following their US Open quarterfinal loss in September, Swiatek never competed again. On October 4, he ended his stage at Tomasz Wiktorowski and warned that his goal is to rebuild his game and his team.

For this reason, there was no option to fight to defend the number 1 and she was removed from Beijing and Tokyo, the latter a tournament that Sabalenka also abandoned. A few days ago, Swiatek announced to Wim Fissette as his new coach and it is expected that he will debut under his command precisely at the WTA Finals with the aim of trying to achieve the best possible result but as a first contact for 2025.

For now, definitely Swiatek has ended his second reign in the circuit and has done so by combining its solidity. This is shown by fifty weeks (from November 6, 2023 to October 20, 2024) during which she was at the top of the rankings during this streak, the seventeenth longest in WTA history. These weeks join the seventy-five it has added to its first consecutive streak (from April 4, 2022 to September 10, 2023).

The sum of both periods left Swiatek, at twenty-three years old, as the seventh number one with the most weeks in history at that position, 125 in total. Steffi Graf (377), Martina Navratilova (332), Serena Williams (319), Chris Evert (260), Martina Hingis (209) and Monica Seles (178) are ahead.

In the second straight streak, which began after her victory at the 2023 WTA Finals, Swiatek had another great season with her victories at Roland Garros and four WTA 1000 events such as Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome, in addition to her Olympic bronze in Paris. After them, Cincinnati played (lost to Sabalenka in the semifinals) and the US Open (against Pegula in the quarterfinals). That performance in Australia (third round), Wimbledon (third round) and US Open against Sabalenka’s regularity in the majors (despite Aryna’s loss in London, two titles and quarter-finals at Roland Garros) were key to the Belarusian’s return to the top of a pending ranking that establishes her final accounts in 2024.