By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday October 15, 2024
Iga Swiatek hit another rankings milestone this week, but the party may not last very long.
According to Tennis.com’s John Berkok, the top-ranked Pole became the seventh player in history to enjoy multiple 50-week stints atop the WTA rankings, joining Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Serena Williams.
But Swiatek, who ranks seventh in all-time weeks at No.1 with 125, may not hold the top spot much longer.
The fact that she hasn’t played since the US Open has allowed Aryna Sabalenka to close the gap to 69 ranking points ahead of this year’s WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
And Swiatek, who won all five matches she played at last year’s WTA Finals in Cancun, will defend 1500 points, while Sabalenka is only defending 625. A quick glance at the Race to Riyadh standings shows Sabalenka leading Swiatek by 806 points, which is a more accurate representation of the year-end rankings.
That means Swiatek will have to significantly outperform Sabalenka in Riyadh if she is to complete a third year-end No.1 ranking. It will be a tough ask for a player who has not played competitively since bowing out to Jessica Pegula in this year’s US Open quarterfinals, but if anybody can handle the challenge, it is the 23-year-old.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka, who held the No.1 ranking for eight weeks last fall before handing it back to Swiatek after the WTA Finals, has her eye on the top spot, even if she isn’t obsessing about it.
“That's really tight, [the] rankings right now. Really nice to see,” she said of the race to No.1 on Sunday after capturing her third Wuhan title. “I always say of course it's one of the goals, but I prefer focus on myself and just keep working hard. We'll see after the Finals if I was good enough this season to become world No. 1.”