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Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, was
assured of finishing 2024 atop the WTA without swinging her
racket on Tuesday, thanks to Swiatek's 6-3, 6-4 setback against
Coco Gauff at the season-ending tournament in Saudi Arabia.
A year ago, Sabalenka briefly overtook Swiatek in the rankings
in September to get to No. 1 for the first time, but
relinquished the top spot when Swiatek won the WTA Finals.
This time, Sabalenka moved past Swiatek — who took a break from
competition after the U.S. Open and hired new coach Wim Fissette
— in October. Sabalenka is 2-0 in round-robin play in Riyadh so
far.
She is 56-12 this season with four titles, including Grand Slam
trophies that she earned at the Australian Open and U.S. Open to
raise her major championship total to three. Her first came at
the 2023 Australian Open.
Sabalenka has long been equipped with a powerful — if
once-erratic — serve and intimidating groundstrokes; her
forehand speeds at the U.S. Open this year were higher than
every other woman and man in the tournament. But lately she
increasingly has added elements of touch and variety to her
game.
“It’s really good to have these options in your pocket. Like
sometimes, you don’t feel your best on the baseline, and you can
just go for a slice or a drop shot or come to the net. I mean,
I’ve been always working on this variation on the court,”
Sabalenka said after defeating Jessica Pegula 7-5, 7-5 in the
U.S. Open final in September. “I’m really glad that I’m brave
enough to use these tools.”
The WTA also announced Tuesday that Katerina Siniakova will
finish at No. 1 in the year-end doubles rankings. The Czech
player topped the doubles rankings at the close of 2018, 2021
and 2022, too.
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