Aryna Sabalenka funnily revealed that she had no idea that she had replaced Iga Swiatek at the world No. 1 position until her boyfriend messaged her congratulating her on a new feat.
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Last Monday, the WTA announced that the Belarusian overtook Iga Swiatek at the top spot. Since neither played in the week prior and didn't have any points to defend, some were left surprised and wondered how it happened. But then, the WTA announced that they started applying zero-pointers for missed WTA 500 tournaments.
As a result, Sabalenka went from trailing 69 ranking points to leading the rankings list with 41 points ahead of the Pole. During her pre-tournament presser in Riyadh, the 26-year-old revealed that she was as surprised as everyone else.
"Yeah, I actually didn't know that's what's going to happen. I was like, How? What happened? Where she lost this hundred points or whenever? It's tricky. I didn't expect that. I just woke up another morning. My boyfriend actually told me like, 'Oh, congrats, you became world No. 1.' 'I'm like, What?'" Sabalenka shared.
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"I didn't know anything in that moment. Whatever, I'll take it. As I always say, I want to finish the year as world No. 1, then I'll be like okay, I'll be more confident on saying I'm world No. 1, not because someone lost hundred points and that's how I became world No. 1. I know throughout the year I was pushing, winning a lot. It's kind of not like I didn't do anything. I was quite good, quite decent this year. But still for me, for my crazy mind, it would be better to finish the year as world No. 1."
Sabalenka asked how determined she is to finish 2024 as the world No. 1
Last year, the Belarusian became the world No. 1 for the first tie after the US Open. And although she had a pretty solid lead versus Swiatek, she still didn't manage to finish 2023 as the top-ranked player.
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This time, it is a pretty similar situation - Sabalenka currently has 1,046 ranking points more than Swiatek. But, the 23-year-old Pole still has a chance to reclaim the top spot.
"I mean, yeah, that's definitely one of the goals. I always been saying that for me it's about to finish the year as world No. 1. That's definitely one of my goals. I'll do everything I can to finish the year as world No. 1," this year's Australian Open and US Open champion highlighted.
In her presser, Sabalenka claimed that she didn't look at the possible scenarios for the No. 1 finish. But it is not a secret that she is in pole position to claim the Year-End No. 1 since the majority of scenarios in Riyadh favor her and not Swiatek.
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Sabalenka explains why she absolutely doesn't want to lose her opening match
Today, the new world No. 1 kicks off her WTA Finals run by taking on Zheng Qinwen - who has become a very familiar opponent to her lately. Only this season, they have met three times - with the Belarusian winning all of those three meetings. Overall, the three-time Grand Slam champion has a 4-0 head-to-head against the Chinese tennis star and has never lost a set in their matches.
But Zheng - who lost to Sabalenka in this year's Australian Open and Wuhan finals - is in the midst of a great year and the world No. 1 absolutely won't take her lightly.
And heading into the match, the 26-year-old admits she doesn't want to lose today because that will lead to overthinking and maybe depending on others.
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"About the round-robin, yeah, I mean, it's going to be tricky. If you lose in the first round, then you kind of like guessing - well, not guessing, but you're overthinking. You're following the others playing hoping whoever you need to lose. I'm sorry, but I'm against you right now, cheering for someone. It's going to be tricky," Sabalenka explained.
"I prefer to win it all. Like, if win, win it all. I don't want to face this feeling of not be sure, then you go in the match, you know the chances are very low, but you still have to win the match. You still have this low percentage of chance to qualify... Yeah, that's tricky, you know? It's became mental if you lose the first match or second. Doesn't matter. It's became mental. I really hope I'm not going to face it and I'm going to do my best.
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After Zheng, Sabalenka will also face Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini in the group stage.
