During the media day of the WTA Finals 2024, the new WTA No.1 Aryna Sabalenka talked about some off-court topics, answering questions about the country that will host the competition. The Belarusian, like last year, arrives at the year-end Masters as the world number 1. Strong from overtaking Iga Swiatek a few weeks ago, the 3-time Slam champion arrives in Saudi Arabia as the favorite for the final victory, which could allow her to extend her lead over her direct Polish rival in the rankings. The Belarusian's main goal is to end 2024 as the leader of the WTA rankings, but during the tournament's media day she also spoke about the importance of bringing tennis to as many places as possible in the world.
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"All season I've said that my main goal is to finish the season as the best on the planet. I will do everything I can to make that happen. I know that every match will be extremely challenging and I'm ready to give my best and put up great battles. It was a surprise for me to see, a few weeks ago, that I was back at No. 1 and now what I want most is to finish there. I think I had a great year and I worked hard to get there," she said.
The WTA No. 1 then talked about the feelings of competing in Saudi Arabia, explaining: "I have no problem playing here, I think it's important to take tennis to as many places as possible in the world and inspire young people. In Saudi Arabia they are making a great effort to promote women's tennis and improve women's lives. I'm very happy to be part of something that could be historic."
On the courts of Riyadh, the Belarusian added: "It's a much faster surface than the Chinese one and the balls are lighter too. I think that works in my favor. It's a lot of fun to hit drop shots. If you had told me five years ago that I would have this shot in my repertoire, I wouldn't have believed it, because I don't have a great hand. However, I managed to incorporate it and I think I do a lot of damage because it gives me more control over the opponent, making him hesitate. I gained the confidence to do it in a match where I had physical problems and had to reduce the rallies. From that moment on, I executed it with more sense and effectiveness, it's almost a natural shot."
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In the meantime, as mentioned, after almost a year, Aryna Sabalenka returned to WTA No. 1 by overtaking Swiatek. The overtaking materialized with the Belarusian who jumped to the lead with 9706 points compared to the 9665 of the Polish rival. The throne was conquered by the 3-time Slam champion following a series of exceptional results: from the triumph at the Australian Open to the victory at the US Open, passing through the victories of the Wta 1000 in Cincinnati and Wuhan and the quarterfinals in Beijing. Results that allowed the 26-year-old to recover all the disadvantage, taking advantage of Iga's period of absence from the tour for personal reasons (such as the change of coach, from Tomasz Wiktorowski to Wim Fissette). Recalculation of the points was decisive: each player is required to play 6 Wta 500 in a season to avoid incurring penalties. Both, however, missed the WTA 500 in Tokyo and will lose further points.
Swiatek leaded from November 6, 2023 to October 20, 2024, reaching 125 weeks. The Pole is 7th all-time and has surpassed Ashleigh Barty (121 weeks) and Justine Henin (117 weeks). Sabalenka has now regained the top spot after a brief period last year, from September 11, 2023 to November 5, 2023. The Belarusian should keep the number 1 until the end of the season: Swiatek will have to defend the success of the WTA Finals obtained in 2023, Sabalenka needs to get past the group stage for WTA No.1.
