Aryna Sabalenka has addressed her bizarre return to the top of the rankings.
The Belarusian was already primed to overtake Iga Swiatek as the world No. 1 after the Pole skipped the entire Asian swing. But Sabalenka got back on top earlier than planned after the WTA issued penalties to players who missed mandatory tournaments.
The three-time Grand Slam champion has now revealed she had no clue she had reclaimed the coveted top spot until her boyfriend congratulated her.
Tennis fans were baffled when they woke up on October 21 to see that Swiatek had been overtaken by Sabalenka in the rankings, returning to No. 1 after almost a year.
It later emerged that both players had been penalised for failing to play in six WTA 500 tournaments as required. As a result, they received ‘zeroes’ as a punishment, effectively meaning the points earned at their worst tournaments this year were taken away.
Swiatek lost more points than Sabalenka, which allowed the Belarusian to reclaim the status of being the world’s best player. And the world No. 1 has now confessed that even she had no idea the change was coming.
“Yeah, I actually didn’t know that’s what’s going to happen,” the 26-year-old said ahead of the WTA Finals.
“I was like, How? What happened? Where she lost this hundred points or whenever? It’s tricky. I didn’t expect that.”
It was Sabalenka’s boyfriend, Oakberry Acai founder Georgios Frangulis, who noticed she was back on top. She continued: “I just woke up another morning.
“My boyfriend actually told me like, ‘Oh, congrats, you became world No. 1.’ I’m like, ‘What?’”
While Sabalenka deserves her standing – she won two Grand Slams and two other titles this year – she wants to earn the year-end No. 1 ranking at this week’s year-end championships.
She continued: “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 got off to a strong start on Saturday, beating Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng 6-3 6-4 in her opening group stage match.
