US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka has risen to number one in the latest WTA rankings, ending Iga Swiatek’s 11-month stay at the summit.
Belarusian Sabalenka, who also retained her Australian Open title in January, tops the rankings for the second time after an eight-week stay between September and November 2023.
Neither player was in action last week but Poland’s Swiatek drops to second after being given a points penalty for failing to compete in the mandatory six WTA 500 events.
The 23-year-old – who appointed a new coach earlier this month – has only competed in two of the tournaments and has not played since the US Open in September, after deciding to miss the tour’s Asian swing because of fatigue.
She had led the rankings by more than 4,000 points at one stage after winning five titles in the first six months of the season.
But Sabalenka, 26, slowly reeled her in the second half of the year, winning titles in Cincinnati and Wuhan to go with her triumph at Flushing Meadows.
The next chance for Swiatek to return to number one is the season-ending WTA Finals next month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
With a stacked field in Basel, even the first round offers a slew of intriguing matchups–including Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Francisco Cerundolo on Tue
Oct 21, 2024, 06:50 PM ETVIENNA -- No. 3-ranked Alexander Zverev was empathetic for Joel Schwaerzler after hammering the 18-year-old wild card in his hometown d
Lleyton Hewitt has tipped Alex de Minaur to enjoy his most successful Australian Open in 2025, despite admitting the 25-year-old's Davis Cup hopes still hang in
BASEL, Switzerland -- Top-seeded Andrey Rublev won in his Swiss Indoors debut on Monday and bolstered his hopes of qualifying for a fifth consecutive ATP Finals