By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Iga Swiatek hit another ranking milestone this week, but the celebration may not last long.
According to John Berkok of Tennis.comthe top-ranked Pole became the seventh player in history to enjoy multiple 50-week spells at the top of the WTA rankings, joining Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Serena Williams.
But Swiatek, who ranks seventh all-time in No. 1 weeks with 125, may not hold onto the top spot for long.
The fact that she hasn’t played since the US Open has allowed her to Aryna Sabalenka to close the gap to 69 ranking points ahead of this year’s WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
And Swiatek, who won all five matches she played at last year’s WTA Finals in Cancun, will defend 1,500 points, while Sabalenka is defending just 625. A quick look at the Riyadh Tournament rankings shows Sabalenka leading Swiatek with 806 points, which is a more accurate representation of the year-end ranking.
ANOTHER 1 GA MILESTONE❗
🇵🇱 @every_time begins her 50th consecutive week at No. 1 today, which – combined with her first stint of 75 weeks – makes her the SEVENTH woman to record *as many* 50 weeks as WTA #1. 💥
She joins Evert, Navratilova, Graf, Seles, Hingis and Serena:
— TENNIS (@Tennis) October 14, 2024
That means Swiatek will have to significantly outperform Sabalenka in Riyadh if she wants to finish a No. 1 at the end of the third year. It will be a tough ask for a player who hasn’t played competitively since bowing out to Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals of this year’s US Open, but if anyone can rise to the challenge, it’s the 23-year-old.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka, who held the No.1 ranking for eight weeks last fall before handing it over to Swiatek after the WTA Finals, has her sights set on the No. 1 spot, even if she isn’t fixated on it.
“It’s really tight, (the standings) right now. Really nice to see,” she said of the race for No. 1 on Sunday after winning her third title in Wuhan. “I always say that of course it’s one of the targets, but I prefer to focus on myself and keep working hard. We’ll see after the finals if I was good enough this season to become world number 1.”
