3 storylines to follow during WTA Finals 2024 ft. Iga Swiatek's mammoth task of reclaiming World No. 1 spot from Aryna Sabalenka
The tour's best performing players of the season will battle it out at the WTA Finals 2024 starting from November 2. They've fought hard all year long to be here, and the elite eight will make one last push to stamp their authority as the best of the best.
Aryna Sabaleka, Elena Rybakina, Zheng Qinwen, and Jasmine Paolini, are in the Purple Group, while Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Barbora Krejcikova are in the Orange Group.
Swiatek is the defending champion, and is gunning to become the eighth woman to successfully defend her WTA Finals title. As the lengthy season is about to conclude, here's a look at three of the most compelling storylines at the year-end championships:
#1 - Iga Swiatek will attempt to reclaim the top ranking from Aryna Sabalenka for the second straight year at the WTA Finals
Sabalenka arrived at last year's WTA Finals as the reigning World No. 1. Swiatek needed to win the title, that too while remaining undefeated during the group stage, in order to dislodge her rival from the top spot. The Pole did just that, and also beat the Belarusian in the semifinals, who could've retained her hold on the ranking had she won that match.
However, even a title won't guarantee Swiatek the No. 1 ranking this time. Sabalenka's lead of 1,046 points gives her a massive cushion to work with, and if she wins all three of her group stage matches, then she will remain atop the summit regardless of her younger rival's results.
Sabalenka will be keen to avoid feeling a sense of deja vu, and wrap up the No. 1 ranking during the round robin phase itself. She is aiming to end the season as the top-ranked player for the first time in her career, while Swiatek is gunning to do so for the third year in a row.
#2 - Elena Rybakina makes her highly anticipated return
With three titles, two runner-up finishes, and a semifinal showing at Wimbledon, this has been a rather good season for Rybakina. However, she could've done even better had she not missed a decent chunk of the year due to her recurring health issues.
Rybakina parted ways with her long-time coach Stefano Vukov heading into the US Open, with allegations of behind the scenes drama doing the rounds as well. The Kazakh then withdrew from the season's last Major prior to her second-round contest due to an injury, and hasn't competed since then.
Rybakina will take on Jasmine Paolini in her first match in over two months on Saturday (November 2). The former Wimbledon champion made her debut at the year-end championships last year, and was eliminated in the group stage itself with only one win to her name. She will aim to make a deep run this time around.
#3 - Zheng Qinwen and Jasmine Paolini aiming for a memorable debut
Zheng and Paolini's impressive results throughout the season have earned them a WTA Finals spot for the first time in their careers. The former won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, and won another two titles, and was the runner-up at the Australian Open. The latter reached the French Open and Wimbledon finals, and won the WTA 1000 in Dubai.
Both will aim to shine on their WTA Finals debut, though that won't be an easy task given recent trends. No debutant has made it through the group stage in the last two editions. Ons Jabeur, Daria Kasatkina, Coco Gauff, and Jessica Pegula made their debut at the year-end championships in 2022.
Gauff and Pegula lost all three of their group stage matches in singles as well as doubles. Jabeur and Kasatkina won only one match, and all four of them crashed out in the round robin stage. This was the first edition of the WTA Finals since 2012 that no debutant advanced beyond the group phase.
Rybakina and Marketa Vondrousova competed for the first time at the WTA Finals last year, and were eliminated in the group stage. The former registered only one win, while the latter lost all three of her matches. Zheng and Paolini will be keen to avoid the same fate as their predecessors.
Zheng will be one of the favorites to make it through her group given her recent form. She has a 28-5 record since the start of July, and arrives at the WTA Finals on the heels of a title in Tokyo. Since her runner-up finish at Wimbledon, Paolini has advanced to the quarterfinals only once, which was at the Wuhan Open, and could be in danger of losing early here given her recent results.