"I didn't do that math… I was like, ‘Don’t tell me, please’" - Aryna Sabalenka on sealing year-end World No. 1 amid WTA Finals campaign
Aryna Sabalenka achieved the year-end World No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career after the conclusion of the 2024 WTA Finals. The Belarusian recently talked about her mindset in the year-end championship, where Iga Swiatek could have overtaken her on the WTA ranking.
Sabalenka surpassed Swiatek at the top of the WTA ranking on October 21 on the back of her title run at the US Open and WTA 1000 Wuhan Open. She was well positioned to seal the year-end World No. 1 ranking at the WTA Finals and did enough to achieve the feat in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Appearing as a guest on the recent episode of 'Served with Andy Roddick,' the 26-year-old revealed that she did not pay much attention to the numbers behind the year-end World No. 1 equation heading into the WTA Finals and was laser-focused on the tournament. She even prevented people around her in Riyadh from laying out how she could finish at the top of the WTA ranking at the end of the 2024 season.
"Honestly, I wasn't really focusing on like, World No. 1 ranking and what should I do to like to finish the year as World No. 1? You know, I didn't do that math, you know, I was like, whatever. In an interview, they asked me like, do you know what you have to do to finish the year as world number one. I was like, 'No, and don't tell me, please, I don't want to know that.' I just wanted to focus on my tennis and just stay focused," Sabalenka told Roddick (at 7:30).
After winning her first two group stage matches and Iga Swiatek losing her second match at the WTA Finals, Aryna Sabalenka was confirmed to stay at the WTA ranking summit. When talking to Roddick, a former World No. 1 himself, the Belarusian stated she lost her focus after sealing the year-end World No. 1 ranking and ending up losing her final group stage match and then bowed out of the event in the semifinals.
"And as you see, after winning two matches, the news was everywhere, and I was like, oh, no, please just don't do that to me. And I, I probably that's why I lost my focus kind of and I don't know, I like at that moment, I felt like I did everything I could in this season. I was like, I don't have any energy left to compete and to fight," the Belarusian continued.
Aryna Sabalenka defeated Jasmine Paolini and Zheng Qinwen in straight sets before losing to Elena Rybakina in the group stages at the 2024 WTA Finals. She qualified for the semifinals for the third consecutive year and was beaten by eventual champion Coco Gauff.
Aryna Sabalenka ran the table after Wimbledon 2024 to finish the year as World No. 1
Aryna Sabalenka was nowhere near Iga Swiatek on the WTA ranking after the 2024 Wimbledon Championship. The Belarusian was placed fourth behind Swiatek, Rybakina, and Paolini, with 4,466 points to her name. Sabalenka had withdrawn from Wimbledon due to injury and decided against going to Paris for the Olympics to focus on North American hardcourt swing.
The decision paid off mightily as Sabalenka won three big titles after Wimbledon to overtake Swiatek and attain the year-end World No. 1 ranking. The Belarusian won her second title of the year at the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open and bagged her third Grand Slam title in New York before completing a three-peat at the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open to ascend to the summit of the WTA ranking.
Sabalenka's chances were also aided by Swiatek's lack of form and absence from the tour. After winning the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, Swiatek played only three tournaments, reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati and quarterfinals in New York. At the WTA Finals, where she was the defending champion, the Pole was knocked out of the group stage.