"My boyfriend told me... I'm like, What?" - Aryna Sabalenka fondly recalls finding out she became World No. 1 after controversial Iga Swiatek penalty
Aryna Sabalenka fondly recalled how it was her boyfriend Georgios Frangulis who revealed to her that she had become the World No. 1. The Belarusian recently toppled Iga Swiatek to return to the top of the WTA rankings. However, the sudden manner in which the shift in rankings occurred sent the tennis world into a frenzy.
As per the rules, all players must compete in a minimum of six WTA 500 tournaments in a season but Swiatek played in only two such events, while Sabalenka took part in four of them. As a result, the WTA gave them a penalty by taking away their points from their worst-performing tournaments, which were 120 points from the Miami Open for the Pole and 10 points from the Dubai Tennis Championships for the Belarusian.
This sudden shift helped Aryna Sabalenka reclaim the World No. 1 spot. Ahead of her campaign in the WTA Finals, the Belarusian was asked about her reaction to the pleasantly surprising news during a pre-tournament press conference.
The 26-year-old responded by stating that she wasn't aware that Swiatek and herself were about to drop points.
"Yeah, I actually didn't know that's what's going to happen. I was like, How? What happened? Where she lost this hundred points or whenever? It's tricky. I didn't expect that," Aryna Sabalenka said.
The Belarusian then revealed that it was her boyfriend Georgios Frangulis who broke the news to her and the news completely took her by surprise.
"I just woke up another morning. My boyfriend actually told me like, Oh, congrats, you became world No. 1. I'm like, What?" she said.
Though she wanted to reclaim the spot on her own accord, the three-time Major champion realized that she was still worthy of her spot because she had a 'quite decent' year. However, her next goal was to finish the year at the summit of the tennis world.
"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," Sabalenka said.
"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," she added.
Aryna Sabalenka will butt heads with Iga Swiatek at the WTA Finals in Riyadh for the year-end World No. 1 spot.
Aryna Sabalenka will face Zheng Qinwen to kick off her campaign at the 2024 WTA Finals
Aryna Sabalenka, who is the top seed, will kick off her WTA Finals campaign against seventh seed Zheng Qinwen. This will be the fourth meeting between the two women this year with the Belarusian having won all three meetings, including their final at the Australian Open.
The Belarusian expressed her excitement towards playing the young Chinese star during the same press conference.
"Yeah, I mean, it's top eight players here, so every match going to be high-level match. I'm expecting, like, really great level of tennis. It's going to be great battle, as we always had before. I'm really excited to face her here," Sabalenka said.
The two are placed in the same group as fourth seed Jasmine Paolini and fifth seed Elena Rybakina. On the other hand, the other group, named the Orange Group, will feature second seed Iga Switaek, third seed Coco Gauff, sixth seed Jessica Pegula, and eighth Barbora Krejcikova.