By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday October 15, 2024
Iga Swiatek hit one other rankings milestone this week, however the social gathering might not final very lengthy.
Based on Tennis.com’s John Berkok, the top-ranked Pole turned the seventh participant in historical past to get pleasure from a number of 50-week stints atop the WTA rankings, becoming a member of Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Serena Williams.
However Swiatek, who ranks seventh in all-time weeks at No.1 with 125, might not maintain the highest spot for much longer.
The truth that she hasn’t performed for the reason that US Open has allowed Aryna Sabalenka to shut the hole to 69 rating factors forward of this yr’s WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
And Swiatek, who gained all 5 matches she performed finally yr’s WTA Finals in Cancun, will defend 1500 factors, whereas Sabalenka is barely defending 625. A fast look on the Race to Riyadh standings exhibits Sabalenka main Swiatek by 806 factors, which is a extra correct illustration of the year-end rankings.
ANOTHER 1GA MILESTONE❗
🇵🇱 @iga_swiatek kicks off her fiftieth straight week at #1 at present, which—mixed together with her first stint of 75 weeks—makes her simply the SEVENTH lady to file *a number of* 50-week stints as WTA #1. 💥
She joins Evert, Navratilova, Graf, Seles, Hingis and Serena:
— TENNIS (@Tennis) October 14, 2024
Meaning Swiatek must considerably outperform Sabalenka in Riyadh if she is to finish a 3rd year-end No.1 rating. It is going to be a troublesome ask for a participant who has not performed competitively since bowing out to Jessica Pegula on this yr’s US Open quarterfinals, but when anyone can deal with the problem, it’s the 23-year-old.
In the meantime, Sabalenka, who held the No.1 rating for eight weeks final fall earlier than handing it again to Swiatek after the WTA Finals, has her eye on the highest spot, even when she isn’t obsessing about it.
“That is actually tight, [the] rankings proper now. Very nice to see,” she mentioned of the race to No.1 on Sunday after capturing her third Wuhan title. “I all the time say after all it is one of many targets, however I choose deal with myself and simply maintain working arduous. We’ll see after the Finals if I used to be adequate this season to turn out to be world No. 1.”
