Aryna Sabalenka very honestly admitted that she lacked motivation against Elena Rybakina because she knew that she had nothing to play for.
After starting her WTA Finals campaign with back-to-back straight-set wins, the new world No. 1 secured the top finish in Purple Group even before the Round Robin finale. Also, Iga Swiatek losing to Coco Gauff on Tuesday meant that the Belarusian sealed the Year-End No. 1 position – had the Pole defeated the American, the reigning US Open champion would have needed to beat Rybakina Wednesday to secure finishing 2024 as the world No. 1.
Going into the match, Sabalenka had won 22 of her last 23 matches and was coming off three big titles. But she just could not have gotten motivated to play the 2022 Wimbledon champion.
“Well, honestly, this is something I have to learn. How to keep myself motivated and hungry and being 100% on in this kind of matches when you know that you’re already in the semis and the only motivation for you is points and money. But that was tricky. And you see someone up on another side, and especially with such a high-level player who has kind of like nothing to lose, and she was just going for her shots and everything was going in. I would say that emotionally, the first set, I was kind of off — not kind of — I…
