Aryna Sabalenka is back to being the world No. 1 and she isn’t hiding that she wants to avoid spending only a couple of weeks there like in her first stint.
On Monday, the WTA announced that there was a change at the top and that Iga Swiatek was no longer the top-ranked player in the world. Since the Pole was 69 ranking points ahead of the Belarusian and they didn’t play any tournaments last week nor had points to defend, the change left some baffled.
However, the explanation soon came. Per rules, top players are mandated to play at least six WTA 500 tournaments during the year. Since this week’s tournament in Tokyo is the last from that category, the WTA already started applying point penalty on those who haven’t and won’t meet the requirement.
Both Sabalenka (played four WTA 500 tournaments) and Swiatek (played two events from that category) faced penalty, the Belarusian lost a total of seven points while the Pole dropped 120. Now, the three-time champion has the world No. 1 position with a 41-point gap.
After officially becoming the world No. 1 for the first time on September 11th, 2023, the 26-year-old held the spot for just eight weeks as the Polish tennis star reclaimed it in the last week of the season.
“N1…. Let’s see for how long this time,” Sabalenka wrote on…
