(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Emma Raducanu’s former coach Nigel Sears is giving the edge to Iga Swiatek to finish the year ranked at No 1 ahead of Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. Swiatek, who has been ranked at No 1 since 2022 April, currently has 9,490 ranking points.
Sabalenka comes at second place with 8,845 points, while Rybakina is the third-ranked player with 5,465 points. “Well if I had to bet I’d go with [Iga] Swiatek because it’s probably going to Swiatek, [Elena] Rybakina or [Aryna] Sabalanka.
Those three. But I think Swiatek is just a little more complete than the other two. So I’m going to go with Swiatek,” Sears said on Control the Controllables podcast.
Swiatek motivated by Sabalenka’s presence
After winning her first Grand Slam title at this year’s Australian Open, Sabalenka returned to No 2 in the world and she has been there since.
At Wimbledon, Sabalenka had a golden chance to overtake Swiatek and become the world No 1 for the first time in her career. Had Sabalenka defeated Ons Jabeur in the Wimbledon semifinal, she would have replaced Swiatek at the world No 1 spot.
But Sabalenka lost and Swiatek kept her No 1 position. After Wimbledon, Swiatek admitted that Sabalenka’s…
