Aryna Sabalenka breaks silence on bizarre return to No. 1 after Iga Swiatek was punished | Tennis | sport

Aryna Sabalenka has addressed her bizarre return to the top of the rankings.

The Belarusian was already poised to overtake Iga Swiatek as world number one after the Pole missed all of the Asian momentum. But Sabalenka returned to the top earlier than planned after the WTA imposed penalties on players who missed mandatory tournaments.

The three-time Grand Slam champion has now revealed that she had no idea she had regained the coveted top spot until her boyfriend congratulated her.

Tennis fans were stunned when they woke up on October 21 to see that Swiatek had been overtaken in the rankings by Sabalenka and returned to No. 1 after almost a year.

It later emerged that both players had been penalized for failing to take part in six WTA 500 tournaments as required. As a punishment, they received “zeros,” which meant that they were deprived of the points they had earned in their worst tournaments of the year.

Swiatek lost more points than Sabalenka, allowing the Belarusian to regain his status as the world's best player. And the world number 1 has now admitted that even she didn't know the change was coming.

“Yeah, I actually didn’t know that was going to happen,” said the 26-year-old before the WTA Finals.

“I thought: How? What happened? Where did she lose those hundred points or when? It's difficult. I didn’t expect that.”

It was Sabalenka's friend, Oakberry Acai founder Georgios Frangulis, who noticed she was back on top. She continued: “I just woke up to another morning.

“My friend actually told me, 'Oh, congratulations, you became No. 1 in the world.' I'm like, 'What?'”

While Sabalenka deserves her credit – she has won two Grand Slams and two other titles this year – she is looking to secure a year-end No. 1 spot at this week's year-end championships.

She continued: “I knew nothing at that moment. Anyway, I'll take it. As I always say: I want to end the year as world number 1, then I will say that I am world number 1, and not because someone lost a hundred points, and that's how I became number 1 in the World.

“I know I pushed all year and won a lot. It's somehow not like I didn't do anything. I've been pretty good this year, pretty decent.

“But for me, for my crazy mind, it would still be better to end the year as world No. 1.”

Sabalenka got off to a strong start on Saturday, defeating Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng 6-3, 6-4 in her opening group stage match.