World number 1 Sabalenka wants to stop Swiatek at the WTA finals in Riyadh

RIYADH: Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek will fight for the year-end top spot, which will be decided at the WTA Finals in Riyadh this week.

Sabalenka “unexpectedly” reclaimed the top spot last week after Iga Swiatek lost points for failing to meet mandatory tournament requirements this season, and enters the competition in Saudi Arabia ranked No. 1.

However, the Belarusian is more interested in ending the year at the top of the rankings and wants to avoid the scenario of last season when she gave up the position in the final week of her season as Swiatek secured the WTA Finals title.

Sabalenka had an incredible 2024, which included two Grand Slam title runs at the Australian Open and the US Open. She secured the Wuhan Trophy for the third time in a row last month and said she was surprised to learn she had taken the world No. 1 ranking from Swiatek ahead of the WTA Finals.

“I was like, ‘Like, what happened? Where did she lose those 100 points?' I didn’t expect that,” Sabalenka told reporters in Riyadh on the eve of her opening game against Zheng Qinwen on Saturday.

“I woke up that morning and my friend said, 'Congratulations, you've become No. 1 in the world.' I thought, 'What? “I didn’t do anything,” just about that moment. I thought, 'Whatever, I'll take it.'”

Sabalenka has a comfortable 1,046-point lead over her Polish rival in the rankings, meaning Swiatek will need to defend her WTA Finals title to have a chance of top spot at the end of the year.

“I want to end the year as No. 1, then I'll be fine. I will be more confident in saying that I am world No. 1, not just because someone lost 100 points,” said 26-year-old Sabalenka.

Swiatek comes to Riyadh having not played since her exit in the quarterfinals of the US Open in early September. The five-time Grand Slam champion parted ways with her coach of three years, Tomasz Wiktorowski, and decided to skip the Asian swing to focus on finding a new mentor.

She announced two weeks ago that she had hired Wim Fissette, Naomi Osaka's former coach, and the pair will debut their partnership in Riyadh this fortnight.

Swiatek said she didn't feel rusty heading into the tournament and trained with Sabalenka at the King Saud University Indoor Arena before the start this weekend.

“I am determined to play my best game here and win,” said Swiatek.

“It was nice to just train with Aryna because we probably haven’t done that since 2022. It was a really good training and she is a great player and she also deserves to be world number 1. But I’m definitely going to fight for me to be in this place.”

Meanwhile, world No. 5 Elena Rybakina announced that she has hired Novak Djokovic's former coach Goran Ivanizevic and that they will begin working together in the off-season in preparation for 2025.

Rybakina split from her coach of five years, Stefano Vukov, before the US Open and struggled with health problems including insomnia and a back injury. The Kazakh top player has played just two matches since Wimbledon and will be competing for the first time since September, when she withdrew before the second round of the US Open.

“The start after this break is not easy. But I'm happy with the work we've done in the last two weeks. Of course, I may not be at 100 percent yet. “I’m just happy and happy to be healthy now and start playing,” said the former Wimbledon champion.

Zheng is perhaps the most in-form player on the field at the moment. The Olympic gold medalist has compiled a 28-4 win-loss record since Wimbledon, including a 12-2 run in the Asian swing that she capped off with a title triumph in Tokyo last week.

Zheng is the first Chinese player to qualify for the WTA Finals since Li Na in 2013. She has a tough task ahead of her as she opens her campaign against Sabalenka, a player she has defeated four times in the last 14 months.

“The hardest part for me right now is how do I really find a way to break through the wall and try to defeat them,” Zheng said.

“Because in the last game (in the Wuhan final) I was obviously closer, but when I can really do something good, I try to hold my serve well or break it earlier in the game and try to find a way for me think that's the most important thing to win. Because I feel like the level is there, everything is there, but you have to show it during the game.”

On the eve of the 53rd WTA Finals, the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams gathered in the historic Diriyah district to celebrate the season-ending tournament, brought to Saudi Arabia for the first time.

The WTA finals begin on Saturday in Riyadh and end on November 9th.