Aryna Sabalenka a deserving new No. 1 ahead of Iga Swiatek - but superb season could have been even better
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Updated 11/09/2023 at 15:11 GMT
Aryna Sabalenka is the new women's world No. 1 ahead of Iga Swiatek and deservedly so. Sabalenka made at least the semis of all four Grand Slams this season, winning the Australian Open and losing in the final of the US Open to Coco Gauff. She has sorted her serving struggles, has a new-found calmness on the court, and now the focus will be on how she stays at the top of the rankings.
Watch the moment Gauff wins her first slam title with victory over Sabalenka at US Open
It’s official.
Iga Swiatek’s 75-week streak as WTA world No. 1 is over, and the crown now sits on the head of Aryna Sabalenka for the first time.
It is, as world No. 5 Jessica Pegula said during the US Open, well deserved.
After several years of knocking on the door – three Grand Slam semi-final defeats across 2021 and 2022, getting to No. 2 in the world, being runner-up at the WTA Finals – Sabalenka has cracked the code and has finally overtaken Swiatek, who all season long has been striving to maintain the incredible standards she set across 2022.
Sabalenka has played brilliant, powerful tennis this year. After becoming the first player since Serena Williams in 2016 to reach the semi-finals at all four Grand Slams she was described by Eurosport expert Mats Wilander as being the "complete package".
So good has she been at the majors that just one slam trophy - as Williams managed in 2016 - feels likes Sabalenka has been short-changed a little.
She could have made the final at all four majors, having led Karolina Muchova 5-2 in the third set in their French Open semi-final, and letting slip a 4-2 second-set lead against Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon after taking the opening set.
In those moments - and her US Open final defeat to Coco Gauff - Sabalenka was not as fearless and composed as she was in winning the Australian Open, but if she can change that in future then more majors will be on the cards.
There have been other successes outside of the Grand Slams in 2022, most notably beating Swiatek to win Madrid, winning in Adelaide, and making the Indian Wells final.
Key to her rise to the top has been smoothing out her serving struggles.
Gone are the yips that plagued her for several years and saw her serve more double faults than any player on the WTA Tour by a distance last year (398, an average of eight per match).
Since the start of the year her serve has been a bona fide weapon, with the improvement helped by work with a biomechanics trainer.
“Before I wasn't really open for these kind of things,” explained Sabalenka at the US Open. “I'm super happy and proud of myself that I was able to open myself for, like, new stuff, which has really helped me to fix my serve and help me to get stronger on court.”
There’s also a new-found calmness to Sabalenka this season, which she revealed at the start of the year had been found by not working with sports psychologists any longer.
“I realised that nobody than me will help, you know?” she said in Melbourne. “On the pre-season, I spoke to my psychologist saying, ‘Listen, I feel like I have to deal with that by myself, because every time hoping that someone will fix my problem, it’s not fixing my problem.’ I just have to take this responsibility and I just have to deal with that.”
Deal with it she has. The temper of previous years seemed to have cooled; in Australia she spoke about being more “boring” and doing “less screaming” after bad points or mistakes.
Sabalenka has also responded impressively to the setbacks of losing in the semis of the French Open and Wimbledon. “We're not losing, we're learning,” she said about the defeats during the US Open, where she showed no signs of a third straight semi-final loss as she crushed Madison Keys to make the final.
Any doubt that Sabalenka belongs at the top of the world rankings has been firmly dispelled with her stellar performances this year.
One wonders now how she will cope as the hunted rather than the hunter.
During the US Open she downplayed the change.
“This is just sport. We are here pushing each other to the limits, and we're here getting better every day. I'm super happy with this achievement in my career, but it's not a big change. I have been No. 2, now I'm No. 1. It's just a difference of position in the draw.
“I still have to bring my best tennis. I still have to play my best. People will try to chase me and get me, but it just an extra motivation for me.
“You know, seeing them really trying their best to beat me it’s like an extra power and energy for me to keep playing, keep pushing, keep getting better.”
Will the crown of No. 1 weigh heavy at all though?
For Sabalenka’s sake one hopes not. But if she really expects being No. 1 just to be a “difference of position in the draw” she could be in for a surprise.
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Aryna Sabalenka
Image credit: Getty Images
Swiatek spoke after her US Open exit about being “exhausted” by the latter stages of her run as world No. 1. She also said about looking forward to starting a “clean slate” and not having constant talk about rankings and having to defend points at every tournament.
“Everyone freaked out. It was like ‘what?!’ and they put more of their attention on me. I was like ‘what, I’m still the same guy, and it’s not that much different’. And I felt a complete difference.
“The No. 1 player is looked at more carefully, you have to accept and expect that…you are the hunted, people are coming after you."
Swiatek remains the closest challenger to Sabalenka in the rankings, but Gauff is now up to world No. 3 after her US Open win. The rivalries between the trio could be fascinating for years to come.
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