Aryna Sabalenka called her first-ever rise to the top of the world’s rankings “crazy and just unbelievable.” On Monday, 25-year-old Sabalenka will formally succeed Iga Swiatek as the world’s top tennis player. Sabalenka revealed she would be replacing Swiatek as the number one player following the US Open after the latter’s shocking round-of-16 exit.
Sabalenka talked about Swiatek’s exit from the US Open and stated: “First of all, I mean honestly, I had no doubt that she’s gonna make it to the final. It was only depending on me if I would be able to make it to the final. And I really wanted to have this battle and decide everything on the court. But I was sad that she lost. It means a lot to me. All this year I’ve been pushing myself so hard to reach this goal, to become World No. 1.”
She further added: “It really means a lot for me, a lot for my family and… It’s just, it’s just unbelievable. It’s something crazy. I still can’t believe it. And I was really afraid that I would be distracted by this news today.”
Since January, Sabalenka has been chasing Swiatek, and now things are finally falling into place for the Belarussian.
Sabalenka at the U.S. Open, ranking, and results in 2023
LWLWWWWLWW Now the world no.2 (career-high), Sabalenka has an overall 48-10 win-loss record in 2023. The Belarussian is now playing at the U.S. Open where she conquered the world no.112 Maryna Zanevska 6-3 6-2, the world no.96 Jodie Anna Burrage 6-3 6-2, the world no.62 Clara Burel 6-1 6-1 and the world no.14 Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-3.
Aryna Sabalenka will face the world no.23 Qinwen Zheng in the quarter. In the past, they have never played each other till now on the main tour.
Sabalenka conquered 3 titles in 2023 in Adelaide, Australian Open and Madrid. Sabalenka reached the final in Indian Wells (BNP Paribas Open) and in Stuttgart (Porsche Tennis Grand Prix).
Aryna won 13 titles in her career: 9 on hard courts, 2 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
Iga Swiatek in 2023
Currently ranked no.1, Iga played her last match on the 3rd of September when she lost to world no.21 Jelena Ostapenko 3-6 6-3 6-1 in the 4th round of the U.S. Open (draw).
Currently, during this season the Pole has a 56-10 match record. The Pole has won 4 titles in 2023 in Doha, Stuttgart, French Open and Warsaw. The Pole was the finalist in Dubai and Madrid.
Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek played each other 8 times. Their current record is 5-3 for Swiatek. Before, the last time they competed against each other, Aryna Sabalenka won 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the final in Madrid (Mutua Madrid Open) on the 6th of May 2023.
Here are the highlights.
Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek |
| Embed from Getty Images |
