Aryna Sabalenka very honestly admitted that she lacked motivation against Elena Rybakina because she knew that she had nothing to play for.
After starting her WTA Finals campaign with back-to-back straight-set wins, the new world No. 1 secured the top finish in Purple Group even before the Round Robin finale. Also, Iga Swiatek losing to Coco Gauff on Tuesday meant that the Belarusian sealed the Year-End No. 1 position – had the Pole defeated the American, the reigning US Open champion would have needed to beat Rybakina Wednesday to secure finishing 2024 as the world No. 1.
Going into the match, Sabalenka had won 22 of her last 23 matches and was coming off three big titles. But she just could not have gotten motivated to play the 2022 Wimbledon champion.
“Well, honestly, this is something I have to learn. How to keep myself motivated and hungry and being 100% on in this kind of matches when you know that you’re already in the semis and the only motivation for you is points and money. But that was tricky. And you see someone up on another side, and especially with such a high-level player who has kind of like nothing to lose, and she was just going for her shots and everything was going in. I would say that emotionally, the first set, I was kind of off — not kind of — I was really off, and that’s something I have to fix before the semis,” the three-time Grand Slam winner admitted.
Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina© X screenshot
Sabalenka doesn’t want to get distracted now
After seeing what happened against Rybakina, the 26-year-old Belarusian wants to use it as a wake-up call and re-focus for the remainder of the WTA Finals because she still has one more big goal to achieve – that’s winning the prestigious season-ending tournament for the first time in her career.
“It’s a really great feeling but I figured that last night and it didn’t work really well tonight for me, so I just want to focus on the current tournament, to stay hungry and stay motivated, because it’s a big tournament and it’s also one of my goals, so I’ll focus on this goal,” Sabalenka noted.
During the first set of the Rybakina match, the world No. 1 led 3-1 but then lost her serve twice and the opener. In the second set, the Belarusian bounced back by winning three games in a row from 3-3 to force a third set. After holding up their opening service games in the decider, Sabalenka went on to lose five consecutive games and the match.
“It was a tough match. I’m really happy I managed to win. It’s nice to finish the year with at least one win against the world No. 1. She has all the chances to win also. Good luck to her,” Rybakina reflected.
After earning her fourth win against the Belarusian, the 25-year-old Kazakh also warned that she will come for her world No. 1 position in 2025.
“My goals are to win Slams, definitely, and the main goal is to become No. 1 one day. So, hopefully next year,” the 2022 Wimbledon champion said.
Sabalenka was aware that she couldn’t allow herself to think too much about the top spot
At the start of the WTA Finals, the 26-year-old had a 1,046 lead over Swiatek and she was in pole position to finish the season as the top-ranked player on the WTA Tour. But the Polish five-time Grand Slam winner still had a chance to reclaim the top spot, just like she did during last year’s season-ending tournament that took place in Cancun.
In her pre-tournament presser, Sabalenka didn’t hide that she came determined to seal the Year-End No. 1 for the first time in her career.
“I mean, yeah, that’s definitely one of the goals. I always been saying that for me it’s about to finish the year as world No. 1. That’s definitely one of my goals. I’ll do everything I can to finish the year as world No. 1,” she previously said.
Aryna Sabalenka© WTA Finals Riyadh/X – Fair Use
However, she also underlined that the tournament itself was the most important thing and that she couldn’t allow herself to get distracted.
“No, anyway anytime we come to the tournament, we want to win. That’s the first goal. I’m trying to be focused on the first part. Then if I’ll be able to finish the year as world No. 1, then it’s amazing and I’ll be super happy. But I prefer to focus step by step. Let’s just start, like, slowly,” she added.
For a place in the WTA Finals final, Sabalenka will battle against Coco Gauff.