Iga Swiatek made it perfectly clear during her pre-tournament presser at the WTA Finals that her first and main goal in Riyadh will be to deliver her best tennis and not to think about potentially overthrowing Aryna Sabalenka from the world No. 1 position.
As you probably know well by now, the Pole lost the world No. 1 position on October 21st after the WTA applied zero-pointers over not participating in six WTA 500 tournaments. Since then, additional zero-pointers have been applied and points from last year’s season-ending tournament were also dropped.
So now, Swiatek trails Sabalenka by 1,046 ranking points. While the Pole could still possibly finish 2024 as the top-ranked player in the world, the Belarusian is by far in pole position to claim the Year-End No. 1 award.
“I don’t. I want to play the best kind of tennis. That’s what I need to do,” the 23-year-old responded when asked if she knew what she needed to do at the WTA Finals to reclaim the world No. 1 spot.
What are the scenarios for Swiatek and Sabalenka?
If the Belarusian wins all of her three group-stage matches in Riyadh, the battle will be sealed in her favor. If the 26-year-old even only wins a match or two in the Round Robin but still reaches the final, that also guarantees her finish 2024 as the top-ranked player.
When it comes to Swiatek’s chances, she pretty much has to win all of her five matches but even that may not be enough – she must go undefeated – hope that Sabalenka doesn’t win all of her group matches – and that the Belarusian doesn’t make it past the semifinal stage.
It should be noted that just one loss in the Round Robin stage would probably result in the five-time Grand Slam champion losing the battle.
But while the Pole wants to reclaim the top spot at one point, she gave credit to her biggest rival and acknowledged that the 26-year-old deserved to be in this position.
Iga Swiatek© WTA Finals Riyadh/Instagram – Fair Use
“Obviously we’re both fighting for this spot. Yeah, it’s been us basically kind of over the past few years. Yeah, I mean, I am in the tournament. I obviously want to play my best game here and win this tournament. I’m just going to focus on my first match and do everything step by step,” Swiatek said.
“Actually, I don’t know, it was just nice to practice with Aryna because we haven’t done that in a while, since probably 2022. It’s been a long time. I’m not really sure why (smiling). Yeah, it was a really good practice. She’s a great player. She also kind of deserves to be world No. 1. For sure I’m going to fight for me to be in that place.”
Swiatek dismisses that she is feeling rusty in Riyadh
When the new world No. 2 takes on Barbora Krejcikova on Sunday, that will be her first match in two months – she hasn’t played since losing to Jessica Pegula in the US Open quarterfinal.
Since then, the 23-year-old has undergone some major changes as she is no longer working with Tomasz Wiktorowski but with Wim Fissette.
Ahead of the start of her WTA Finals run, Swiatek was asked how she handled her recent decisions and how she feels knowing that she arrived with less match play than her rivals.
“I’m going to answer the second question first. I think it’s not going to be a problem. I don’t feel rusty. I played some points, as well, here with Aryna and Qinwen. Also I’ve been practicing that way. I don’t feel like I missed a lot. Honestly, it wasn’t like a really long break still. Probably a bit longer than a normal pre-season,” the Pole said.
“I spent this time still playing tennis and for sure focusing on finding new coach, making this transition. It’s always tricky. For me it’s a decision hopefully for years because I look at my career kind of long-term. Yeah, we’ll see.”
When asked directly what she was hoping to improve under the guidance of Fissette, the four-time French Open winner admitted she would target to get some work on her serve.
“If I’m going to answer that, then everybody is going to know what is my weaker side (smiling). No, I mean, I think it’s kind of obvious. I for sure want to improve my serve, as I’ve been doing for past years. I feel like I still need to continue that. For sure I’m not a complete player. I think tactically there are many ways I could go and have more variety on court. Wim has some nice ideas,” Swiatek said.