It’s official: Iga Swiatek will not finish as World No. 1 for a third consecutive year.
The Pole’s 6-3, 6-4 loss to Coco Gauff in the group stages of the WTA Finals Tuesday meant that Aryna Sabalenka will finish 2024 with the year-ending World No. 1 ranking.
Sabalenka and Swiatek were in a close battle for the year-ending ranking, but the latter needed to win all her matches at the WTA Finals to surpass the Belarusian at the top spot. Before her loss to Gauff on Tuesday, there was still a glimmer of hope for Swiatek — she needed Sabalenka to suffer a few losses in Riyadh.
However, the dominant Sabalenka — who has won 22 of her last 23 matches — steamrolled past Zheng Qinwen on Saturday and Jasmine Paolini on Monday to create enough separation from Swiatek.
Sabalenka is set to become the 16th player in the Open Era to achieve the year-ending ranking and just the second player born in 1998 or later, after Swiatek.
German legend Steffi Graf (eight) still holds the record for most seasons finished as World No. 1, ahead of Martina Navratilova (seven), Serena Williams (five) and Chris Evert (five).
Swiatek was primed to finish World No. 1 for a third consecutive year when she won her fourth French Open title in June. However, the Pole suffered a series of disappointing results at Wimbledon (third round), Cincinnati Open (semifinal) and U.S. Open (quarterfinal) before she disappeared from the tour, citing the need to hit the reset button.
She also changed her coaching staff before returning to action at the WTA Finals. By withdrawing from several WTA 500 events, she was docked several points, which made the path easier for Sabalenka to surpass her.
Nevertheless, Sabalenka earned the World No. 1 ranking for her incredible exploits, which include wins at the Australian Open, U.S. Open, Cincinnati Open and Wuhan Open. With two wins thus far in the WTA Finals, the Belarusian has extended her record to 54-12 in 2024.
Thus far, only Sabalenka and Gauff have qualified for the final four of the WTA Finals. The finals will be held on Saturday.