Sabalenka is once again the first racket in the world. How can you stay on top after the final tournament?
Alexander Nasonov October 21, 2024, 11:30 Moscow time
We are studying what Arina should do to avoid ceding the leadership of the ranking to Iga Swiatek.
The title of the first racket in the world after 52 weeks is a certain sign of quality for tennis players and tennis players. The first place in the ranking in terms of classification in the Helmets is no different from the second, but it is not only about athletes striving to conquer the top. Aryna Sabalenka spent most of the season in second position and has now taken the lead from Iga Swiatek.
For the first time, Sabalenka led the rankings on September 11, 2023. She achieved this result by reaching the final of the US Open. In that tournament Swiatek only reached the fourth round and for this reason fell to second place. However, Arina remained in first place for a long time, only eight weeks. The decisive match in the fight for leadership in the standings took place in the semifinals of the WTA Final Championship 2023, in which the Pole defeated the Belarusian. Iga then won the final and returned to first place on November 6.
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Sabalenka spent most of the 2024 season in second place. In between there was a 10-week period where Arina was ranked third, and Szwiatek and Corey Gauff were in the top two. However, the shocking end of the season allowed the Belarusian to climb to the top for the second time in her career. Sabalenka currently has 20 wins in her last 21 matches. During this period, she won the WTA-1000 tournament in Cincinnati, the US Open and the thousandth tournament in Wuhan. Arina suffered her only defeat against Karolina Muchova, who turned out to be stronger in the quarterfinals in Beijing.
WTA ranking as of October 21 (top 10)
1. Arina Sabalenka (Belarus) – 9706 points 2. Iga Szwiatek (Poland) – 9665 3. Cori Gauff (USA) – 5963 4. Jessica Pegula (USA) – 5785 5. Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) – 5471 6. Jasmine Paolini (Italy) – 5144 7. Zheng Qinwen (China) – 4480 8. Emma Navarro (USA) – 3698 9. Daria Kasatkina (Russia) – 3500 10. Beatriz Haddad-Maya (Brazil) – 3194.
Sabalenka’s lead over Szwiatek is 41 points. It doesn’t sound like much, but Arina still has a good chance of retaining the top spot for an impressive period. Before the Final Tournament, the Belarusian and Polish will not play, like a year ago. This means that in the live rankings before the season finale in Riyadh, Sabalenka will have 625 points less (that’s what she won in the 2023 final), and Szwiatek will lose 1,500 points received for the title. That is, Arina will reach the current final with 9081 points and Iga with 8165. Actually, these are the numbers we see in the race for the Championship. Thus, the current gap is 916 points.
Swiatek can make up this difference in the final, since the maximum is 1,500 points for the title. But not everything depends on her. It is worth remembering here two schemes according to which points can be awarded in the tournament: the old one and the possible new one.
Distribution of points in the WTA Final Championship (old scheme)
ResultGroup winsGroup lossesGlassesChampion1500Finalist1080Semifinalist750Group30750Group21625Group20500Group12500Group11375Group10250Group03375Group02250Group01125
Distribution of points from the WTA Finals (possible new scheme)
ResultGroup winsGlassesChampion1500Finalist1000Semifinalist600Group3600Group2400Group1200Group00
What do we see? We see that, according to the old scheme, Sabalenka would only need to reach the semifinals with two victories to secure first place at the end of the tournament and the entire season. Because 916 + 625 = 1541 > 1500. But reaching the semi-finals with a victory does not guarantee anything for Arina, since 916 + 500 = 1416 < 1500. Según el nuevo esquema, la bielorrusa se contentará con llegar a las semifinales. con sólo tres victorias (916 + 600 = 1516 > 1500). If Sabalenka reaches the semi-finals with two or even one victory, she will need to reach the final to not depend on Szwiatek.
Arina Sabalenka is the Wuhan 2024 champion
Photo: Wang He/Getty Images
Let’s approach it from the other side. What is the minimum result that a Pole must obtain to have a chance of overtaking Sabalenka in the rankings? In both schemes, 916 is halfway between the finalist and semi-finalist scores. In other words, Swiatek will definitely remain second (and Sabalenka, respectively, first) if she does not reach the final. In general, even reaching the final does not suit the Polish player in terms of qualification, since according to the old scheme the Belarusian will earn points even if she loses in the group, but according to the new scheme she will only need to win one. victory.
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Regarding the number of weeks at the top of the ranking, Arina Sabalenka occupies 26th place in the general historical table. “#1… Let’s see how long this lasts,” he wrote on his X page (formerly Twitter). The Belarusian tennis player is very capable of prolonging her stay at the top. And to a large extent everything depends on her.
All the first rackets in the world among women.
Tennis playerWeeks at the top of the ranking 1Steffi Graf3772Martina Navratilova3323Serena Williams3194Chris Evert2605Martina Hingis2096Monica Seles1787Iga Swiatek1258Ashley Barty1219Justine Henin11710Lindsay Davenport9811Caroline Wozniacki7112Simona Halep6413Victoria Azarenka 511 Amelie Mauresmo3915Angelique Kerber3416Dinara Safina2617Naomi Osaka2518-19Tracy Austin2118-19Maria Sharapova2120Kim Clijsters2021Jelena Jankovic1822Jennifer Capriati1723-24Arancha Sanchez1223-24Ana Ivanovic1225Vinus Williams1126Arina 9 27Karolina Pliskova828Garbine Muguruza429Yvonne Goolagong2
