Iga Swiatek admits arch-rival Aryna Sabalenka ‘deserves’ to be ahead of her

Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have battled it out to be at the helm of the WTA rankings for a while. Sabalenka became the new World No.1 a few weeks ago after overtaking the Pole, who has been away from the tour since September. However, despite their rivalry, Swiatek has admitted that Sabalenka deserves to be No.1.

Sabalenka began the year winning her second consecutive Australian Open after defeating Qinwen Zheng in the final. After that, she struggled with her game, leaving Swiatek to flourish with titles. The Polish star claimed the Miami Open, before facing Sabalenka at the Madrid Open and Italian Open final, both of which she ultimately won.

Nonetheless, while Swiatek struggled in the North American swing, Sabalenka began to play her best tennis. The Belarusian claimed the Cincinnati Open and then the US Open. She went on to reach the quarterfinals of the China Open and clinched her third consecutive Wuhan Open title. With Swiatek absent during the Asian swing, her rival racked up enough points to overtake her.

Currently, Sabalenka sits as World No.1 with a 40-point lead above Swiatek. But, the former World No.1 has admitted that her rival deserves to be at the Top of the WTA rankings.

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. 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…She’s a great player. She deserves to be world No. 1. For sure I’m going to fight for me to be in that place.

Iga Swiatek said via (WTA Finals Riyadh Press)
Swiatek will be back on the court at the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia for the first time since the US Open. She will hope to defend the title when it gets underway on November 2nd.