It has been a bumpy road for Iga Swiatek this season. After the high of clinching her third consecutive French Open title, the Polish star saw a steep downfall in her fortunes. Swiatek made early exits at the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open and also had to surrender the top spot in the WTA rankings to Aryna Sabalenka. Additionally, she was embroiled in a controversy after she replaced her long-time coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, with Wim Fissette. Amid this setback, Swiatek’s rival, Sabalenka, is now looking to add more to her problems. But how?

While Swiatek was on a downhill, Sabalenka capitalized on the situation and stamped her authority on the WTA Tour. She won the US Open and the Cincinnati Open titles, which moved her past Swiatek. Although Sabalenka dominated on the hard courts, playing on clay remains a concern for her. However, according to her, she is now looking to improve her game on clay too.

During an interview at the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Sabalenka said, “I was pretty confident this year but (at the) French Open my stomach issues stopped me, that was very mentally painful. And then Wimbledon, my shoulder stopped me. But I was pretty confident I can do well at those Slams. I already proved it to myself in previous years. So going into next year I’m pretty confident I can do really well there, if my body allows me. We’re doing everything we can to make sure whatever happened this year will never happen again. So I’m pretty confident I can do well.”

Sabalenka went through a lot this year. While she achieved great success on the court, she suffered some major setbacks off the court. Her ex-boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov, passed away. Although the two weren’t together, Koltsov’s death significantly impacted Sabalenka and affected her mental health. 

However, Sabalenka recovered well from that loss and is having a dream time on the court now. “But at the end, I would say I was struggling a lot healthwise because I didn’t stop. It was really emotional and really stressful, and kind of damaged my mental health at that point,” the Belarusian revealed. After she achieved a major honor at the WTA Finals, Sabalenka made an honest confession about her commitment to the sport.

Aryna Sabalenka on finishing the year as World Number 1: ‘I feel like we deserve it’

After Iga Swiatek lost to Coco Gauff in her group stage match yesterday, Sabalenka was confirmed to end the year at the top spot in the WTA rankings chart. The Pole is the defending champion at the tournament and had to win all her matches here to have any chance of overtaking Sabalenka. However, the Belarusian star is set to take the top honors at the end of the year now and she made a candid confession after achieving this feat.

Sabalenka said, “We all came together. My word or Iga (Swiatek)’s word wouldn’t count on its own, it wouldn’t have any weight. Last year was about all of us fighting for our rights. A very good moment for all of us to fight for what we deserve. We are in better conditions where we can focus on our tennis, not on what’s going on outside of tennis. I feel like we deserve it.”

Meanwhile, Sabalenka is yet to lose a match at the tournament. She is currently playing her final group stage game against Elena Rybakina. Sabalenka has lost the opening set against Rybakina and is looking to stage a comeback to continue her winning run at the WTA Finals.