No.1 return makes Sabalenka the one to beat in Riyadh

Back at World No.1 for the first time in almost a year, Aryna Sabalenka has the momentum heading into the WTA Finals Riyadh.

With two Grand Slam titles and two WTA 1000 titles under her belt this season, Sabalenka now has her eyes on a first title at the Hologic WTA Tour’s showpiece event.

There’s some déjà vu present — Sabalenka also held the World No.1 ranking coming into last year’s WTA Finals, before Iga Swiatek pipped her for the year-end top spot by going through the year-ending championships undefeated.

But this time around, Sabalenka has had a nearly flawless end-of-the-year campaign, winning 20 of her past 21 matches. She will not doubt she heads to Riyadh as the favorite to clinch all of the year-end spoils.

Season snapshot:
2024 tour-level win-loss record: 54-12
2024 titles: 4 (Australian Open, Cincinnati, US Open, Wuhan)
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 3
Best WTA Finals result: 2022 runner-up

Defining moment: Winning a second straight Australian Open title was confirmation of Sabalenka’s status as one of the game’s best, but it was her hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 win over Jessica Pegula in the US Open final which felt like a true leveling up. Sabalenka deeply craved the trophy in New York after coming agonizingly close in each of the last three years, and she finally got her wish after an entertaining final.

Social buzz corner: This year, Sabalenka made sure to shimmy on the grass with her pal Ons Jabeur:

And she met her mini-me en route to the US Open title:

Notable stats:

• Won multiple Grand Slam events and multiple WTA 1000 events in a single season for the first time in her career
• Posted a 15-match winning streak which included her titles at WTA 1000 Cincinnati and the US Open
• Leads the tour in hard-court match-wins this season (38)
• Tied with Iga Swiatek for the most wins over Top 10 players this season (9)
• Won her third straight Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open title, becoming only the second player since the WTA 1000 tier started in 2009 to win three consecutive editions of a WTA 1000 tournament (joining Serena Williams, who won Miami in 2013, 2014 and 2015)

From the camera roll: At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Sabalenka went up against former Top 10 star Andrea Petkovic in a battle royale … to see who could sign autographs the fastest:

Hot shot: Sabalenka somehow found the sideline against Karolina Muchova in Beijing:

Memorable quote: “It’s always been my goal to put our family name in the history of tennis. Every time I see my name on that trophy, I’m so proud of myself, I’m proud of my family that they never gave up on my dream and that they were doing everything they could to keep me going.” — Sabalenka, after winning her third career Grand Slam singles title at the US Open