“Iga Swiatek’s not in a rush to get it back from Aryna Sabalenka” – Andy Roddick on Pole and Belarusian’s surprise ranking shake-up

Andy Roddick assessed the rivalry between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka after the Belarusian surprisingly became the new World No. 1 ahead of the year-end WTA Finals. Last year, Sabalenka had ascended to the No. 1 spot following her run to the US Open final but failed to retain it for long.

This year, the circumstances behind the Belarusian becoming the World No. 1 again are quite different.
In the updated WTA Tour rankings on Monday, October 21, it came to light that Aryna Sabalenka had overtaken Iga Swiatek at the top of the rankings. This happened despite neither of the two players participating in any event the week before. The WTA confirmed that it was a result of Swiatek and Sabalenka’s ranking points being adjusted based on their respective failures to meet “certain tournament quotas”.

Recently, former ATP World No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick spoke up about how the latest change in Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka’s rankings is likely to affect their rivalry heading into the year-end WTA Finals. Roddick suggested that last year, something similar had happened.

“Props to Sabalenka. Iga actually won the No. 1 ranking from her at World Tour Finals (WTA Finals) last year. We often treat it as if Iga’s been No. 1, and she has been for the large part of it, but she had to win two matches on the trot to keep the No. 1 ranking at the end of last year. It feels like we’re on the same track,” Roddick said during an episode of the Served With Andy Roddick podcast. (at 8:11)