No 1 battle in WTA Rankings: Aryna Sabalenka v Iga Swiatek v Coco Gauff
There will be a three-way battle between Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff for the No 1 spot in the WTA Rankings at the US Open.
Sabalenka has topped the rankings since last October when she replaced Swiatek at No 1 and they are the only two players to have been No 1 since Ashleigh Barty retired in March 2022 with Gauff peaking at No 2.
Swiatek has spent a total of 125 weeks at the top while Sabalenka has been top for 52 weeks with 44 of them coming consecutively in the past 10 months.
Sabalenka will add another two weeks to her tally as she will be No 1 when the US Open gets underway on August 24 with the next rankings update taking place after the tournament on September 8.
The three-time Grand Slam winner is in the driving seat to retain her No 1 spot after the season-ending Grand Slam and Gauff is the next favourite.
Case For Sabalenka
The Belarusian sits on 11,225 in the official WTA Rankings, but she is the defending champion at Flushing Meadows so she will drop 2,000 points at the start of the tournament, which effectively puts her on 9,225.
Sabalenka needs to reach at least the quarter-final to deny Swiatek and Gauff the chance to become world No 1, although the Pole and American face uphill tasks (more on that below).
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Case For Swiatek
Wimbledon champion Swiatek is currently on 7,933 points and will start the US Open on 7,503 points in the Live Rankings as she will drop 430 points after reaching the quarter-final last year.
She can only return to No 1 if she wins the title and Sabalenka loses before the last four.
Case For Gauff
The reigning French Open champion is currently third in the WTA Rankings with 7,874 points and she will drop 230 points after losing in the fourth round in 2024.
Like Swiatek, Gauff can only become world No 1 if she wins the title and Sabalenka loses before the quarter-final. Of course, she can return to No 2 if she outperforms Swiatek at Flushing Meadows this year.
Of course, it would be a massive feather in the Gauff cap if she does become world No 1.
For Swiatek, she insists she is not focused on topping the rankings following her recent Cincinnati Open title run, saying: “I don’t think about it, because I know Aryna is having a great season too, so I know it will just depend on how I play.
“And honestly, this season hasn’t been easy, and I’ve had a lot of other things to worry about and a lot of other things to improve on, so I’m not thinking about it at all.”
