Iga Swiatek admits she is happy to be in a position to secure the Year-End No. 1 ranking but insists her main focus is not on that.
Through the opening six months of the year, the gap between Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka was pretty significant. But since winning Wimbledon, the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati, and last week's WTA 500 event in Seoul, the Pole collected a large chunk of points and now sits at 8,433 points. The Belarusian tennis star still owns the top spot with 11,225 ranking points collected in 2025.
This week, the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing is taking place. Swiatek, who didn't play at the China Open last year due to her silent doping ban, is playing and won't have a single point to defend in Beijing and Wuhan. On the other side, Sabalenka is skipping Beijing and she is expected to return to action in Wuhan, where she will be the defending champion and will have to defend 1,000 points.
ADVERTISEMENT
Swiatek on the Year-End No. 1 battle with Sabalenka: Happy, but not my main focus
I already know that thinking about the rankings, it's not a way to go, no matter if you're No. 2 or no matter if you're No. 1. It's just kind of numbers. But it doesn't change the fact that you need to kind of feel the tennis and focus on the improvement on the court, then the results are going to come after that," the Pole explained.
For sure it's a different situation than last year when I wasn't really able to defend my No. 1, like earn it. Yeah, so for sure I'm just happy that I'm here and I can compete and fight for it. But I got to say, yeah, my main focus is more, like, tennis-related, how I want to play, how I feel on court.
ADVERTISEMENT
As mentioned above, Swiatek doesn't have many points to defend in the rest of 2025, and there could be the Pole's chance at claiming her third Year-End No. 1 trophy.
