Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka rose to the top of the women’s tennis rankings for the first time in her career on Monday, the same day that Serbia’s Novak Djokovic regained the number one position among men, a position he has held for the 390th week .
Despite her defeat in the final of the United States Open, against new world number three Coco Gauff, the 25-year-old Belarusian saw her rise to the leadership of the WTA hierarchy confirmed this Monday, in a conversation with Iga Swiatek.
The 22-year-old Polish player has spent almost a year and a half as leader of the rankings since April 4, 2022, namely 75 consecutive weeks, a record that makes her the third-longest reigning player in the history of women’s tennis. her first spell at the top of the hierarchy, after Germany’s Steffi Graff (186 weeks) – who holds the record for number one weeks ex aequo with the American Serena Williams – and the Swiss Martina Hingis (80).
However, the defeat of Swiatek, who was defending the title, in the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows ‘promoted’ to number one Sabalenka, who had been second in the rankings since January, when she won the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam. of season.
The new status could console the Belarusian, who was defeated in the final of the United States Open by the young American Coco Gauff, who appears this Monday in third place in the WTA rankings, the best ranking of her career in singles, after winning his first major at the age of 19.
This Monday, Gauff will also celebrate his ascent to the leadership of the world doubles hierarchy, which he shares with his compatriot and regular partner Jessica Pegula, in a historic week of tennis, as for the first time since its creation almost 50 years ago the four rankings (female, male , female pairs and male pairs) changed leaders at the same time.
In the men’s event, Novak Djokovic, who extended his legend on Sunday by extending the record for Grand Slam titles to 24, dethroned Carlos Alcaraz to become world number one for the 390th week.
At the age of 36, the Serbian thus improves on his own record of recent weeks at the top of the ATP rankings, with the 20-year-old Spaniard falling to second place and the Russian Daniil Medvedev, defeated finalist of the United States Open, consolidates its third. place.
The most spectacular climb of the week belongs to Ben Shelton, the American who caused a sensation by reaching the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows: despite losing to Djokovic, the 20-year-old player rose 28 places in the rankings, where he is now 19th.
Among the Portuguese, Nuno Borges dropped 10 places and is 89th in the ATP rankings, while Francisco Cabral dropped one place in the men’s pairs hierarchy, to 54th, in a ranking led by North American Austin Krajicek.
Source: DN
