Aryna Sabalenka returns to No. 1 on the WTA rankings, replacing Iga Swiatek at the top spot

Neither Iga Swiatek nor Aryna Sabalenka were in action last week, but with some restructuring in the WTA rankings based around WTA 500 event commitments, there’s a major change at the top.

Sabalenka has risen back to No. 1, bumping Swiatek to No. 2.

As per the WTA, this year players are required to play six WTA 500 events, and zero-pointers are applied for each one missed. With only one WTA 500 left on the calendar this year—Tokyo this week—we now begin to see the impact for both Swiatek and Sabalenka.

Swiatek has played two WTA 500 events this year—United Cup (which is counted as WTA 500-level, and where she earned the full 500 points) and Stuttgart (where she made the semifinals).

Sabalenka has played four WTA 500 events this year—Brisbane (where she reached the final), Stuttgart (quarterfinals), Berlin (quarterfinals) and Washington D.C. (semifinals).

With zero-pointers beginning to be applied to both Swiatek and Sabalenka's ranking point totals this week, Swiatek goes from 9,785 to 9,665, and Sabalenka goes from 9,716 to 9,706.

And so, Sabalenka emerges as No. 1 this week.

Another zero-pointer will be applied to both of their totals next week after Tokyo, as neither are competing there, and they’ll both drop more points (Sabalenka to 9,641 and Swiatek to 9,470).

The week after that, their 2023 WTA Finals points will drop off ahead of the 2024 WTA Finals, where a larger gap will open up going into the season finale (Sabalenka to 9,016 and Swiatek to 7,970).

Further down the rankings, there’s a pair of Top 100 debuts from players who had breakthrough runs last week.

Canada’s Gabriel Diallo cracks the Top 100 on the ATP rankings, jumping from No. 118 to No. 87 after reaching the first ATP final of his career in Almaty, Kazakhstan—in fact, he had never even been to the quarterfinals of a tour-level event before his run at the ATP 250.

At 6’ 8”, he’s now tied for the tallest player in the Top 100, along with France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who’s No. 50 this week.

And over on the WTA rankings, Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens makes her Top 100 debut, rising from No. 125 to No. 88 after winning the first WTA title of her career in Osaka, Japan. She had never been past the quarterfinals of a WTA event beforehand, but went all the way to the trophy at the WTA 250 event—and as a qualifier, too.

There’s also a feel-good Top 100 return this week, as Lucas Pouille rises from No. 101 to No. 96 after reaching a Challenger final in St. Brieuc, France. The Frenchman, a former world No. 10, dropped out of the Top 100 in 2021 following a long elbow injury lay-off—which included surgery—and fell as low as No. 678 last year after a slew of injuries and off-court struggles over the last few years. Now, the 2019 Australian Open semifinalist is back in the elite.