How Iga Swiatek unexpectedly lost the WTA World No. 1 spot to send the tennis world into a confused frenzy

Aryna Sabalenka dethroned Iga Swiatek in the latest WTA ranking update this week. Last week Swiatek was at the top spot with Sabalenka hot at her heels. However, with both players penalized for not participating in enough events, Swiatek lost more points than Sabalenka, slipping down to the second spot.

The WTA's zero-point penalty rule did not sit well with fans. A few were left utterly confused. Without further ado, let's look at the rule and how it applies to the two players.

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WTA's rule of participation in at least six 500 events

After the Wimbledon Championships, Iga Swiatek firmly held the top spot with five titles and a comfortable 4,224-point lead over Aryna Sabalenka who had withdrawn from the grass Major due to shoulder injury.

However, things took a turn when the Pole did not compete in any tournament after the US Open and missed the entire Asian swing of the tour, allowing Sabalenka to race closer to the top with 9,716 points, just 69 points behind Swiatek at 9,785 points last week. Sabalenka said in an interview after her Wuhan Open title win:

“Yeah, that’s really tight ranking right now. Really nice to see.”

However, both players failed to compete in at least six WTA 500 events as mandated by the association. Swiatek played in two and Sabalenka in four such events. Thus, they were hit by the zero-point penalty, and their lowest scores from a tournament contributing to their ranking were nullified.

Swiatek lost 120 points from her fourth-round finish at the Miami Open leaving her with 9,665 points. On the other hand, the Belarusian lost just 10 points from her second-round exit at the Dubai Championships and ended this week with 9,706 points. Thus, Sabalenka began her ninth week as World No. 1 on Monday.

That is not all as both will continue to be penalized next week and drop points (Swiatek 195 points from the Stuttgart Open and Sabalenka 65 points from her third-round exit at the Miami Open) and will also lose the points that they earned at the 2023 WTA Finals (Swiatek 1500 points as defending champion and Sabalenka 625 points as semifinalist).

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Tennis world's reaction to the implementation of WTA's zero-point penalty rule

No one appeared to be more aware of the dwindling margins due to the penalty at play than Aryna Sabalenka herself. The 26-year-old took to X to celebrate her climb to the summit with a touch of humor:

"N1…. Let’s see for how long this time 🙌🤞❤️"

With little to do with on-court action, many fans were confused and critical of the penalty. One even demanded an explanation for the "abrupt" implementation:

"I can’t believe the WTA dropped this ranking bomb just like this, not even writing an explanation article… like this is such an abrupt ending to Iga’s No. 1 reign and Sabalenka probably didn’t even know she was becoming No. 1 today."

Here are a few more reactions from fans expressing their disapproval.

"Ranking system that Einstein would have trouble figuring out, are the bosses up there serious?? All credit due to Aryna but do better for the players!!" a fan commented.

"If I understand well. Sabalenka is world N1, earlier because Swiatek didn't make her tournaments obligations this season and has been "penalized"... Not sure if it's a great advertisement for WTA indirectly....," another wrote.

"That rule is insane. So next year Iga should just play one random tournament and tank in the first round so she only gets penalized 10 pts. Ridiculous," one said.

Swiatek and Sabalenka have a chance to finish as the year-end World No. 1 at the WTA Finals which will take place at the end of November in Riyadh.