Aryna Sabalenka celebrates dethroning Iga Swiatek to become World No. 1 with surprise cake ahead of WTA Finals

Aryna Sabalenka celebrated reaching the World No. 1 ranking after overtaking Polish star Iga Swiatek in the WTA rankings. She shared images of a cake ahead of the 2024 WTA Finals scheduled from November 2 to November 9. She surpassed Swiatek in the rankings following her remarkable 2024 season with four titles on hard courts, the Australian Open, Cincinnati Open, US Open, and Wuhan Open.

Just days after achieving the WTA 1000 title at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center, Sabalenka was named the new World No. 1 by the WTA on October 21, ending Swiatek’s 11-month reign as the top-ranked women’s singles player. Recently, the Belarusian enjoyed a getaway to Dubai with her boyfriend, Georgios Frangulis, who made their relationship public in April 2024.

After their trip, Sabalenka returned to training for the WTA Finals which takes place at the newly prepared King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh. She took to Instagram to share glimpses of her stay in Dubai, where she practices at the Rackets Academy. There, she was surprised with a cake with "Congrats on #1 Aryna” inscribed (slides 4 and 5):

Notably, Sabalenka held the top spot in the WTA singles rankings for eight weeks, from September to November, thus reclaiming the title from Swiatek. The last time the two faced each other was the Cincinnati Open semifinals, in which Sabalenka won by 6-3, 6-3.

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Aryna Sabalenka opens up on beating Iga Swiatek at the Cincinnati Open in straight sets

Iga Swiatek (R) and Aryna Sabalenka at the Cincinnati Open (Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images)

Aryna Sabalenka collected the Cincinnati Open title after defeating the USA’s Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5. On her way to triumph, she encountered Iga Swiatek in the semis where she prevailed in straight sets.

In an interview with The Guardian after her impressive title win, she spoke about her win against Swiatek.

"Beating Iga in two sets was crazy and something I’m really happy about. I think it’s something we are working really hard on, to make sure we face each other in the last stages of every tournament – that we keep going with this rivalry between the two of us. But I would definitely like to see us competing in the last stages of a tournament as often as possible," Sabalenka said.

Sabalenka also acknowledged other strong competitors she would like to face, including Coco Gauff, Barbora Krejcikova, Elena Rybakina, and Paula Badosa.