Aryna Sabalenka has lost her position as the world’s best women’s tennis player as she has been overtaken as No 1 by Elena Rybakina, but she is motivated “to get back to the top”.

After her first stint at the top of the WTA Rankings lasted only eight weeks, Sabalenka went on to dominate from October 2024 until September 2026 as she spent 99 consecutive weeks at No 1.

Her second spell came to an end after the US Open with Rybakina taking over on the back of her title run at the season-ending Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows.

There is no doubt that Sabalenka and Rybakina have been the best two players in the WTA this season, but the latter has certainly dominated on the biggest stages as she beat the Belarusian in the Australian Open and US Open finals.

But Sabalenka has not done too badly as she won their other two matches in 2026 in the Indian Wells Open final and the Miami Open semi-final with the two 2-2 this year for an overall head-to-head lead of 10-8.

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When asked about the battle with Rybakina, the four-time Grand Slam winner said: “I love it. It’s a healthy rivalry, and I feel that not only the two of us, but all the players, push each other to improve.

“Sometimes you drop in the rankings, lose points, or a final, but that’s how you learn.

“For me, this season has been about learning from tough losses and using them as motivation to improve, find new ways to progress, and try to get back to the top. I’m really enjoying this rivalry.”

Sabalenka sits behind Rybakina in the rankings and the Kazakh star has a comfortable 2,146-point lead, but there is just 1,325 points separating the Belarusian in second place and Jessica Pegula in fourth place.

Mirra Andreeva sits in third place following her runners-up finish at the China Open and the reigning French Open champion finds herself in a good spot in terms of dropping points for the remainder of the year as she has no points to defend.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, will drop 1,000 points from last year’s WTA Finals while Rybakina will drop 1,500 after she won last year’s title undefeated.

But Sabalenka, though, could make up ground on Rybakina and put some distance between herself and Andreeva at the Wuhan Open as her two rivals won’t feature at the final WTA 1000 event of the year.

And the 28-year-old has a good record in Wuhan as she has won titles in 2028, 2019 and 2024.