World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka Wants to 'Dominate' Tour Like Serena Williams Did

She won two major titles this year and could end the season with her first WTA Finals title.
Aryna Sabalenka celebrates winning the 2024 U.S. Open.
Aryna Sabalenka celebrates winning the 2024 U.S. Open. / Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Aryna Sabalenka will end the 2024 season as World No. 1 for the first time in her career.

She's had the best year in her career. On top of her elite ranking, she won two major titles, the Australian Open and U.S. Open. Sabalenka is definitely making her mark in the tennis world.

As her success continues, Sabalenka admitted she would love to "dominate" the tennis world like Serena Williams use to and how Iga Swiatek has in recent years.

“I always wanted to dominate the tour like Serena did, like Iga was able to do for so long. And she’s still close, it’s all going to be decided after this tournament, so who knows?” Sabalenka said, via Arab News. “But it’s really inspiring and of course I want to dominate the tour like they did. But I’m trying to focus on myself, on improving myself, to make sure that I have all of the tools to dominate the tour as they did.”

Sabalenka's dominance in 2024 could continue if she can capture her first WTA Finals title, which ends on Saturday. Williams and Swiatek have been seen as players who consistently win the major tournaments year after year, and Sabalenka wants her name included in these conversations.

The 26-year-old has a bit to go if she wants to produce similar results on the court as Williams did during her legendary tennis career. Williams ended her career in 2022 with 23 major singles titles and 73 WTA singles titles. Sabalenka has won three major singles titles and 17 WTA titles.

Swiatek, the 23-year-old Polish star, has been dominant in recent years. She's captured five major singles titles, four of those from the French Open, and 22 WTA titles. Sabalenka and Swiatek could be seen as rivals in the years ahead.


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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.