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ARYNA SABALENKA AND SWIATEK SUFFER RANKING SETBACK IN WTA CIRCUIT
Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, and other top-10 WTA stars face ranking point penalties for skipping mandatory tournaments. The fines come just weeks before the season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh.
The WTA's end-of-season rankings are likely to penalise prominent figures in women's tennis, including Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
After winning the season's final Grand Slam, the US Open, at the start of last month, the Belarusian is still on track to finish the year at the top of the women's tennis rankings for the second year in a row.
Second in the rankings is Swiatek, who had a difficult start to the year but recovered to win SW19 this summer. American sensations Coco Gauff and Amanda Anisimova are right behind her in third and fourth place, respectively.
However, both athletes will be docked for breaking a regulation set down by their respective sport's governing body.
Madison Keys, the Australian Open champion and eighth-ranked player in the world, is also expected to lose points.
In addition, Anisimova and Gauff will be penalised before the WTA Finals in Riyadh next month.
Before the season ends, Aryna Sabalenka will lose ranking points from the WTA.
Iga Swiatek, a fellow celebrity, will also face consequences for violating an organisation's regulation.
Five of the top ten players have not participated in the six WTA 500 tournaments that the organisation requires.
After the Grand Slams, which are not organised by either the men's or women's tour, and the Masters, where a maximum of 1000 points can be earned, the 500 tournaments rank third in terms of prestige among ATP and WTA tennis competitions.
In exchange, players who miss required events are "zeroed out", which essentially means that any points they earned from tournaments they did participate in are penalised.
Only three 500 events were participated in by Sabalenka, Gauff, Anisimova, and Swiatek; Sabalenka and Swiatek each won one, the Korea Open and the Brisbane International, respectively.
None of the players chose to compete in last week's similarly rated Ningbo Open in an attempt to "make up" lost points, and Keys played four 500 events in 2025, just missing the cutoff.
Consequently, Swiatek will be fined 65 points, Keys 54 points, and Sabalenka, Gauff, and Anisimova 10 points each.
The player's rankings before the Saudi Arabian Finals, however, are probably unaffected by any of the deductions.
However, Swiatek lost points for competing in just two 500 events in 2024, while Sabalenka's world No. 1 ranking was taken away. The deductions came a year after comparable demerits made all the difference.
After missing six events, Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff will also be docked.
Since her unexpected first-round US Open exit, Madison Keys has chosen to take a long hiatus.
Sabalenka has been enjoying a vacation in Dubai before the WTA Finals in Riyadh.
As players plan their year, Swiatek has been candid about the pressures of the tour and the psychological effects of required events.
The former French Open champion criticised the WTA's attempt to make events mandatory as unwise in his most recent remarks, which were made during the China Open.
In Beijing, Swiatek stated, "I do not think any top player will genuinely be able to achieve this, for example, playing the six 500 events." "There is simply no way to fit it into the schedule."
However, I do believe that we need to be wise about it, not really care about the rules, and just consider what is best for us. Yes, it is difficult.
"Now that I have made the decision to participate in all of these required tournaments, the only thing I can do is to just take care of my body and recover."
Additionally, I have a strong team supporting me in that regard. I have enough experience to sort of know what to do. I am in good physical condition.
All five players are concentrating on getting ready for the WTA Finals by choosing not to compete in the season's final 500.
While Anisimova, Swiatek, and Gauff have taken similar breaks after winning in Wuhan, Sabalenka has established her training base in Dubai following a semi-final loss at the Wuhan Open. Sabalenka even spent some time relaxing at her hotel with her tennis "soulmate", Paula Badosa.
Since her humiliating first-round loss to Renata Zarazua at the US Open, Keys has been training in Florida.
THE EIGHT-YEAR GAP: SVITOLINA REACHES FIRST WTA 1000 FINAL SINCE 2018 IN DUBAI
Svitolina stuns Gauff! Discover how she reached the Dubai final to face Pegula, plus Alcaraz's 11-0 streak and Venus' return.
Elina Svitolina stunned world number four Coco Gauff to earn a spot in the Dubai Tennis Championships final, where she’ll face Jessica Pegula.
Pegula got there first, clawing her way back after a rough start against Amanda Anisimova. She dropped the first set badly and even lost her serve early in the second, but still pulled off a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.
Gauff, just 21, almost set up an all-American final, but Svitolina refused to fold. The match? Epic. Svitolina took it 6-4, 6-7 (13-15), 6-4 after more than three hours on court. She let four match points slip in a wild second-set tiebreak, but didn’t let that break her. She powered through the decider, and now she’s back in the Dubai final for the first time since she won the title back-to-back in 2017 and 2018.
“I was playing like there’s no tomorrow, just giving it everything,” Svitolina said afterwards.
Over in the men’s Qatar Open, world number one Carlos Alcaraz kept his perfect 2026 record alive. He beat Andrey Rublev 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 to reach the final. Alcaraz, just 22, already grabbed the Australian Open this season and became the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. He’s won all 11 matches he’s played this year.
“I know what I can do every time I step on the court,” Alcaraz said.
He’ll face Arthur Fils from France in the final. Fils beat Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who’d knocked out world number two Jannik Sinner earlier in the week, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).
And in some more big news, Venus Williams is heading back to Indian Wells. The seven-time Grand Slam champ, now 45, got a wildcard for both singles and doubles.
“It’s great to be heading back to Indian Wells and returning home to California,” Williams said in a statement.
9-0 STREAK: ANALYZING CARLOS ALCARAZ’S PERFECT START TO THE 2026 TENNIS SEASON
Alcaraz hits 9-0: Discover why Valentin Royer warned Alcaraz and Sinner after their 2026 clash and the latest ATP rankings.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner just got a playful warning from their ATP rival, Valentin Royer.
Alcaraz, with seven Grand Slam titles, and Sinner, who has four, have completely owned men’s tennis for the last couple of years. They’ve split the last nine majors; each grabbed four ATP Masters 1000 trophies; and keep swapping the No. 1 spot in the ATP Rankings.
No one else has really kept up. Novak Djokovic is still hanging around, but the rest of the guys, like Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Ben Shelton, are all chasing from behind.
Alcaraz is rolling right now. He’s unbeaten in 2026 so far, standing at 9-0. After winning his first Australian Open title, he followed up with wins over Arthur Rinderknech and Royer.
After Alcaraz beat Royer 6-2, 7-5, the two shared a light moment at the net. Royer, currently world No. 60, told Alcaraz, “I’ll come for you and Jannik, don’t worry. Some day.” Alcaraz laughed and said, “I will wait for you, man.”
Royer actually had a shot in the second set. He broke Alcaraz’s serve early and was up 5-3, serving for the set, but Alcaraz broke back, held serve, and broke again to close out the match.
Asked if he was nervous, Alcaraz admitted, “Honestly, I had to be ready for anything. There were moments when I thought about a third set; I’m not going to lie. But that was just a small part of my mind. Mostly, I was focused on finding solutions, figuring out how to get back on track.
“I’m really happy I found my rhythm again and played good tennis. Sometimes it just comes down to one point. Closing out a set or a match isn’t always easy. I just had to stay in it, and I’m glad I turned it around and got the win in straight sets.”
Next, he faces seventh seed Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals. If he gets through, he’ll meet either Andrey Rublev or Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semis. Sinner is the likely opponent waiting in the final.
“Everybody expects us to play every final, every tournament, but that’s not easy. There are a lot of players out here who want to beat us,” Alcaraz said about a possible final against Sinner.
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