Aryna Sabalenka has revealed she has learnt to \u201cembrace the pressure\u201d of being world No 1 after hitting a milestone 70 weeks atop the WTA Rankings.<\/p>\n
Reigning world No 1 Sabalenka<\/a> has proven to be one of the leading WTA Tour players of her generation, with the 27-year-old winning four Grand Slam singles titles to date.<\/p>\n The Belarusian was ranked as the world No 1 for the first time in September 2023 and, after losing her ranking to Iga Swiatek in November that year, regained top spot in October 2024.<\/p>\n Sabalenka has reigned as the world No 1 ever since then, and in 2025 has become just the seventh woman to spend a full calendar (Jan \u2013 Dec) year at the very top of the WTA Rankings<\/a>, since the official system first launched in 1975.<\/p>\n Her current run of 62 weeks at the top is the 15th-longest streak atop the WTA Rankings, while her overall total of 70 weeks is the 12th-most of the 29 women to hold the world No 1 ranking.<\/p>\n She has been a consistent figure at the very top of the women\u2019s game in recent years and, in a new interview with Gulf News<\/em><\/a>, opened up about handling expectations as the best player in the world.<\/p>\n Sabalenka said: \u201cOf course there\u2019s pressure, but it\u2019s also a privilege.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing No 1 means you\u2019re doing something right. I\u2019ve learned to embrace that pressure instead of fearing it. I trust my preparation, my team and my game, and that helps me stay focused when expectations are high.\u201d<\/p>\n Rafael Nadal reveals the key differences between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner<\/a><\/p>\n Ex-WTA star Anna Chakvetadze reflects on her standout memories \u2013 and a match fans still talk about<\/a><\/p>\n 2025 was another hugely successful year for Sabalenka, highlighted by her run to a fourth major singles title at the US Open, beating home favourite Amanda Anisimova in the final<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Belarusian also triumphed at WTA 1000 events in Miami and Madrid, and lifted the WTA 500 Brisbane International title, claiming a tour-leading four WTA titles across the season.<\/p>\n Sabalenka also reached a further five finals in 2025, most notably finishing as the Australian Open, French Open, and WTA Finals runner-up.<\/p>\n Frustration was evident after some of her defeats in big matches, but her overall consistency stood out compared to many of her WTA rivals across the year.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old will start the 2026 season attempting to defend her title in Brisbane, and revealed that she was highly \u201cmotivated\u201d to build on her success from recent years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe priority is staying healthy, improving consistency and continuing to evolve my game,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m always looking for small areas where I can get better, both physically and mentally. Preparations are going well, and I\u2019m motivated to keep building on the level I\u2019ve reached this season.\u201d<\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as<\/strong> a preferred source on Google to your favourites<\/strong><\/a> list for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>: WTA Rankings: 5 tennis stars who could make huge top-10 debuts in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The post Aryna Sabalenka makes world No 1 \u2018pressure\u2019 admission after WTA Rankings milestone<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aryna Sabalenka has revealed she has learnt to \u201cembrace the pressure\u201d of being world No 1 after hitting a milestone 70 weeks atop the WTA Rankings. Reigning world No 1 Sabalenka has proven to be one of the leading WTA Tour players of her generation, with the 27-year-old winning four Grand Slam singles titles to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tennis News<\/h2>\n