Aryna Sabalenka’s 99-week supremacy over the WTA Rankings was brought to an end by Elena Rybakina at the US Open. The Kazakh took over the No. 1 spot through her 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 triumph over Sabalenka in the final at Flushing Meadows. As a result, she was awarded the “Chris Evert WTA World No.1 Trophy”, a title that is given to every World No. 1 on the circuit. The trophy was named after the American in 2018, and she is still very appreciative of the WTA for it.

“Love, love, love the trophy, thank you, Wta,” Evert wrote on X. Notably, she was the first ever player to be crowned World No. 1 after the WTA rankings were introduced in November 1975. She also holds the distinction of being WTA’s first-ever Year-End World No.1.

1975 was a record-breaking year for Evert as she made 17 finals and took home 15 titles. She held onto the top spot for a total of 260 weeks. Regarded as one of the greatest female players to ever grace the sport, it’s not a surprise that the WTA decided to name the World No. 1 trophy after her.

Simona Halep was the first ever recipient of the trophy, and a number of players have been awarded it since then. This is the first time Rybakina has gotten her hands on the coveted title. She was chasing Sabalenka for the No. 1 spot throughout the season and finally got her reward after a stunning US Open campaign.

Rybakina reached the No. 2 spot earlier in March. She held on to that position for several months and didn’t let her rank slip. It appeared that the Kazakh had run out of steam after disappointing results in both the clay and grass-court seasons. But her fortunes changed drastically in the hard swing.

Rybakina began the season by reaching the final of the National Bank Open. Though she came up short against Iga Swiatek, it was still a very promising campaign and helped her gain 240 points in the rankings. This was followed by a run to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters. This time, Rybakina retired while trailing Swiatek 4-1 in the first set.

It was suspected that she had picked up a left ankle injury during the match, casting doubt over her participation in the US Open. But Rybakina played down all injury concerns through her superb performances in the tournament. She trailed Sabalenka by 434 points when arriving at the Grand Slam. The equation was simple: Rybakina would automatically take over the No. 1 spot if she reached the semifinals and would dethrone Sabalenka if she failed to reach the final.

Eventually, Rybakina didn’t need to rely on Sabalenka’s results as she took over the rankings on her own. Reflecting on the achievement, the 27-year-old remarked that she was avoiding the outside noise coming into the final as she knew the stakes were incredibly high.

Elena Rybakina “relieved” after finally reaching the top of the rankings

“I was relieved to get to No. 1,” she told Sky Sports Tennis. “But I knew there were two more matches to push, and it would be such a milestone winning the tournament here, so I was focused and trying not to see too many messages. Everything was working today.”

Rybakina had quite a memorable run at Flushing Meadows. Her first major test came in the Round of 16, when she took on Naomi Osaka. But she breezed past the Japanese 6-1, 6-4. She then ousted Qinwen Zheng 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a hard-fought victory.

The semifinals were tough too, as Rybakina faced Coco Gauff. Though the crowd wasn’t on her side, the World No. 1 completed another monumental comeback by triumphing 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 over the local hero. Rybakina wrapped up her campaign with a third consecutive three-set win against Sabalenka.

Rybakina now has a 2,026-point lead over Sabalenka in the rankings. She has 9,901 points in comparison to the Belarusian’s tally of 7,875. It remains to be seen whether Rybakina will hold that position until the end of the season.