Every coin has two sides. The story of success is no different, as it can motivate a person to perform better or can make a person get carried away with it. A similar case occurred with Aryna Sabalenka this week after Iga Swiatek’s defeat handed her the year-ending top spot in the WTA rankings. Soon after, the Belarusian star suffered a shocking loss to Elena Rybakina in her final group stage game. Although it didn’t have any bearing on her semifinal chances, Sabalenka expressed caution going forward.

While Rybakina had lost both her group-stage matches before the match against Sabalenka, her solid performance against the Belarusian star came as a surprise to many. However, Sabalenka admitted to not being at her best and made a candid confession after achieving the huge honor of the year-end Number 1 spot.

Sabalenka said, “Well, honestly, this is something I have to learn. How to keep myself motivated and hungry and being 100% on in this kind of matches when you know that you’re already in the semis and the only motivation for you is points and money. But that was tricky. And you see someone up on another side, and especially with such a high-level player who has kind of like nothing to lose, and she was just going for her shots and everything was going in. I would say that emotionally, the first set, I was kind of off — not kind of — I was really off, and that’s something I have to fix before the semis.”

However, the shock loss to Rybakina might just be the extra piece of motivation that Sabalenka might need ahead of the knockout stage of the WTA Finals. “Every loss is extra motivation to work hard and improve things—just to keep going,” she once admitted as she continues to learn from her defeats.

With Sabalenka now confirmed to enter the 2025 season as World Number 1, she has massive ambitions for the future. The Belarusian star even wishes to emulate the feat of none other than Serena Williams.

Aryna Sabalenka: ‘Always wanted to dominate the tour like Serena’

During her prime days in the sport, Serena Williams gave her opponents a run for their money and left them with hardly any breathing space. Following her retirement, we have seen Iga Swiatek dominate women’s tennis for a short period. However, Sabalenka aims to achieve bigger things in the future and wishes to follow in the footsteps of her idol, Williams.

She revealed, “I always wanted to dominate the tour like Serena (Williams) 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? 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.”

However, it won’t be a cakewalk for Sabalenka, with the likes of Swiatek, Gauff, and others being healthy contenders in her era. Sabalenka would look to take a step at a time and aim to cap off her 2024 season on a high by winning the WTA Finals title.