Grand Slams are where the big points live. A title win alone gives players a whopping 2000 points, and it often shakes up the WTA ladder. After this year’s Australian Open, Madison Keys made a massive leap, jumping from No. 14 to No. 7. Then came the French Open, where Coco Gauff held on to her No. 2 spot with another deep run. But here’s the twist. Both of them beat the same opponent in their respective finals. And yet, Aryna Sabalenka is still sitting pretty at No. 1 in the WTA rankings. How? Let’s take a look at the numbers behind her dominance.

Aryna Sabalenka is a three-time Grand Slam champion and is now in her second run as world No. 1. She’s held the top spot since October last year after overtaking Iga Swiatek. Since then, it’s been the Aryna Sabalenka show on the WTA Tour. The Belarusian recently joined elite company by becoming only the third woman to reach 11,000 points in the WTA rankings. That’s no small feat. Sabalenka currently leads the field with a total of 11,553 points. When she entered the Madrid Open this year, she had 10,768 points. That already placed her fourth on the all-time list for the most ranking points collected under the current system introduced in 2009. Only Serena Williams, Iga Swiatek, and Victoria Azarenka had more.

But then Sabalenka won the Madrid Open, and everything changed. She broke through the 11,000-point barrier and now trails only Swiatek and Serena in this category. For comparison, Swiatek’s best haul was 11,695 points. Serena leads the all-time peak list with a mind-blowing 13,615 points, which she achieved back in 2013.

Now let’s talk about where all of Aryna Sabalenka’s points are coming from. The 27-year-old picked up 2,000 points from her 2024 US Open win. Then there were the runner-up points from the 2025 Australian Open. Add to that her title runs in Cincinnati and Wuhan last year, and Brisbane, Miami, and Madrid this year. She also made finals in Indian Wells and Stuttgart, and don’t forget her runner-up finish at the 2025 French Open. That’s a lot of consistent deep runs.

Meanwhile, Coco Gauff sits at 8,083 points, which means overtaking Sabalenka won’t be easy. And her early exit at the Berlin Open yesterday didn’t help either. She lost to qualifier Wang Xinyu and dropped 185 points after failing to defend her semifinal run from last year. Sabalenka, on the other hand, is already through to the Berlin quarterfinals, matching her result from last year and successfully defending her points. That’s the kind of consistency that keeps her at the top.

The gap might get even wider after Wimbledon. The Belarusian tennis star withdrew last year due to injury, so she has zero points to defend. This gives her a free shot to gain more ground. Gauff, however, has 240 points to defend from a fourth-round finish at Wimbledon last year.  Even if Gauff wins the title at Wimbledon, she’ll gain a maximum of 1,760 points. That would close the gap slightly, but still not be enough to dethrone Sabalenka.

So yes, the Aryna Sabalenka era is not ending anytime soon. While the rankings battle between her and Gauff is very much alive, their off-court tiff has now died down.

Aryna Sabalenka apologizes for her “unprofessional” comments after French Open loss

Their rivalry hasn’t just been about numbers. After losing the French Open final, Aryna Sabalenka caused a stir with her post-match comments. “I think she won the match not because she played incredible,” Sabalenka said at the time. “Just because I made all of those mistakes, if you look from the outside, from kind of easy balls.”

That didn’t go unnoticed. Statistically, Sabalenka hit 37 winners but made 70 unforced errors. Gauff had 30 winners and just as many unforced errors, keeping things much cleaner. Following the backlash, the World No.1 owned up to her mistake and extended an olive branch.

She later told Eurosport Germany, “That was just completely unprofessional of me. I let my emotions get the better of me. I absolutely regret what I said back then. You know, we all make mistakes. I’m just a human being who’s still learning in life. I think we all have those days when we lose control. But what I also want to say is that I wrote to Coco afterward – not immediately, but recently.”

So for now, it looks like both players have moved on. And the focus returns to the court, where Sabalenka is preparing to face Elena Rybakina in the Berlin Open quarterfinals this Friday.

Aryna Sabalenka’s reign continues with no brakes in sight. And the rest of the WTA field has a lot of catching up to do.