Aryna Sabalenka shares her biggest goal for the rest of the season that she doesn’t want to talk about

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After becoming a three-time Grand Slam champion Aryna Sabalenka is hungry for more success in 2024.

The 26-year-old was having a solid season until she sustained a shoulder injury during the summer which forced her to skip the Wimbledon Championships.

But since returning to action Sabalenka has won her last two tournaments, including the US Open, making the two-time Australian Open champion the first player to win both hard court majors in the same year since Angelique Kerber in 2016.

But with the players now preparing for the final portion of the season, Aryna Sabalenka is aiming to finish the year on a high.

What else does Aryna Sabalenka want to accomplish this season?

Sabalenka spent approximately eight weeks as the World number one from September 2023 to November 2023, after making the semi-finals or better in each of the majors that season.

But after winning two of the three Grand Slams she entered in 2024, the Belarusian is keen to become the WTA‘s top ranked player once again, though she is not putting too much on herself to achieve that goal.

She left Flushing just 409 points behind Iga Swiatek, who has not won a title she claiming her fourth French Open in June.

“I’m still hungry, for sure. Another goal for sure is to try to become world No.1 again. But I don’t want to talk about this goal,” Sabalenka told the WTA Insider Podcast. “I’m just trying to keep improving myself and keep getting better every day.

“But now I’ll definitely have some days off so I can just enjoy this win and I can switch off and forget about tennis for a little bit. So I’ll keep this freshness till the end of the season. Six weeks is not that much.”

Aryna Sabalenka is within striking distance of Iga Swiatek at the top of the rankings

Sabalenka rediscovering her best form has coincided with Swiatek struggling to produce her best tennis. Since the Pole claimed her third successive Roland Garros and fourth overall, she has failed to reach another final.

Swiatek only reached the third round at Wimbledon, before failing to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games. Since returning to the hard courts, Swiatek lost to Sabalenka in Cincinnati before Jessica Pegula ended her US Open campaign.

Heading into the final two months of the season the pressure is on Swiatek who has 2,600 points to defend for the rest of the season, while Sabalenka has just 840 points.

Should Sabalenka continue her hot steak and Swiatek suffer more early defeats, there is a chance tennis could have a new World number one by the end of the season.