Watch: Aryna Sabalenka Snubs Novak Djokovic While Naming her Top 5 Tennis Players

One thing common among these players was that they all won multiple Grand Slams and held the World No.1 position for over a year. Federer won 103 career titles, including 20 Grand Slams, and spent 310 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings. Nadal, who’s dubbed the king of clay, won 92 tour-level titles, including 63 on the red dirt and 22 Grand Slams.

Williams spent 319 weeks at the top of the WTA rankings, winning 79 career titles, including 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Graf, who’s regarded as one of the greatest players to ever grace the court, spent 377 as World No.1, winning 107 tour-level titles, including 22 Grand Slams and one Olympic gold medal.

Agassi won just 8 Grand Slams but claimed a total of 60 tour-level titles. Meanwhile, Djokovic, who has won more Grand Slams than any player in history (24) and holds the World No.1 position longer than anyone (428 weeks), was not part of the best five players in Sabalenka’s list.

Aryna Sabalenka says she went through a lot to become WTA No.1

Aryna Sabalenka wasn’t a popular player during her junior days, but after turning pro in 2015, she worked hard and needed just three years to break into the Top 50 of the WTA rankings. The Belarusian star, who trained in Minsk during most of her teenage years, broke into the Top 20 in August 2018. But, she finished the 2018 and 2019 seasons as World No.11.

It was the following year that she finally broke into the top 10 and has since maintained her stay there. She’s currently World No.1 and has now won three Grand Slam titles, including the 2023 and 2024 Australian Open. During the aforementioned interview, she revealed that she went through a lot to achieve her dream of becoming No.1:

I went through a lot. Since a very young age, I was dreaming of becoming number one. It’s hard work. When I broke into the top 50, and I was getting better and better every year, I felt like maybe I could get there. And then when I made the top 10, I had the confidence that one day I’d be able to reach my goal.

Sabalenka is into the third round of the US Open, where she will face Citi Open champion Leylah Fernandez . The tie is a rematch of the 2021 US Open semi-finals, which Fernandez won. The defending champion defeated Rebeka Masarova and Polina Kudermetova in straight sets to secure her place in the third round.