It’s been a while since we’ve even had to talk about No. 1 scenarios on the women’s side, as Aryna Sabalenka has been so far ahead of the rest of the pack for such a long time.
But now a legitimate threat has emerged, and we could be back to calculating No. 1 scenarios as early as Rome in a few weeks.
By winning Stuttgart last week, world No. 2 Elena Rybakina cut the gap between herself and Sabalenka from 2,917 points (11,025 to 8,108) to 2,395 points (10,895 to 8,500), not just because she added points by winning the title, but because Sabalenka lost points for missing the event, having reached the final last year.
That 2,395-point gap is the closest anyone’s gotten to Sabalenka since the very first week of the 2026 season, when she led then-No. 2 Iga Swiatek by 2,312 points (10,490 to 8,178).
