After Serena Williams announced her withdrawal from the Family Circle Cup this week, it became inevitable that she’ll be stepping down from the top spot in next week’s WTA rankings. As the defending champion of the claycourt event, the American is set to lose significant ranking points thus making it possible for Russian world number two Dinara Safina to take over.
Safina will become the second player from her nation to achieve this feat. The first one was Maria Sharapova, who held the top ranking for 17 weeks.
“It’s a great honor to reach the No.1 ranking and it is a dream every girl who has ever wanted to play professional tennis shares,” the Russian said.
Safina will also became part of the first-ever brother-sister duo to have achieved the number one ranking. Her older brother, Marat Safin, achieved the feat a few years ago.
The Russian won the WTA Most Improved Player Award for 2008 after her ranking soared from no. 17 to no. 2 by the end of the year. She won four titles and also reached her first career Grand Slam final at the French Open losing to Ana Ivanovic. Earlier this year, she reached the Australian Open final – falling to Serena Williams in two sets.
