MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. Belarusian tennis star Arina Sobolenko has returned to the top place of the Women Tennis Association (WTA) Rankings, according to the new ratings list published on Monday.

Sobolenko, 26, is now the World’s No. 1 with 9,706 points leaving the previous leader of the rankings Iga Swiatek of Poland in the 2nd place with 9,665 points. The top trio is concluded by Coco Gauff from the United States with 5,963 points.

The Belarusian player, who competes at the international tournaments under a neutral status, returned to the top of the WTA Rankings for the second time in her career after she reigned the list of the world’s best female players last year for eight weeks - between September 11 and November 5, 2023.

The rest of this week’s WTA Top-10 is as follows: 4th Jessica Pegula (the United States; 5,785 points); 5th Yelena Rybakina (Kazakhstan; 5,471); 6th Jasmine Paolini (Italy; 5,144); 7th Qinwen Zheng (China; 4,480); 8th Emma Navarro (the United States; 3,698); 9th Daria Kasatkina (Russian player competing under a neutral status; 3,500); 10th Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil; 3,194).

Russia’s Kasatkina is two spots up the ladder compared to her previous week’s 11th position in the rankings because she had won last week the 2024 WTA Ningbo Open tennis tournament in China.

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC's recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also canceling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition on the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from taking part in the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.

However, the Women Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.