Iga Swiatek achieved a very special milestone this Monday as the Polish tennis superstar has matched Ashleigh Barty at the seventh spot for the most weeks spent at the world No. 1 position.
On April 2nd, 2022, the 23-year-old officially replaced the former three-time Grand Slam champion as the top-ranked player on the WTA Tour. Since then, the Pole has been the highest-ranked in the game for a total of 121 weeks - and next week - she will surpass the Australian tennis legend on the list and the next to pass up will be Monica Seles, who was No. 1 for 178 weeks.
After reaching the top spot for the first time, Swiatek impressively spent there 75 consecutive weeks before Aryna Sabalenka replaced her following the end of the 2023 US Open. However, it didn't take long before the five-time Grand Slam champion reclaimed the No. 1 position as the Pole has been sitting at the top spot since November 7th.
While she has spent the majority of the time as the top-ranked player over the last 29 months, it doesn't change the fact that the Pole reached the position in stunning circumstances. Following her 2022 Indian Wells triumph, the now 23-year-old reached a new career-high ranking of No. 2 in the world. Then the next day, Barty announced her shock retirement and, after the 2022 Miami Open, the Pole improved one more spot and became the new No. 1.
Later, Swiatek admitted that she was left blindsided by the Australian's sudden retirement and she found herself in a situation for which she wasn't prepared. While the former three time Major winner was active, she played the Pole twice - in 2021 Madrid and 2022 Adelaide - and won both times.
"It depends, because like professionally I think I change a lot, because I'm in a totally different situation. I had to kind of grow up tennis-wise pretty quickly because I became World No. 1 and I had to handle that. Plus, you know, winning two more slams, it was a dream come true, but also, you know, a huge experience. But as a person I think I'm just growing up like a normal way," the 23-year-old said in 2023 March.
Swiatek: I didn't fully understand what happened after Barty's announcement
When the 2022 season started, the Australian was widely considered the best player in the game and she had a big lead in the rankings over the rest of the competition. And since she also started the season with back-to-back titles at the Adelaide International and Australian Open, there was no reason to think that someone could replace her as the best player in the game that year.
But then in March of that year, she announced that she was walking away from pro tennis at the age of 25. And after the 2021 Wimbledon champion was gone, Swiatek became the new face of women's tennis.
"I didn't fully understand what had happened. Ash was the undisputed leader, she played the best tennis - even though I knew where she would hit, it was still difficult to cope with her shot. At first, her departure was an abstraction to me. I felt it as a great loss for the sport. I have great respect for her. Besides, I had an idea what the end of her career would mean for me.
"I was number two for just a few days, and suddenly there was an opportunity to move to the top of the rankings. It hit me hard because I never thought such a scenario would be possible. Today we live from day to day, we do not think about the future every moment. The thought comes to mind: 'God, I could soon be the best in the world in my discipline,'" the four-time French Open told Polish media in late 2023.
Swiatek has no plans of pulling off a Barty
As mentioned above, the Australian was coming off a Grand Slam win and she was also the highest-ranked player in the game when she decided to call it a career. Since the Pole has established herself as the most dominant player since Barty's retirement, the 23-year-old was asked last year if there was a chance of seeing her also retire very early.
"I can tell the fans that there's no need to think about it because I won't do it myself. I think I'll be the kind of tennis player who'll be in my thirties (when I decide to retire). I also know that there are a lot of cool things that can be done in life, I have a lot of projects in my head that would be interesting in the future, and I can't really do them now because tennis is my preoccupation. I think if I continue to have these ideas in the future, then maybe I will have a second career," Swiatek said last year.
