Iga Swiatek stepped into the 121st week of her holding the World No.1 position. Her achievement has tied her with Ashleigh Barty as the seventh on the all-time list for the number of weeks spent as the top-ranked holder in women’s singles. The Pole attained the WTA No. 1 ranking in 2022 after winning six back-to-back tournaments.
Swiatek, 23, recently competed at her maiden Olympic edition in Paris, winning the bronze after losing to Qinwen Zhang in straight sets in the quarter-finals. She was defeated by Jessica Pegula in the quarter-final round at the US Open, thus failing in her quest to achieve a second Grand Slam win, after lifting the Roland Garros title earlier this year.The five-time Grand Slam singles winner stepped into the 121st week of being the World No. 1 on Monday, tying her for seventh with the Australian former player, Barty.
The six women above them on the list are Steffi Graf with 377 weeks, Martina Navratilova with 332, Serena Williams with 319, Martina Hingis with 209, and Monica Seles who spent 178 weeks as World No. 1.After a semi-final round exit at the 2022 Australian Open, she made up for her loss with six back-to-back wins. The tournaments she won were the Qatar Open, Indian Wells Open, Miami Open, Stuttgart Open, the Italian Open, and a Grand Slam victory at the 2022 French Open. The Pole’s effort catapulted her to World No.1 after an incredible 37-match winning streak, the longest of the century.
Shortly after, Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet broke Swiatek’s win streak, defeating her in the third round at Wimbledon that same year. The Pole, however, went on to win the US Open title, becoming the second woman to win at both Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams achieved the feat in 2013.
Iga Swiatek withdraws from 2024 Korean Open citing fatigue
Iga Swiatek has called off her participation at the 2024 Korean Open, citing fatigue, event organizers have said. The event, scheduled from September 16 to 22, 2024, will also not feature the US Open finalist Jessica Pegula, in the wake of an injury.
Joining the two on the absentees’ list at the WTA 500 event is Elena Rybakina, who is out with a reported injury to her back.In the current WTA world rankings, the Pole stands with 10,885 points whereas World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka stands with 8,716, marking a 2,169-point gap between the Pole and the Belarusian. The former reaching the World No. 1 rank was the first for a Polish tennis player.