‘I never really imagined,’ Iga Swiatek scripts history by becoming Poland’s first-ever World No.1 in tennis
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Iga Swiatek
20-year old Iga Swiatek rewrites the history books by becoming the first Polish tennis player to become the World No.1. After Ash Barty’s retirement, Swiatek was the frontrunner to become the new World No.1. She had to win just one match at the Miami Open in order to grab pole position and she did just that by beating Swiss Viktorija Golubic in the second round in straight sets 6-2,6-0.
Swiatek becomes the 28th woman to become No.1 and also the 3rd youngest No.1 amongst active players who have achieved the highest ranking. She has been amazing all season so far. She leads the tour with a 21-3 record and is No.1 in the Race to WTA Finals. She already has won two WTA 1000 titles and also made her semifinal debut at the Australian Open. She is also the first player since 2009 to win 5 career titles before turning 21.
When Swiatek was doing her on-court interview, she was surprised when tournament director James Blake and former World No.1 Lindsay Davenport came out and presented her with flowers as a mark to congratulate Swiatek.
‘I’m just soaking everything in because I didn’t have any expectations’: Iga Swiatek
In the post-match press conference, Swiatek expressed her feeling about becoming the new World No.1. She said that she never imagined this moment and that it was the feeling is even more surreal for me.
“The thing is, I never really imagined that moment because, truth to be told, I was working day-by-day and playing tennis well,” she said. “But I never had a strong belief that it can actually happen. So, it’s even more surreal for me.”
“I loved every moment of it. It doesn’t matter to me if there were fireworks. The crowd was really supportive, they were really excited. I’m just soaking everything in because I didn’t have any expectations,” she added.
The Pole will now face American Madison Brengle in the third round on Sunday, March 27.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)