“I couldn’t be more proud” Iga Swiatek wins Ash Barty’s seal of approval for leading the Tour since becoming World No. 1
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Ash Barty and Iga Swiatek
3-time Grand Slam champion Ash Barty is enjoying her retirement life away from tennis. The 26-year-old who bid goodbye to the game in March this year was ranked World No. 1 at the time of her retirement, a position she had held for 112 consecutive weeks of the 119 total weeks she spent at the top of the rankings. Barty became the only player since Justine Henin to retire while being ranked No. 1 and it was shocking news to the tennis world.
Upon Barty’s retirement, Iga Swiatek became the new Tour leader as the Pole had been racking up consistent titles since mid-February. Swiatek confirmed her ascension to the top with a second-round win in the 2022 Miami Open, which eventually became her third consecutive WTA-1000 title of the season having earlier won in Qatar and Indian Wells as well. Swiatek would then go on to win 3 more titles on the trot, the WTA-500 event in Stuttgart, WTA-1000 in Rome and the 2022 French Open.
Iga Swiatek has lost only 1 match since becoming World No. 1 post Ash Barty’s retirement
Iga had a brilliant run during the season which started in Qatar and ended with her 3rd round defeat at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, a defeat for the first time after 37 consecutive wins. Iga is 44-3 for the season so far and currently leads the WTA rankings with a lead of 4010 points over World No. 2 Anett Kontaveit who has 4326 points to Iga’s 8336 points.
“Iga is an incredible talent, an exceptional human being and a very friendly girl. I love her and her team, and I couldn’t be more proud that she took the number one spot, because she plays the sport the right way and has so much energy and of charisma,” said Barty in her recent interview with the Guardian.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)