Iga Swiatek admitted she felt Aryna Sabalenka will overtake her as World No. 1 after Wimbledon owing to her injuries

Swiatek suffered two injuries in the Indian Wells and Rome Masters respectively in 2023.

Iga Swiatek admitted she felt Aryna Sabalenka will overtake her as World No. 1 after Wimbledon owing to her injuries

Aryna Sabalenka (L), Iga Swiatek (R) (Sources: The Independent/Wikipedia)

Recently, a documentary that was made during the 2023 ATP Finals has been released in Poland. The episode featuring Iga Swiatek has revealed a lot of details about her season overall and how the two injuries she suffered in 2023 affected her.

The Polish international revealed that at one point she really felt like Aryna Sabalenka was going to overtake her in the ATP rankings and become World No. 1, which she did. Fortunately, the 22-year-old made a sensational comeback in the Asian Swing and became the year-end World No. 1 finally.Ā 

Swiatek had two major injuries during the 2023 season: a rib injury at the Indian Wells and a thigh injury at the Rome Masters. Due to these injuries, her participation in the upcoming tournaments was under concern. Despite these struggles, the Polish international ended up winning the French Open, which was a great achievement. However, the injuries took a toll on her performance as the season progressed.Ā 

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Ever since winning her fourth Grand Slam, the Pole’s performances have been just average, and she has not been able to impress the fans. On the other hand, Aryna Sabalenka was on the rise and although she did not manage to win any major tournaments this season, she was consistently one of the top performers in all the tournaments.Ā 

In fact, after reaching the final of the US Open, Sabalenka replaced Swiatek as the World No.1 and that was a major blow to the Polish. She finally made her comeback in the Asian Swing by winning the China Open and then the ATP Finals following which she regained her throne. It was a really clutch display by the youngster as she became the World No. 1 once again in the very last tournament of the year.Ā 

Post US Open, I managed to really dive into work and I really like that I can do that and will continue that. If I keep on playing and training well, the No. 1 will come back anyway. That's what more experienced sportsman/women were telling me so that's what I'm going with.
Swiatek had said while she was still World No. 2

Iga Swiatek claims she had predicted Aryna Sabalenka overtaking her

Swiatek said in the documentary that she could feel that the swap between her and Sabalenkaā€™s ranking was inevitable ever since Wimbledon. She is proud that she was able to keep the position with two injuries and also won a Grand Slam in that condition.Ā 

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek (Source: Sporting News)
For sure, the last phase of being no 1 was very demanding, as I've been feeling, practically since Wimbledon, that myself and Aryna are on the verge of that swap. But still with two injuries, think I worked to have that position for as long as I did. I don't wanna say "managed to get it" as in Poland I think we are used to saying it "turned out well" but that doesn't happen on its own.Ā 

The Pole will now look to continue her dominance at the top of the rankings as she heads into the 2024 Australian Open as the top seed. Swiatek has never won the Australian Open and she would look to change that this season.Ā 

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