Iga Swiatek joins an elite club featuring Steffi Graf as she achieves remarkable feat which even Serena Williams couldn’t match
Swiatek enters her 71st consecutive week as World No. 1 in her first stint at the top.
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Iga Swiatek (Image Credits: Nicolas Gouhier/FFT)
Iga Swiatek, the Polish tennis sensation, has achieved a remarkable feat, joining a select group of yesteryear legends such as Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis. She now stands as one of the few women in the history of WTA rankings to spend at least 70 weeks as the World No. 1 during her first stint.
The 22-year-old, who has made a name for being a top-draw clutch player, added another feather to her cap when she became the first Polish woman in the Open Era to win a WTA title in Poland.
The triple French Open champion won four singles titles in 2023, with her latest triumph coming at the Poland Open, where she did not lose a single set over the entire tournament. Since rising to the top of the WTA rankings in April last year, Iga has staved off competition from the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Ons Jabeur, and Elena Rybakina to hold on to her número uno position.
A comprehensive victory over German Laura Siegemund in yesterday’s final, which included a bagel in the first set and the loss of just one game in the second set, saw the youngster extend her lead at the top of the WTA charts by 175 points to 9,490 points, maintaining a lead of 645 points over World No. 2 Sabalenka (8,845 points).
Iga’s record in finals of tournaments is nothing less than extraordinary. The Warsaw-born athlete maintains a superlative 15-4 win-loss record, including 4-0 in Grand Slam events.
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Iga Swiatek becomes the 8th woman in Open Era to spend 70+ consecutive weeks at No. 1
Swiatek entered a rarefied club of top achievers in women’s tennis by entering her 71st consecutive week as World No. 1 in her first stint. This feat has only been surpassed by two legends: Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis.
The legendary Graf, a 22-time Major winner and the only athlete in tennis history to have won the Golden Slam (1988), was World No. 1 for a jaw-dropping 186 weeks in her very first stint, stretching almost four years, from August 17, 1987, to March 10, 1991.
Swiss sensation Martina Hingis, one of the select few individuals to have enjoyed considerable success across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles formats, rose to stardom at just 16 years old in 1997, making all 4 Grand Slam finals and winning 3 of them (the exception being the French Open). Hingis’ grand entry to the big stage saw her ranking propel all the way to the top when she was just 16 years and 3 months old. The ever-smiling Swiss star held on to the top spot for 80 weeks, from March 31, 1997, to October 11, 1998, in her first stint.
Apart from the three names mentioned above, only five other trailblazers of women’s tennis have managed to stay on top of the podium for at least 70 consecutive weeks in any stint. They include Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Serena Williams, and Ashleigh Barty.
As fans approach the final Grand Slam of 2023, Iga will look to surpass Hingis’ record of 80 consecutive weeks at the top of the heap in her first stint. Should she successfully defend her 2,000 points, which she picked up last year for her win at Flushing Meadows, the Pole will continue to break new ground and rise up the pecking order of all-time great women’s tennis legends.
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Arjun K
(41 Articles Published)