“She would still be struggling” Twitteratis argue that Ash Barty’s retirement helped Iga Swiatek gain confidence
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Ash Barty and Iga Swiatek
Ashleigh Barty decided to step down after she had won the Australian Open 2022. She became the first Australian woman since Chris O’Neil in 1978 to win the Australian Open. She was a dominant world number 1, and she spent 114 consecutive weeks at No. 1 (removing the frozen ranking duration due to the CoVID-19 pandemic). Barty was at the pinnacle of her career, winning the Wimbledon 2021 and following it up with a historic Australian Open victory.
While Barty was dominating as the world’s number 1, Iga Swiatek was already in the WTA top 10 and was waiting for her chance to shine. She had already been someone to watch out for, but she has become one of the biggest forces in tennis this year. She has won five consecutive tournaments and is on a rampant 28-win streak going into the Roland-Garros. She is as strong and fearsome as the other long-time world number 1’s like Serena Williams and Barty. Many fans have been quick to account for such a change in Iga’s performance due to a lack of strong competitors and an aggressive player like Barty.
How long will Iga Swiatek hold the number one place?
Iga Swiatek is an extremely aggressive and confident player. When Iga feels she is in the zone, she is simply unbeatable. She has also accepted her aggressive style and has used it well to dominate the field till now. But, there is a point that Iga wouldn’t have had enough confidence to go for it from the beginning if Barty had not stepped down as the world number 1 and Iga would still have been a struggling top 10 looking for an opportunity.
There were some more rumors in the beginning that Swiatek is just a phase, and we will see a new world number 1 rise. Still, Swiatek proved to the world that it was her time, and it didn’t matter if Barty’s retirement made it easier for her, but she was there to stay and dictate the flow of her racquet. She has settled in nicely and is smashing records as she approaches the French Open as a favorite to win the title and pump up her win streak to 33 at the end of the Grand Slam.
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Prateek Sinha
(365 Articles Published)