48 hours after Ash Barty announced her retirement from tennis, we now have a new world number 1. Her name is Iga Swiatek. She is the 28th different player to reach the top of the WTA world rankings, and she became the 1st Polish player, male or female, to ever earn the number 1 ranking. Swiatek, who won the French Open in 2020 over American Sofia Kenin, also holds the distinction of being the 1st polish player, male or female, to win a singles title at a major tournament. Prior to Swiatek’s amazing rise to the top of the rankings, the highest ranking Polish player was Agnieszka Radwanska who had earned the world number 2 ranking in 2012. She earned that ranking after becoming the first Polish player to make it to the final of a major tournament having lost to Serena Williams at the 2012 Wimbledon.
Swiatek reaching number 1 is, by no stretch of imagination, a very difficult feat and it should be celebrated as the shining moment for this young woman’s career. Yet, some are quick to downplay this achievement because they claim “she only got there because Barty retired”. This is both wrong and sexist. It is factually wrong, because despite Barty’s retirement, the rest of the field still had to play for the points Barty forfeited upon retirement. Meaning players did not move up one spot in the rankings by default. It’s a sexist statement to make because, if the top ranked male player retired, fans would be celebrating a new number 1. Novak Djokovic could retire right now, and the narrative would be “it’s the beginning of a new era” and “we’ll finally have a new number 1”. There’s no good reason why Swiatek can’t be given the same level of respect for all of the hard work she has put in to get this far.
Iga Swiatek made her professional debut in 2016, but remained a relatively unknown player early in her career. Swiatek, however, would make her presence known in a big way in 2020 when she claimed her first WTA singles title at the French Open. She had to beat the 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the opening round and former world number 1 Simona Halep in the 4th round en route to the final. She played the 2020 Australian Open winner American Sofia Kenin in the final. It would be a straight sets victory for Swiatek to claim the French Open title. It was her first career singles title as well. Since that victory, Swiatek has won 4 more WTA singles titles.
Iga Swiatek opened up 2022 with a bang as she advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career. She lost to American tennis player and eventual runner-up Danielle Collins in her semifinal match. Swiatek followed that up with back-to-back Masters 1000 singles titles in Doha and then Indian wells to reach the world number 2 ranking. Little did we know, at the time, that she would become the world number 1 in-waiting.
Iga Swiatek cruised to victory over Swiss player Viktorija Golubic in the round of 64 in Miami to reach world number 1. The new rankings will be made official on April 4th. Anyone who doesn’t feel that Iga deserves the number 1 ranking should start paying attention because she is one fierce competitor.
