Monica Seles and Ashleigh Barty joined several other tennis greats to laud Iga Swiatek following her latest rankings milestone.
The Pole has now become the only 9th women’s player in history to hit 100 weeks at No. 1 in the WTA Rankings. She followed in the footsteps of greats like Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Martine Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Justine Henin and Ashleigh Barty.
Among the exclusive club, Swiatek is the 5th youngest to achieve the feat of 100 weeks at #1 and it is only a matter of time that she will likely surpass Henin’s and Barty’s 117 and 121 weeks respectively at the top.
The 4-time major champion in her second stint at #1 has spent the last 25 weeks to add to her 75 consecutive weeks that started on April 2022 and ended in Sep 2023.
9-time GS champion Seles who ruled the WTA tour in 90s feels the 22-year-old’s hard work and determination have been key to her success.
“Congratulations Iga on an incredible achievement of 100 weeks as the No 1 player in the world of tennis! Your dedication and hard work have truly paid off. Keep inspiring us with your amazing talent on the court!” she said while talking to WTA.
Since rising to #1 rank in 2022, Swiatek has won two Roland Garros titles and the 2022 US Open. She also created a 37-match win streak in 2022 while winning six titles in a row. The Pole seized the top spot in WTA when Barty announced her shock retirement in March 2022 and at that time some doubted whether she deserved a #1 rank but she has given answer to her doubters.
Barty said: “One-hundred weeks at No 1 is a huge achievement in any era. Congratulations to Iga. I’m so happy for her and have loved watching her hard work pay off.”
Swiatek has also won the year-end No 1 titles for the last two years, something which Navratilova is a true measure of her success.
“There’s been a bunch of No 1s, but they weren’t all No 1 at the end of the year,” she said. “For me, it’s how many times you’ve been No 1 at the end of the year.”
The 18-time GS singles titlist added: “Everybody’s after you. Every single person. You are going to be on their resume forever, because how many times do you beat a No.1 player in the world?
“You can’t win, you cannot move up in the rankings. You can only widen the gap.”