Iga Swiatek joins Serena Williams in pulling off remarkable ranking feat

10/16/2024 06:55 PM

Iga Swiatek may not have played much lately but she still achieved one remarkable feat after joining Serena Williams on the list of players with multiple 50+ stints at the world No. 1 spot.

This Monday, the 23-year-old started her 125th week at the top spot. Previously, the Polish tennis star spent 75 consecutive weeks at No. 1 between 2022 April and 2023 September. Now, she is the seventh player in WTA Tour history to pull off one very impressive ranking feat. 

In the past, only some of the biggest and greatest names of the game managed to enjoy multiple stints 50+ stints at the very top of the rankings - Williams, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Martina Hingis.

When the summer started, Swiatek had a strong lead against second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka. But since then, that big lead has shrunk to just 69 points. 

After losing in the US Open quarterfinal, the Pole decided to skip the WTA 500 tournament in Seoul, as well as back-to-back WTA 1000 tournaments in Beijing and Wuhan. While resting, the five-time Grand Slam champion also decided to end her very successful three-year partnership with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.

While Swiatek is not going through her best period, Sabalenka managed to win the US Open, as well as the WTA 1000 tournaments in Cincinnati and Wuhan. Now, she is just 69 points behind the 23-year-old on the WTA rankings list but leads the WTA Race list, where she has gained 9,091 ranking points compared to the Pole's 8,285. 

When Wuhan started, the current world No. 2 was still over 1,000 points behind the four-time French Open winner. But since the Polish tennis star didn't play in Wuhan, the Belarusian knew that with a triumph, the gap would go from a four-digit number to a two-digit number. 

While Sabalenka has been adamant that overtaking Swiatek is not her only goal and priority, she doesn't hide that it is something she would like to do.

"Yeah, that's really tight ranking right now. Really nice to see. I always say of course it's one of the goals, but I prefer to focus on myself and just keep working hard. We'll see after the Finals if I was good enough this season to become world No. 1," she said after winning Wuhan.

By not defending her title in Beijing earlier this month, the Pole dropped just 1,000 points there. However, it was clear from the start that the Pole's absence would give her biggest rival a great chance to reduce the lead at the top.

But according to Sabalenka herself, she would prefer to have Swiatek competing - and not only that - but also clashing against the 23-year-old. 

"I mean, I love having this competition and I love seeing her in the draw. Yeah, I love to, like, get to the finals and face her in the finals. It's always great battles. I always enjoy fights against her. But, I mean, I hope she'll figure out the coach situation and she'll be back in the Finals in her best shape. Hopefully we can play against each other there in the Finals, yeah, put it into a fight for world No. 1. That's ideally. I'm trying to focus on myself and make sure that I play my best tennis and make sure I still have this opportunity to become world No. 1 at the end of the year," the Belarusian said in Wuhan.

As you probably already know, Sabalenka reached the top spot for the first time after the 2023 US Open but spent there just eight weeks. 

"Well, it's good to be in the top of the draw. You don't have to scroll all the way down to see your opponent. You just open and you're there (smiling). No, I'm kidding. I think it's been my goal since I was little. This is something that shows that I'm on the right way, I'm working on the right things. Especially having this rivalry with Iga is something big for tennis and something much needed, I would say, in woman tennis. To kind of keep this competition going would be really good for tennis. Of course, it's one of the biggest goals for me. Yeah, I really want to achieve this goal. That's a big motivation, you know?" the 26-year-old last week.

Meanwhile, Swiatek is expected to return to action at the inaugural WTA Finals in Riyadh, which runs between November 2nd-9th. 

Should the Pole win all of her matches there - which may be a bit unrealistic considering the current circumstances - she would secure the No. 1 spot going into the 2025 season. 

However, there are other scenarios for Swiatek to finish the year as the top-ranked player but a lot will also depend on how Sabalenka does at the WTA Finals.