Iga Swiatek Completely Outclasses Serena Williams as She Rubs Shoulders With Chris Evert With Latest WTA Milestone
Iga Swiatek made her professional debut in 2016, and since then she has achieved a lot in her career. But the 22-year-old Polish tennis sensation never got the chance to fulfill her wish of playing against Serena Williams. That’s one of the very few disappointments that the current world’s number-one tennis star has had in her entire career. But recently, Swiatek completely outclassed Serena Williams with her latest WTA milestone. Let us find out how she managed to achieve this extraordinary feat.
Elena Rybakina recently ended Iga Swiatek’s hope of clinching her third consecutive title at the Stuttgart Open by defeating her with a 6-3,4-6,6-3 margin in just 2 hours 49 minutes in the finals. With this defeat, her 10-match winning streak also came to an end. But did it affect her rankings? Well, Swiatek dropped 305 points in the WTA rankings, but she’s still sitting at the top with 10560 points. On April 22, she celebrated her 100th week at the summit of women’s tennis. She did it at the age of just 22 years and 10 months, while Serena Williams took 28 years and 7 months to achieve this feat.
The 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ weeks as # 1️⃣ club
Hingis (18y 8m)
Seles (19y 2m)
Graf (20y 26d)
Evert (22y 9m)
Świątek (22y 10m)
Barty (25y 6m)
Henin (25y 7m)
Navratilova (25y 11m)
Serena (28y 7m) pic.twitter.com/IGJHHbVepk— Juan Ignacio (@juanignacio_ac) April 21, 2024
Swiatek currently sits at the 5th spot on the list just above Chris Evert. While Martina Hingis leads the pack. Hingis reached the 100-weeks club of being the number 1 at the age of just 18 years and 8 months. Several records to break, and plenty of road to cover for the 22-year-old Swiatek. Currently, she has a lead of 2712 points over the second-placed, Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka has 7848 points, and as things stand, the Belarusian may find it difficult to topple the ‘Queen of Clay’ in the clay court season. Iga Swiatek has incredible numbers on the dirt.
The Polish tennis star has a special knack for chasing records, especially Serena Williams’. Last year, she became the first woman since Serena Williams to win WTA Player of the Year twice in a row. Williams did it during the 2012-2015 seasons. She won this prestigious award every time over those periods. Swiatek has often reflected on her fascination for Serena Williams. But how did she react when she was at the same venue with Serena Williams in Cincinnati two years ago?
“I’m pretty shy” – Iga Swiatek on meeting Serena Williams for the first time
In the 2022 season, Iga Swiatek got a chance to meet the ‘Queen’ of the tennis world. But she said she was too shy to approach her. “The thing is that I have a hard time catching eye contact with Serena. And I wanted to say ‘Hi’ a few times.” She added that it was very tough to do so because Serena Williams is always surrounded by a big crowd. “I’m pretty shy and when I look at her, I suddenly kind of forget that I’m here as the world No.1. I see Serena and it’s, ‘Wow, Serena,’ you know? And I feel like I’m a kid from kindergarten just looking at her. So it’s tough. I haven’t talked to her but I’m just trying to say ‘Hi’,” Swiatek added.
Iga Swiatek has now become the torchbearer of the women’s tennis. This is something that the Williams sisters have done successfully throughout the years. Swiatek isn’t shy of chasing her records, but can she ever match the number of Grand Slam titles with those of the Williams sisters?
