Since Serena Williams retired from tennis, no player has taken up the mantle of being the dominant force in women’s tennis more than Iga Swiatek. Swiatek holds the record for the longest win streak on the WTA tour in the 21st Century and is a five time Grand Slam champion but she has not done so without competition.
Swiatek, the first Polish player ever to reach world number one, was top of the WTA rankings for 127 consecutive weeks right up until just a couple of weeks ago, when she fell behind Aryna Sabalenka.
Coco Gauff’s rival Iga Swiatek looks to return to world number one at the WTA finals
Swiatek faces Coco Gauff on Tuesday 5th November 2024 at the season-ending WTA finals, and before second faces third in the world, get to know the Polish tennis ace.
Warsaw’s rising star Iga Swiatek
Swiatek was born in 2001 in Warsaw. She was born to a former Olympic rower Tomasz and followed in the footsteps of her sister, who started out as a tennis player. In the early stages of Swiatek’s career she won the Wimbledon girls’ championships despite entering the draw unseeded and drawing the top seed in the first round, and by 2019, at just 18 years old Swiatek was already ranked in the world’s top 50.
Swiatek: ‘The Queen of Clay’
Swiatek was never Roland Garros girl’s champion but she has more than made up for that since. The Pole has won the past three French Open Championships in a row playing some wonderful tennis on the way to those consecutive victories. In just her second appearance at a Grand Slam, Swiatek made it to the fourth round, beating a top 20 WTA-ranked player for the first time, besting Wang Qiang who was ranked 16th at the time.
When she returned to the tournament it would be at the rearranged tournament in September 2020 and she would take home the trophy, becoming the lowest-ranked player to win Roland Garros since the WTA rankings began, beating favorite Simona Halep along the way. Swiatek could not repeat the feat in 2021 but would do so in 2022, 23’ and 24’ earning the nick-name ‘the Queen of Clay.’
