WTA Finals flashback: How Swiatek locked down the No.1 ranking in 2023
The plot of “Ocean’s Eleven,” the memorable 2001 heist film starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and Andy Garcia, is fairly straightforward. Danny Ocean, played slyly by Clooney, puts together a team of specialists to steal $160 million from the casinos of Terry Benedict (Garcia).
A year ago, when Iga Swiatek embarked on her own quest — regaining the Hologic WTA Tour’s No.1 ranking — she had no collaborators, and it was anything but straightforward. Hiding in plain sight, unlike Ocean’s team of quirky thieves, this one was all Swiatek.
She had held the No.1 ranking for 75 weeks, since April 2022, when Aryna Sabalenka emerged from the US Open with that honor, becoming only the 29th woman to hold the position.
Swaitek’s first outing as No.2 ended in her second match, the quarterfinals in Tokyo, with a loss to Veronika Kudermetova. What followed was a remarkable run, a 37-day odyssey that saw Swiatek win her last 11 matches of the season. Swiatek took the title in Beijing and ran the table at the WTA Finals in Cancun. The final count in sets was an astounding 22-1, the game totals 134-57, with six victories over Top 10 players.
Heading into the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF, Swiatek again finds herself No.2 to Sabalenka. And while she’s further back than a year ago, the possibility of reclaiming the No.1 ranking still exists. After winning her opening match Sunday, she needs to win the title here and hope Sabalenka (also 1-0) fails to advance to the semifinals.
In the scheme of things, losing the No.1 ranking last year might have been a blessing.
“I think it’s a bit easier to come back to the mindset of chasing somebody because that’s what we’ve been doing our whole lives,” Swiatek said before play began in Beijing. “There’s only one person who’s at No.1. I think this was harder to get used to last season. But honestly, it doesn’t really matter for me because after the US Open, I knew I was going to drop to second position