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Iga Swiatek recently celebrated her 100th week as the World No.1 on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour with a brunch with her team.
Swiatek first reached her career-high World No.1 spot on April 4, 2022, following back-to-back victories at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open. Fast forward 749 days and she has now entered her 100th week as No. 1, making her the fifth youngest player to reach this milestone.
Swiatek's journey, however, has not been without its challenges. The Pole's 75-week run at the top ended on September 10, 2023, after she failed to defend her US Open title. The 22-year-old was briefly replaced by Aryna Sabalenka, spending two months at No.2.
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However, Swiatek stormed back to the top spot on November 6, 2023, after winning her first WTA Finals trophy and finishing as the year-end No.1 for the second straight season. Since then, Swiatek has remained at the top of the leaderboard.
Recently, Swiatek took to social media to celebrate her achievement of maintaining the top position in the WTA rankings for a period of 100 weeks.
"What a challenging, fun, sometimes frustrating and stressful, exciting and memorable journey it is. Thank you all for the support! #ontothenextone," Iga Swiatek wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The celebratory brunch, held on Monday, April 22, was shared on social media by Swiatek's psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, who posted a picture on her Instagram story. The picture showed Swiatek in a restaurant, enjoying the company of her team, including her sparring partner Tomasz Moczek and physiotherapist Maciej Ryszczuk.
"100," the Instagram story was captioned.
Iga Swiatek will begin her quest for a title in Madrid this week
World No.1 Iga Swiatek is set to compete at the 2024 Madrid Open, which begins on April 23. Swiatek is the top seed this year and has received a bye into the second round, where she will face either Wang Xiyu or Ana Bogdan.
The Pole has been in exceptional form this season, with a win-loss record of 27-4. She has already clinched two WTA 1000 titles so far this season (Doha and Indian Wells). However, the Madrid Open remains the biggest clay-court title missing from her trophy cabinet. The 22-year-old reached her first Madrid final last year but fell 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Aryna Sabalenka.
The four-time Grand Slam champion is coming off a semifinal run at the Miami Open, where she was defeated 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 by the eventual champion Elena Rybakina in the semifinals.
Wang Xiyu, currently ranked No. 52, has a win-loss record of 9-8 in the 2024 season so far. The 23-year-old is coming off a second-round exit against Anna Kalinskaya at the Miami Open. Wang could potentially face Swiatek for the first time on the WTA tour.
Ana Bogdan, currently ranked No. 64, has a win-loss record of 6-8 in the 2024 season so far. Swiatek and Bogdan have met once before, with the former leading the head-to-head 1-0. Their previous match was at the 2019 Australian Open, where Swiatek emerged victorious 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
