"Take this million times over travesty that's gonna be ATP awards" - Tennis fans react to Iga Swiatek's undoubted WTA Player of the Year title

Iga Swiatek won the biggest honor at the 2022 WTA Awards, with her 'WTA Player of the Year' title coming as no surprise to many. The World No. 1 was not just the most dominant player this season but stamped her authority on tour better than anyone else in recent years.

Swiatek won eight titles, including her second French Open title and maiden US Open title in 2022, while also finishing with 11,085 ranking points at the end of the season. She currently holds a mammoth lead of 6,030 points over World No. 2 Ons Jabeur at the top of the rankings. In a season in which she won 67 tour-level matches, Swiatek went on a 37-match winning run at one stage, the most for a WTA player this century.

Tennis fans reacted to Swiatek's latest honor and many suggested that the winner was decided well before it was announced on Monday, given the Polish superstar's incredible season.

"Like imagine if Iga didn't win this," read a fan's reaction on Twitter.

Meanwhile, one fan opined that despite the prevailing sense of obviousness around Swiatek being crowded the WTA player of the year, it deserves to be applauded a lot more than the ATP Awards and some of the nominees therein.

"I don't care if Iga's win was foreseeable, I'll still take this a million times over the travesty that's gonna be ATP awards, glorifying and normalising abusive bullies. Predictability should be celebrated when it brings forward those who deserve it, seriously," the fan tweeted.

Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans to Iga Swiatek winning the WTA Player of the Year award:

Carlos Alcaraz hopes to be like fellow World No. 1 Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek reacts during a press conference at the 2022 WTA Finals.

ATP World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz recently lavished praise on WTA World No. 1 Iga Swiatek and said that he hopes to be like the Polish superstar in terms of her dominance at the highest level. Swiatek became the top-ranked player in the WTA rankings in early April and has held onto the spot ever since. Alcaraz expressed his desire to emulate that achievement and hold onto his own No. 1 ranking for the longest possible time.

Alcaraz hailed Swiatek for an "incredible" and "amazing" year.

“I see her year has been incredible, she broke a record I think for the longest winning streak (this century). It’s amazing,” Alcaraz told Arab News.

“I wish to be like her, to not lose the No. 1. But I think it’s almost impossible. I’m going to lose it but the point is to recover it and stay there at No. 1 as much as I can," the Spaniard added.

Swiatek won her maiden WTA Player of the Year award just two seasons after winning the WTA Newcomer of the Year award, highlighting her rapid rise. She was regarded as the newcomer of the year in 2020 after winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open.