Iga Świątek took the top spot in the world rankings in March last year, when the previous leader of the WTA rankings, Ashleigh Barty, announced her retirement. The Pole strengthened her position in the following weeks, won tournaments, but recently Aryna Sabalenka has been regularly pressuring her and approaching her position.
The Belarusian could have achieved her goal and become the world’s number one racket. She needed to win over Ons Jabeur and reach the Wimbledon final. However, she lost in the semifinals and is still ranked second.
Świątek made history
On the all-time list, Świątek ranks 12th in terms of the number of weeks at the top of the rankings, spending 67 weeks at the top. Interestingly, only inactive female players are ahead of her. Just ahead of her are Martina Hingis (73 weeks) and Chris Evert (76 weeks).
The longest-running players in history were the legendary Steffi Graf and Serena Williams, whose streaks lasted 186 weeks. Martina Navratilova is also on the podium, having been the “number one” in the ranking for 156 weeks in a row.
In total, there are only seven players ahead of Iga Świątek (including Barty and Mocica Seles). Some of them have had longer streaks at the top of the ranking more than once – Graf, Navratilova, Evert and Hingis have managed to do so.
The 22-year-old is facing a battle to remain the best player in the world for as long as possible. At the moment, Sabalenka has 8845 points, while the Pole has 9315. The battle for the top spot is still going strong.
