Tennis: Poland's Iga Swiatek Becomes The New World No 1 Woman Player

On Friday, Iga Swiatek became the new world number one in women's tennis. She defeated Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic at the Women's Tennis Association Miami Open. She became number one after the Australian tennis player Ashleigh Barty, who was the three-time Grand Slam champion, announced her retirement.

Swiatek had to win the second round at the South Florida hardcourt tournament to ensure that she grabbed the world number one position. This new record by the 20-year-old has also made her the first Polish woman to reach the top of Women's Tennis Association rankings. On April 4, after the tournament ends and the rankings will be updated, she will be replacing Barty.

When she was in the number two position, she shared it with another Polish women tennis player Agnieszka Radwanska. In 2020 she created history by becoming the first Polish woman to win a Grand Slam singles title.

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All about Iga Swiatek

Swiatek was born in Warsaw, Poland and is a right-handed tennis player. Since the beginning of the season, she has won WTA titles at Doha and Indian Wells. She is also the first player, after Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in 2009, to win five or more titles before the age of 21.

After becoming the world's number one women's tennis player, Swiatek said, "I'm really satisfied and really proud of myself." She also became the 28th woman to hold the rank since November 1975.

Her rise to the rank of number one has been a steady one. In 2016, she was ranked number 903. Her name was in the top 500 in 2018 and in 2020, she ranked number 17 and then last year it was number nine.

During the press conference after her win, she said, "The thing is, I never really imagined that moment because, truth to be told, I was working day-by-day and playing tennis well. But I never had a strong belief that it can actually happen. So, it's even more surreal for me," and added, "I loved every moment of it. It doesn't matter to me if there were fireworks. The crowd was really supportive they were really excited. I'm just soaking everything in because I didn't have any expectations."

(Feature Image Credit: The Indian Express)