Iga Świątek(1)
Świątek's father, Tomasz, is a retired Olympic rower. As a junior, Świątek was the 2018 French Open girls' doubles champion alongside Caty McNally and the 2018 Wimbledon girls' singles champion. Świątek began playing regularly on the WTA Tour in 2019, and entered the top 50 at 18 years old after her first Tour final and a fourth-round appearance at the 2019 French Open.
During her French Open title run in 2020, Świątek did not lose more than five games in any singles match. She entered the top ten of the WTA rankings for the first time in May 2021 after winning the Italian Open. Following back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in 2022 at Qatar and Indian Wells, Świątek reached a career-high ranking of No. 2. After the retirement of world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, she became the first Polish player, male or female, to reach the top ranking in singles, on 4 April 2022. During this time, Świątek accumulated a 37-match winning streak, the longest on the WTA Tour in the 21st century. With major titles at the French and US Opens, she finished 2022 as the dominant No. 1. In 2023 she defended her French Open title and claimed the WTA Finals to finish as year-end No. 1 again.
Świątek has an all-court playing style. She won the WTA Fan Favorite Shot of the Year in 2019 with a drop shot from the baseline, and was voted WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year in 2020. In 2023, she was named the L'Équipe Champion of Champions and Polish Sports Personality of the Year and included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Early life and background
Iga Świątek was born on 31 May 2001 in Warsaw to Dorota and Tomasz Świątek.[2] Her father is a former rower who competed in the men's quadruple sculls event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.[3] Her mother is an orthodontist. She has a sister, Agata, who is about three years older and is a dentist.[4][5]
Świątek's father wanted his daughters to become competitive athletes and preferred they take up an individual sport rather than a team sport to have better control of their chances of success. Agata initially started out as a swimmer but switched to tennis after she had issues with swimming. Iga followed her sister into tennis because she wanted to beat her and also because she wanted to be more like her. Agata briefly competed on the ITF Junior Circuit in 2013 at about 15 years old, but stopped playing due to injury troubles.[6][7][8] Iga trained at Mera Warsaw as a 14-year-old before later moving to Legia Warsaw.[9][10]
Junior career
Świątek reached a career-high ranking of No. 5 as a junior. She began competing in ITF Junior Circuit events in 2015 and won back-to-back low-level Grade 4 titles in April and May at age 13. Before the end of the year, she moved up to Grade 2 events and finished runner-up in both singles and doubles at the Czech Junior Open. Świątek made her junior Grand Slam debut in 2016 at the French Open, reaching the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles. She followed this up with her best junior title to date at the Grade 1 Canadian Open Junior Championships, defeating Olga Danilović in the final.[11][12]
Świątek had a strong first half of 2017. She won both the singles and doubles titles at the Grade 1 Traralgon Junior International. Although she lost her opening round match at the Australian Open, she partnered with compatriot Maja Chwalińska to make her first final in a Grand Slam event, finishing runner-up in doubles to the North American team of Bianca Andreescu and Carson Branstine.[11][12] She then reached her first Grade A singles final at the Trofeo Bonfiglio, losing to Elena Rybakina.[13] Her season came to an end after another quarterfinal at the French Open,[11][12] after which she had right ankle surgery that kept her out for seven months.[14][15]
Świątek played only singles at Wimbledon. As an unseeded player due to her absence, she was drawn against top seed Whitney Osuigwe in the first round. After winning that match in three sets,[18] she did not drop another set during the rest of the tournament and won the championship for her only junior Grand Slam singles title. She defeated Leonie Küng in the final.[19] Świątek then teamed up with the Slovenian Kaja Juvan to compete in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics. They reached the final and defeated the Japanese team of Yuki Naito and Naho Sato. She then finished her junior career.
Professional career
2016–2018: Undefeated in seven ITF Circuit finals
Świątek began competing on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2016 and played on the circuit through the end of 2018. She won all seven ITF singles finals she reached, ranging from the first four at the $10k to $15k level to one at the $25k level followed up by two at the $60k level. Her first three titles came at 15 years old.[20] The fourth was in February 2018 in her first tournament back from a seven-month layoff due to injury.[14] After a $25k title in April, Świątek moved up to higher-level ITF events later that month. Following her junior Wimbledon title in July, she skipped the junior US Open to stay in Europe. During the two weeks of the US Open, she won back-to-back $60k titles at the NEK Ladies Open in Hungary and the Montreux Ladies Open in Switzerland.[20] During the second event, she defeated top seed and world No. 120, Mariana Duque-Mariño.[21][22] These were Świątek's last two ITF tournaments of the year.[20] With these two titles, she entered the top 200 for the first time at the age of 17, rising from No. 298 to No. 180 in those two weeks.
2019: First WTA Tour final, top 50 debut
Despite never playing on the WTA Tour before 2019, Świątek was able to compete in only tour-level events throughout the year. After failing to qualify at the Auckland Open, she qualified for her first major main draw at the Australian Open. She then defeated No. 82 Ana Bogdan, in three sets, in her debut match to reach the second round. At her next three tournaments, she also qualified at the Hungarian Ladies Open, but not either of the Premier Mandatory events in March.[21]
Świątek made her first WTA breakthrough at the Ladies Open Lugano in April. With her first direct acceptance into a main draw, she made her first WTA final. During the event, she upset No. 3 seed Viktória Kužmová in the second round for her first top 50 victory.[24] She ultimately finished runner-up to Polona Hercog in three sets.[25] Moreover, a precise cross-court forehand drop shot she hit against Kristýna Plíšková in the semi-final was voted the 2019 WTA Shot of the Year.[26] With the runner-up, she also made her debut in the top 100 while still 17 years old.[27] Świątek closed out her clay court season with a fourth round appearance at the French Open in her second major.[21] She upset No. 16 Wang Qiang in the second round for her first top 20 victory before losing to defending champion Simona Halep.[28][29]
Świątek could not repeat her French Open success at the remaining Grand Slam events of the year, losing her opening match at Wimbledon and in the second round at the US Open.[21] Her best result in the second half of the season was a third round appearance at the Canadian Open. During the event, she upset No. 18, Caroline Wozniacki, before losing to No. 2, Naomi Osaka.[21][30] With this result, she entered the top 50 for the first time a week later.[23] She missed the rest of the season after the US Open to undergo foot surgery and finished the year at No. 61 in the world
