Iga Swiatek wants to follow the example of the Big Three after losing her No. 1 ranking.
Swiatek suffered yet another setback to Jelena Ostapenko after a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 defeat in their round of 16 clash at the US Open on Sunday evening. She is now 0-4 against the Latvian who has turned out to become her kryptonite.
As a result, Swiatek will not only be unable to defend her US Open crown — she also lost her place at the summit of the WTA rankings to rival Aryna Sabalenka. Given that Swiatek needed to win the Grand Slam to defend her 2,000 points, all Sabalenka — who faces Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16 on Monday — had to do was match her result.
While Swiatek enjoyed her 75-week reign as No. 1, she also admits it was extremely exhausting maintaining the ranking. That is why she now hopes to emulate the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer by focusing on the tournament rather than the ranking.
“It was great [to be No 1], but on the other hand the last part was pretty exhausting,” Iga Swiatek said post-match (via Tennis 365). “I still need to do what all these great players like Roger or Novak or Rafa are talking about, you just have to focus on the tournaments not the rankings. Usually I’m not looking at numbers, but overall I love them. I would love to, like, extend this record a little bit longer. This is something that when I was younger, I actually kind of wanted to break some record or have something.
“I already did that ’cause I already won a Slam as a first Polish player. Obviously being No 1 is great, but for sure when it happens, when you lose it, there are some sad emotions. All these great players know it’s going to come back if you’re going to work hard, focus on the right things, just develop as a player. Besides this match, which was pretty weird, I feel I am progressing as a player.”
The likes of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer certainly know what it's like to maintain as well as lose their No. 1 ranking. After all, Djokovic — the current leader for most weeks at No. 1 with 387 — only just regained his No. 1 ranking from Carlos Alcaraz.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, became No. 1 for the first time in her career and is just the 29th player to become the top-ranked player on the WTA Tour.
Follow Us
Subscribe