Yesterday morning, the current world number one in women's tennis, Barty, suddenly announced his retirement. The 25-year-old Australian says he is happy with what he has achieved in his career and has now decided to "go after other dreams". Barty also explained that the decision to retire was not made suddenly, but a rational, happy choice after a long period of thinking.
Barty has been in the women's singles world number one position for more than two years (112 weeks) and has won two of the three most recent Grand Slams – last year's Wimbledon and this year's Australian Open.
After the decline of Serena Williams' dominance, the women's tennis world has fallen into a long-term disorderly scuffle situation, the Grand Slam champion has been replaced like a marquee, many "one slam" players have been born, and some people have used "water flooding the golden mountain" and "parallel goods rampant" to describe the competitive pattern of the women's tennis world.
Among the active women's players, Grand Slam champions such as Big Wei, Christers, Kuznetsova, Stosur have lost their competitiveness, and the player with the largest number of remaining Grand Slams is Naomi Osaka (4), followed by Kerber (3), Azarenka, Kvitova, Muguruza, Halep are 2 Grand Slam winners, and the rest of Ostapenko, Stephens, Andreescu, Kenning, Swatek, Kregitskova, Radulcanu and others are "Slam winners".
Many of the above players are over 28 years old and have reached the middle and late stages of their careers. Naomi Osaka was once seen as Serena's successor, but her psychological state has always been a mystery, and the lack of a stable and powerful psychology has added great uncertainty to her future.
For more than two years, Barty, who has a calm personality and rich playing style, has been regarded as the new ruler of women's tennis, and her performance on the field has indeed met the expectations of many people. Barty's sudden retirement is bound to plunge the women's tennis world, which has just established the "queen", into chaos again, and it is expected that the bridge section of "Water Flooding Golden Mountain" will be repeated in a short period of time.
After Barty, who will be the new ruler? If there are new rulers.
The easiest way to look is to look for it in the current grand slam champion and runner-up list. Considering the age bracket, we temporarily excluded players over the age of 28, such as Kerber, 34, Kvitova and Azarenka, 32, Halep, Pavlyuchenkova and Ka Pliskova, 30, Stephens, 29, Muguruza and Collins, 28.
After excluding the above "old people" over the age of 28, we look for them in the "new people" under the age of 25.
The following came into our sights: Ostapenko, Badosa and Casakina, 24, Sabalenka, 23, Lebakina and Vandrasova, 22, Andreescu, 21, Swatake and Anisimova, 20, Fernandes, Raducanu and Koscyuk, 19, and Gauff 18.
Among the aforementioned players, the "Slam" Ostapenko, Andreescu, Swatak and Raducano deserve more attention.
Ostapenko won the French Open women's singles title the day after his 20th birthday and fell into a three-year slump the following year. It wasn't until February that Ostapenko began to recover, winning the dubai race and then reaching the semi-finals in Qatar to return to the top 20.
Born in June 2000, Andreescu won the U.S. Open at the age of 19 and missed the year's event with an injury the following year. Andreescu recovered somewhat after her comeback in 2021, reaching the semi-finals at the Phillip Island Championship, reaching the final in Miami and exiting the Olympics after a round trip to the French Open. Next, Andreescu reached the fourth round of the US Open, and then announced that he had withdrawn from this year's Australian Open "due to mental health problems" after winning a game in Indian Wells, and has been off-season ever since.
After Andreescu fell to the sand at last year's US Open, the 18-year-old Raducano almost repeated Andreescu's fairy tale of 2019, winning 10 consecutive games from the qualifiers and not losing 1 set. Raducannu's fairy tale comes true, an excellent combination of "luck + strength", but also reflects the embarrassing reality that the WTA lacks a dominant king and "parallel goods are rampant".
128 players, and finally two young players ranked 73rd and 150th, under the age of 20, advanced to the final, which made so many top-ranked players feel bad, where did they stay?
After winning the US Open, Raducannu has participated in a total of 7 races so far, of which 4 are a round trip, 2 of which only win 1 and the remaining 1 is only won 2. It can be said that after the end of the FAIRY tale of the US Open, Raducannu has basically been beaten back to its original form.
In addition to her 4-7 record after the US Open, Raducano also suffered injuries, spraining her hip in Guadalajara and grinding blisters on her Australian Open hands.
Blisters appear on the hands, a problem that players rarely have in the game. The only explanation is that she has practiced too little, and her hands have not yet worn out calluses, think of Nadal's hands wrapped in tape! Looking at the hands of these superstars, you can see how far away Raducannu is from them.
At present, Raducannu points are 2699 points, of which 2000 points of the US Open championship score occupies the majority, if you do not consider the US Open championship score, her ranking should be around 100, such a ranking may be more in line with her half a year's results and performance on the field.
After Barty's retirement, the women's tennis world will return to a very open competitive landscape. If Raducannu doesn't perform stunningly before the start of this year's US Open, it will fall behind the US Open, just as Kenning, who has now fallen to 127th.
So, what about Swartak?
At the 2020 French Open, the 19-year-old Svatek won the title with a record of not losing a set. However, her path to the final did not encounter too many challenges, only in the fourth round against the in-form Halep, the quarter-final and semi-final opponents are all qualifiers, and the final opponent Kenning became the No. 4 seed with the Australian Open's 2000 points, the strength is not too strong.
Therefore, Raducannu and Swatek's first Grand Slam wins have both strength factors and the blessing of signing.
However, unlike other players, Swatek has played more steadily in the rest of the Grand Slam tournaments after winning her first Grand Slam, reaching the fourth round at last year's Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, and the fifth round at the French Open. In addition, last year she won one title each in the WTA500 Adelaide and WTA 1000 Roma. In Qatar last month and Indian Wells this month, Swatak won two more WTA 1000 titles.
After Barty announced his retirement, Swataker, who had first moved up to second place in the world, suddenly became the world number one again. This is a surprise for her, who is still two months old and 21 years old, and the surprise is always reserved for those who are prepared.
Next week's world number one is not only a surprise for Swatac, but also a stress. She doesn't have a big gap in points with the world's second and third places, and she must have a stable and better performance in the next Grand Slam to gradually open up the distance with the catcher.
Succeeding the world's first throne is Svatek's unremitting efforts, but also the unexpected harvest of Barty's retirement, and whether it can sit on the throne and become the new "queen" depends entirely on Svatek's own struggle and efforts. When all the spotlight is focused on this Polish girl, what kind of performance will she bring to us?
Everything has yet to be tested by time. (Source: Tennis House Author: Yun Cirrus Yunshu)