In the "post-Barty era" women's tennis world, whether it is stability or comprehensiveness, Swatak has some unique taste, and she does have all the conditions to become a new generation of leaders.
After winning the Indian Wells tournament last week with an 11-game winning streak and reaching second place in the world for the first time in her career, Swartec imagined the possibility of world number one after the game, but at that time, she and the top of the table Barty's point gap was more than 2,000, and it seemed unrealistic to finish in the first half of the year.
However, what I never expected was that less than a week later, Swatak actually took over the scepter behind the ball! Due to Barty's sudden retirement during the Miami race, the second-placed Swartak became the most likely candidate to succeed, but because it was in the middle of an event, Swatak could not immediately make up for the first place, but would not be able to wait until miami was over and Barty's points were cleared.
The reason I say "maybe" is because Swatak needs to win at least one game in Miami, otherwise Badosa behind her will surpass her if she wins the championship points. "It's really too fast to get my goal achieved two days later, it feels a little weird," Svatek said two days ago about the possibility of becoming world number one right away, "I really didn't think it might be achieved this way, but it would be very special if I could reach the top of the world number one." ”
This time, Svatek did not let the opportunity slip out of her hands, and in her Miami debut, she swept the Swiss 6-2, 6-0 through The Swiss Personality, winning 12 consecutive wins while also ensuring that she rises to the top of the world in the latest ranking on April 4. After the game, Miami Tournament Director Blake and former women's singles world number one Davenport personally presented flowers to Swatake to celebrate her becoming the 28th singles world number one in WTA history.
Swataker also became the first world number one from Poland and the first post-00s generation. The last time the WTA produced the new world number one, it was back to Barty on June 24, 2019, and what about Swatec? She was only ranked 63rd at the time and had only competed in two Grand Slam tournaments! In the nearly three years since, only Barty and Naomi Osaka have sat on the first throne, and Barty has won the first place at the end of the year for three consecutive years.
The next three years were when Swatak gradually completed its metamorphosis. The 2020 Tour was suspended for nearly half a year due to the epidemic, the French Open was postponed to October, and Swatak defeated a number of masters, including defending champion Halep, with a dark horse posture, to win the first Grand Slam of his career with a record of not losing a set. In the 2021 season, Swatek scored at least the second week of the four Grand Slams and won the WTA1000 roma, and the final was given to former world number one Ka Pliskova "double egg".
Although the results of the competition are quite stable and the rankings are stable and rising, as of last year, Svatek's main achievements have been concentrated in the clay, including the two important champions of the French Open and Roma, so she is inevitably labeled as a "clay expert". However, since the beginning of this year, Svatek's hard court results have improved a lot, not only reaching the final four of the Australian Open, but also this wave of 12 consecutive wins have also been achieved on the hard ground, including two consecutive WTA 1000 matches in Doha and Indian Wells.
Through her outstanding performance on the hard courts in the first three months of this year, Swatak has completely torn off the label of "clay expert", and her ability to play against the wind has also been significantly improved. Also this year, Svatek began working with new coach Vikttowski, who had brought her Polish predecessor A. Radwanska to the Wimbledon final, so Svatek's grass performance this year is also worth looking forward to.
It seems that in the "post-Barty era" women's tennis world, whether it is stability or comprehensiveness, Swatak has some unique taste, and she does have all the conditions to become a new generation of leaders. But whether suddenly becoming the world number one will bring her additional pressure, which will affect her mentality and performance, is indeed worth observing, after all, in the rapidly changing women's tennis world, we have seen too many ups and downs happening.
Wen | Yisang
Edit | Fat Cat