Iga Swiatek is the new world number, having clinched the Miami Open title. It all comes following Ashleigh Barty's retirement, and here's how the former reacted to the news.
It was a dream come true for Iga Swiatek of Poland. On Sunday, she won the Miami Open 2022, defeating Naomi Osaka of Japan. As a result, she has become the new number one, replacing the now-retired Ashleigh Barty of Australia. Meanwhile, the Polish has stated her reaction to Barty's retirement.
Speaking to BBC, Swiatek communicated that she cried for nearly 40 minutes as she was utterly surprised by the news. She reckoned that she envisioned tennis players like her playing until the age of 35 and retiring at a point when their bodies could not take it anymore. While she wants to understand Barty's thoughts, she termed her decision as a brave one that led to her being emotional.
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"I realised after two hours of being emotional that 'Hey, you don't know what will happen yet, and you still have to win some matches. So, I told myself, 'let's wait with the emotions and with being excited because I have work to do.'", added Swiatek.
Meanwhile, following her Miami success, Swiatek decided to pull out of the upcoming Charleston Open 2022. "I've got a harmless injury of my arm that I need to rest. I hoped to start the clay season in Charleston there, but unfortunately, I need to wait," she conveyed in a statement.
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After winning in Miami, Swiatek has become the first Polish tennis player across gender to become number one. She has also become the first 2000s-born player to attain the number one ranking across genders. Agnieszka Radwanska happened to be the last best-ranked Polish player, who achieved the number two ranking twice in 2012 and 2016.
The 20-year-old Swiatek is the youngest woman to win the Indian Wells and Miami in the same year, besides being the fourth after Steffi Graf (1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Victoria Azarenka (2016). She would have been number one even if Barty hadn't announced her retirement, reports tennis.com.
