‘Hard for me to get a grasp of it’: Iga Swiatek surprised on joining 100-week club as world No.1

Madrid: Iga Swiatek, the world No.1, recently reached the milestone of becoming the ninth player to spend 100 weeks at the top of the WTA rankings. Reflecting on this achievement, the Pole expressed her surprise, saying it’s hard to “get a grasp of this milestone” because it happened so fast.

Among the select group of nine players who have spent 100 weeks at the summit of the WTA rankings, Swiatek stands as the fifth youngest after Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Stefanie Graf, and Chris Evert to achieve this feat at the age of 22 years and 326 days.

“Honestly it’s hard for me to get a grasp of it because it happened so fast,” Swiatek said of joining the 100 club. “It’s pretty crazy. I never expected to be in that position. Actually, staying at the top of the game for so long is something that really makes me proud,” Swiatek said in a Madrid Open pre-tournament presser on Tuesday.

“I think we made some tough decisions sometimes. I have good people that are guiding me and helping me so for sure I wouldn’t be here if I would do it by myself and I’m really grateful that everything led to that.

The four-time Grand Slam champion first took over the top spot in April 2022 when Ashleigh Barty retired from tennis and has remained at the summit ever since, except for an eight-week period last season when Aryna Sabalenka replaced her.

“As you know, especially last year, getting back to No.1 was a big deal and it happened in an unpredictable way, so I’m just proud of myself that I could cope with all the pressure that comes with that. But overall it’s kind of fun,” she added.

Swiatek will reach the milestone 749 days after first ascending to World No.1 — the fourth-quickest player to reach 100 weeks following Graf, Evert and Seles, according to WTA stats.

Arriving in the Spanish capital, Swiatek is celebrating her 100th week as the world No.1. Having been a runner-up in Madrid last year, she will kick off her campaign against Wang Xiyu of China. Agencies

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