Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek did something amazing this year and that's to win a trophy on every level of professional tennis on the WTA Tour.
The way professional tennis is organized, we have a couple of different tiers of events. The smallest one is the 250 level, which are your regular tournaments being staged almost every week.
The bigger ones belong to the 500 series, which generally feature better draws and higher prize money. The biggest events belong to the 1000 series, where the best of the best play.
They are the most important events outside of the Grand Slams which are the most important events in the calendar. There are only four of them and all players dream of winning one. Well, Coco Gauff got her first at this year's US Open.
It was a major moment for her career as she joined the Grand Slam winners among active players. Iga Swiatke has been there for a while but added her 4th this year at Roland Garros.
They both won a couple of other trophies this week; in fact, they won at least one from each of the tiers. Swiatek completed the feat by winning the China Open recently, a WTA 1000 event.
She won a 500 earlier by winning in Doha and added a 250 back home in Warsaw. Gauff actually completed the feat sooner than Swiatek, and she even managed to do it in order, from 250 to Grand Slam.
She won a 250 at her first event in 2023 in Auckland. She then added a 500 one in Washington recently and a 1000 two weeks later in Cincinnati. The crowning moment obviously came in New York, where she won the US Open.
They are the first players to do it since 2013, as Serena Williams was the last one to do it before that. Victoria Azarenka did it in 2012, and Petra Kvitova in 2011.
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