Iga Swiatek might not be number one on the WTA Tour anymore, but the Polish player began her 100th week in the Top 10 on Monday.
It's been a bumpy ride for Iga Swiatek this year as she failed to win as many trophies as she did last year. She won Roland Garros, so it's not been that terrible but certainly nowhere near the almost-perfect season we got last year. A consequence of all of that was her losing her number one rank because it was unlikely that she was going to defend all those points anyway.
That and some players like Sabalenka really stepping up simply proved too much for Swiatek, who is still ranked inside the Top 10, with today's new week being her 100th. Most of that time obviously was spent at number one, which is impressive, but it also signals how quickly she rose to number one.
It was a rather smooth process last year and had very little to do with Ashleigh Barty, the previous number one, retiring. Since then Swiatek largely occupied that spot only to lose it recently at the US Open though she's still in the Top 10 and likely to remain so by the end of the year.
Perhaps we see a battle for the number one rank as well, as she doesn't have that many points to defend, and she touched down early in Asia ahead of that swing there. We'll see whether that decision pays off, as she needs some wins.
The US Open stretch was okay, but that's the problem. It was just okay and she's capable of far better. The conditions should suit her in Asia, though she hasn't played that much there due to the pandemic and how absent those events were from the calendar. We'll see how she does in the coming days.
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