Iga Swiatek is racking up achievements by the day, and it's becoming increasingly clear that she's on a path to becoming one of the all-time greats.
Such terms have always been and always will be highly subjective, but you can't deny some of the things Swiatek has been doing. Eras are not comparable in tennis, but that shouldn't take away from any achievement a player has.
For example, Iga Swiatek did something that some other legendary players also did but at a younger age. Does that make it less impressive? Does that detract from his achievement? No, and it shouldn't because it's not something that's not easily done, at any point in tennis history.
By finishing the 2023 season as the highest-ranked player on the WTA Tour, she became the 6th youngest woman to finish back-to-back as year-end No. 1. It almost didn't happen as she needed a spectacular finish to the year to get it done, but she stepped up when it mattered the most and got it done.
By doing that she joined a very short list of legendary players that did it before her. The list includes players like Chris Evert, Steffi Graff, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, and Caroline Wozniacki.
That's an impressive list of champions, and all are some of the greatest tennis players to ever hold a racquet. Now, it's up to Swiatek to keep working and becoming better as a player, but there shouldn't be any worries about that.
She's proven to be a very hard worker and will likely keep adding to her arsenal of weapons. Martina Navratilova recently had some suggestions, and if she embraces that she's going to be very hard to beat and for a very long time.
Perhaps she finishes as number one for the third straight year, making her achievement even more impressive.
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