WTA No. 1 Iga Swiatek begins her 74th week at the summit and is expected to stay there until the conclusion of the 2023 US Open.
Since she rose to become the WTA No. 1 in April 2022, no player has knocked her off that position and has spent 74 weeks there, which is the 10th most in the WTA history. The impressive thing is that this is Swiatek's first stint as the No. 1 player and she's done in consecutive weeks.
That also puts her on an exclusive list. Since 2000, only two players have tallied the most consecutive weeks while ranked number one - Serena Willaims with 186 and Ashleigh Barty with 114, both currently inactive and retired.
Swiatek broke a two-woman tie with Martina Hingis at 73 weeks and now sits in third spot alone. In the overall list, since rankings were incepted, Swiatek ranks in 12th place among players with the most consecutive weeks at No. 1, a list topped by jointly by German great Steffi Graf and Serena Williams with 186 weeks.
If Swiatek intends to break the Top 10 in that club, she'll need to at least tally 80 or more weeks, to tie Martina Hingis in 10th spot. That means she'll need to secure her number one ranking until mid-October at the latest to do so.
The WTA No. 1 ranking cannot change hands during the 2023 US Open but could happen after the tournament. Swiatek needs to do better than Aryna Sabalenka in every round as she currently trails Belarusin by 11 points in the live rankings.
Swiatek who kicks off her campaign on Monday against Sweden's Rebecca Peterson could certainly impart some pressure on her closest challenger as she looks to defend her crown. With the draw seperating the two players as the top two seeds, they can only cross paths in the final.
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