It's another milestone week ticked off by Iga Swiatek, who starts her 71st week as WTA's number, but there is more to it.
A short while ago, Swiatek held the number one ranking for the longest duration among active players, a record that she forfeited briefly with the imminent return from retirement of former WTA number one Caroline Wozniacki, who spent 71 weeks as WTA's number one.
Wozniacki ranked in 10th spot among WTA players who held top spot for the most weeks, a list that is topped by 22-time Grand Slam singles winner Steffi Graf (377 weeks). Well, Wozniacki has some company now in the form of Iga Swiatek, who ties the Dane in the top 10.
What makes Swiatek's achievement a little more ostentatious than Wozniacki's, she has hoarded on the number ranking for 71 consecutive weeks. Since Ashleigh Barty's retirement, no WTA player has managed to unseat the Polish star from her perch.
In the latest WTA rankings, Swiatek continues to maintain a gap with second-placed Aryna Sabalenka who has come close on multiple occasions in recent tournaments to end the 22-year-old Warsaw native's reign as world number one.
Swiatek will now set sights on ninth-placed Lindsay Davenport who spent 98 weeks as the number one player. That is a difference of 27 weeks, and would probably need the Pole to maintain a firm grip on her seat for the next seven months.
Swiatek, however, knows any slip-ups in Canada and Cincinnati could give Sabalenka a window of opportunity. The two of them were drawn in separate halves of the draw and can only meet each other in the final. Swiatek will begin her North American hard-court swing in Montreal, probably on Wednesday.
She has a bye in the first round but will open against the winner of the match between former WTA no. 1 Karolina Pliskova or Zhu Lin.
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