we have a new number one at the top of the wta rankings and it is someone that i don't think
a whole lot of people had on the radar to take over the top spot from ash barty after ash barty
retired of course i'm talking about iga swiatek and of course i'm going to exaggerate a little bit
if i were to say iga swiatek the new number one that nobody knows
all right be honest if three four months ago somebody would have told you ash bart is retiring
and she's choosing to be dropped off the rankings as of april the fourth would you have picked
iga swiatek to take over the top spot from her and i do have to admit probably i would have not
told you right away yep it's her however she would have been closer on my radar than other players
because i think she has all the characteristics all the qualities a number one has to have
now of course people are arguing well she's only number one because ash party dropped out and
doesn't play anymore and of course that's true but that she has taken over the number one spot
at this point in her career makes a whole lot of sense
so here are my thoughts on iga swiatek our new wta number one in the world
so here are a few points that i think sum up iga swiatek's abilities to the point
so great athlete really fast really agile great in making you play one more difficult ball
so right from the start of the point with a good return she establishes control
and then even though she's going to get in trouble here a little bit
she'll not panic makes coco gauff play another ball and then has a great view of the court
and just plays it very smartly and look at the position here
that's being under pressure and then seeing the court and just playing the ball with the
best option that is iga swiatek for you and we'll see that here again on the next one great defense
and then makes it one more ball that coco gauff can't really do a whole lot with forces
her to do something that she's probably not super comfortable with and then just takes advantage of
that poor volley the next two points are a little bit more indicative of what she's been working on
and that is to be more aggressive and right from the get go so so notice her court positioning
really aggressive right at the baseline first opportunity and good night great serve here
first opportunity point is over one of the things that you have to have obviously if you want to
become number one is to have consistency in your performance and iga swiatek has
that after her win at the 2020 french open a lot of people were very loud and saying like
oh she's just another one of those who's going to win one grand slam and she can't back it up
iga swiatek proved them wrong yeah there are examples of course a lot of them of players who
have won a grand slam and then we're not able to back it up the next year sophomore snuck
sloane stephens, sofia kenin, bianca andreescu, emma raducanu
hasn't done so well right now let's see what barbora krejcikova is going to do
but none of these outside distractions that are heaped onto your plate after you win a grand slam
has really deterred iga swiatek she had a stellar 2021 season without winning another
huge tournament that brought her to the forefront of the vast majority of tennis fans necessarily
but she won two tournaments and she was the only player on the women's side who made it into
the second week of a grand slam and that is the continuity in your performance that you need
there are very rarely first or second round exits at tournaments so there is that continuity
that a number one has to have and one of the main factors that i think iga swiatek credits
for her consistency is her work with sports psychologist daria abramovic
which that in itself i admire a lot because when i played
had i said i'm working with a sports psychologist people would have called me and did call me
mentally weak not cut out to play on the pro tour not able to withstand the pressures
and of course not knowing what those pressures are because nobody plays pro tennis and nobody
experiences your life egaschmiantek doesn't care about that thankfully she is helping with her
openness about that coaching relationship to take the stigma out of seeking professional help when
you don't have all the answers and how would she she's 20. so she's number one in the world
at the age of 20 haven't worked with this board psychologist for the majority of her professional
career and actually before that and it is one of the key phrases apparently that they're using is
prevailing and adjusting and if you look at iga swiatek's game style there is a lot of prevailing
a lot of prevailing and that is what makes it so tough to play against her now i've watched many
of her matches and i actually made a video about her last year pointing out exactly that prevailing
when the odds are against you so i'm linking that down below in the description because that shows
the maturity the introspection a player has when they're able to let go of a certain game plan
and change to plan b or even it looked like plan c that iga swiatek had to resort to last year at
one of the tournaments actually that she ended up winning at the end so that ability to adjust
to first prevail to give yourself another chance to stay in the match and then also to adjust
is a characteristic that a number one has to have and iga swiatek has that not just in one match
but also over the duration of your career and one of the major things that she has changed which
is always a major thing for a player to do is change a coach who has got you up to world level
and start working with another coach because you believe that that person can help you add
on to your game change your game for the better let you grow as a player and that's exactly what
iga swiatek has done and i admire that because yeah i do know how difficult it is to let go of
something that made you successful up to a certain level and it tells you a lot about how smart and
perceptive iga swiatek is that she has made a huge change in her approach of her game style
after only one two three years at the top of the game she has grown up on clay and she talked about
that a lot that she's always thought about herself as a clay court player and a clay court player
is somebody who yes makes a lot of balls and is happy to reset the point over and over and over
if necessary but iga swiatek just recently said that is not something that she felt
she could use to stay at the top of the game and to eventually break into the absolute top
of the game so she has started to work with tomasz wikorowski and i'm hoping that i'm not butchering
his name too badly a coach who is really instilled in her that she can and should be more aggressive
meaning jumping on the first opportunity that she has and go for things without fearing
that it's not going to work out maybe a couple of weeks maybe a couple of months
and that is usually how short-term players can think not everybody does but that is a sign of
maturity that iga swiatek can see that this will help her grow as a player and i think that really
has already borne fruit because of her results in 2022 adjusting a more aggressive
mindset and game style she's already won two of the biggest category tournaments back to back
and is actually doing really really well in miami as of the recording of this video so she
won in doha back that up at indian wells and potentially could finish the sunshine double
meaning indian wells and miami back-to-back wins in a three-week period of time which is incredibly
difficult so in addition to all those qualities now let's get a little bit more onto the court
her athleticism and her ability to just know exactly what ball to play that will hurt her
opponent to the max is a strength because this is where the criticism of a lot of people comes in
who should not criticize anybody coming to number one in the world to be honest
she doesn't have any strength she doesn't have whatever the fire power that uh serena williams
had in the best of her days or naomi osaka's forehand or ash barti's serve or ash barti slice
who cares, iga swiatek's strength is that at the absolute highest level of the game
she has absolutely zero weakness
no weakness athletically about the fastest most agile quickest most enduring player there is
mentally no shortcomings no shortcomings she will not ever cooperate into loss by just going away
she'll give you one more ball to play at really high quality so one more ball to make that
forces you as the match continues to become more detailed to become ever more precise and at some
point just overplay that in itself is a strength because it takes a certain mindset to be able
to do that and iga swiatek has that stroke wise no weaknesses upside in her game to my mind
huge if you see her new found aggression on the court on her ground strokes if she could
then also come in take even more balls out of the air to finish the balls even quicker
that's going to be really scary so to call her boring totally unfounded not boring at all
you see a superb and intelligent athlete playing out there when you watch iga swiatek
and just because she's very not flashy outside of the court
why is that boring just because we don't read a whole lot outside of her tennis life just shows
me that she's just a more quiet more private more self-contained person who doesn't need to
i don't know give us anything that is not our business in the first place that doesn't make her
boring that makes her again to me a very focused a very dedicated and a very determined
player and that's also what you need to be a number one in the world so yes i think iga
swiatek is a very deserving number one and i'm very excited to see how she continues to grow
as a person as an athlete and where that takes her because yeah in my mind
she has all the qualities to be at the top of the game for a long time