Four years ending in top two rankings : Iga Swiatek becomes second women tennis player to achieve remarkable accomplishment

Iga Swiatek optimises consistency on the WTA Circuit. Once again, she has finished inside the top two in the world for the fourth consecutive year. A remarkable achievement only matched by the legendary Serena Williams this century.

She has ended her campaign with a disappointing result in the WTA Finals, being dumped out of the group phase after defeats to Elena Rybakina and Amanda Anisimova. However, the work had been done to secure her spot in the top two had been completed before hand in what was seen as an off-season for the Pole.

She first ascended to the top of the women's game in 2022 after clinching a brace of Grand Slam titles. This included her second at Roland Garros and the first and only title to date in the US Open. She also came out on top in four WTA 1000 tournaments. This asserted her as one of the best female players on the planet and gave her a solid foundation to build her dominance from.

A year later, and she was still on top of the world. Her maiden WTA Finals triumph would be added to yet another French Open success. This year was a slight drop off from her prior campaign. Eight titles from 2022 were halved to four in 2023 but it was still more than enough for her to fend off the oncoming traffic looking to push her off the top of the shelf.

This would come at the end of 2024 when Aryna Sabalenka stole top spot. She had briefly sat there at the end of 2023 before Swiatek snatched it back off her. Swiatek started the year very well, winning four WTA 1000 titles ahead of a routine triumph at Roland Garros. However, she would then not reach a final for over a year as she fell into a barren spell for her lofty standards. Sabalenka took back the number one spot after winning the US Open. The Pole could not respond after missing the Asian swing due to suspension.

She struggled to get back to her best in 2025, slowly tumbling down the rankings after she was unable to defend the ranking points she earned at those WTA 1000 events. Adding to that, she was unable to defend her Roland Garros title, losing out to Sabalenka in the semi-finals. It was the first year since 2021 where Swiatek's name was not added to the trophy. Ahead of reaching the Bad Homburg final, Swiatek was lying 8th in the world, unusually low for a player with her calibre. Her final defeat to Jessica Pegula saw her rise back up to fourth in the world. Her season was then put back on track after an unexpected Wimbledon success. She shot up back to number two in the world and had eyes on the number one spot once more at the US Open with Sabalenka having to defend a lot at the end of the year compared to her.

This did not work out in the end, with Swiatek culminating in second. This is still an incredible achievement which should be lauded heavily. Only 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams has managed to complete this feat. She did it between 2013 and 2016, finishing number one in three consecutive seasons before sitting behind Angelique Kerber at the end of 2016.

Swiatek has the potential to make it five years in a row heading into the 2026 campaign, as the 24-year-old is looking to get back to her consistent best while once again challenging for the number one ranking with Sabalenka.