For Iga Swiatek, the past fourteen months have been a phenomenal success. Since lifting her maiden Grand Slam at the 2020 French Open, Swiatek has carried that momentum and intensity during the entire 2021 season and finished the year as the World No.9.

Not only has Swiatek finished inside the Top-10 WTA rankings for the first time in her career, but it also makes the 20-year-old – the youngest woman in the year-end Top-10 this year. The next youngest is Aryna Sabalenka at 23.

Iga Swiatek: Established Top-10 player in 2021

The 2021 season was a year of many firsts for the Polish tennis star. She won her first WTA title at the Adelaide Open in February and then cliched her first WTA-1000 trophy at the Italian Open by crushing Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.

Even at the Grand Slam events, Swiatek performed consistently and became the only woman to reach the second week at all four of the major championships this year.

She made it to the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open, Wimbledon Championships, and the US Open, which is her best-ever performance at each of the Grand Slam events. Meanwhile, Swiatek failed to defend her title at this year’s French Open and finished as the quarterfinalist.

Owing to her incredible performances, the 20-year-old reached a career-high ranking of World No.4 in September and qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time in her career. However, at the year-end championships, Swiatek crashed out of the group stage after losing two out of the three round-robin matches.

“It’s good sometimes to just sit and remember what road it has been so I can actually be proud of myself sometimes,” said Swiatek, during an interview with Tennis.com.

With the off-season underway, the 20-year-old plans to take a few days off from tennis. Then she intends to start her preparations for the 2022 Australian Open.

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