Following the early retirement of Ashleigh Barty, Iga Swiatek will be crowned as the new World No. 1 when the rankings will be released on April 4th. She has shown resilience and has been working hard to reach her goals despite enduring a lot of struggles as a kid. Her uncle, Janusz Swiatek, opens up about the struggles and unfair treatment that the player had to face when she was young.

Resilience of Iga Swiatek

Since her triumph in Doha, the Polish woman has shown wonderful consistency during her matches and has kept a 14-match-winning streak alive. Iga Swiatek earned a name for herself when she won the French Open in the year 2020. She will become the first Polish person to be World No. 1 in tennis. She comes from a country where a lot of focus is not on the sport. However, Iga comes from a sports family and displayed maturity and perseverance in her formative years.

A match in Radom

The player, nevertheless, had to struggle and face unfair results. Her uncle, Janusz Swiatek, talked about how his niece had to struggle, as it was difficult to gain financial support for tennis players in Poland.

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Iga will play in Radom against Romania, as part of the Billie Jean King Cup. Her uncle recounted an incident when she played in Radom as a child and everyone wanted to win. He said, “It happened that people were cheated because there were no judges at such competitions. The parents of participating children often judged themselves.” After some time, Iga had asked her uncle, “Why are they deceiving me?” He valued her fighting spirit and noticed that it developed her character, making her mentally strong. He stated, “In the end, she started to fight for hers: to stand up, to negate someone’s decisions, to push her way”.

Iga’s climb to the top

The Polish player has made it past Viktorija Golubic, Madison Brengle, and Coco Gauff to reach the quarters of the Miami Open 2022. She will now face Petra Kvitova. She is performing extremely well in the Miami Open 2022. Iga Swiatek would officially become the world no. 1 on April 4 after 25-year-old Ashleigh Barty has decided to remove her name from the rankings.

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Three years ago this would have been a dream for the Polish player as she was world no. 61 at that time. However, she kept on hustling despite all the hardships and is now reaping the rewards of her hard work and dedication. After winning at the  Indian Wells Masters, can Swiatek complete the ‘Sunshine Double’ in Miami?

It will be intriguing to witness how Swiatek fares against Kvitova in their quarterfinal in Miami!