Iga Świątek (2nd WTA) showed great class again in the recently ended season and won the Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, and later won Olympic bronze at the same place. Even taking into account that she lost the end of the season due to a doping accident, she was one of the biggest stars of the tour. But is it the biggest?
Iga Świątek compared with Aryna Sabalenka. “They were undoubtedly at the forefront.”
The website tennis365.com tried to answer this question by comparing the achievements of the Pole and her most dangerous rival, Aryna Sabalenka (1st WTA). “Many players achieved success in an intriguing WTA season, but two of them were undoubtedly at the forefront,” it wrote. And their achievements from recent months began to be compared.
Sabalenka, the champion of the Australian Open and US Open, fared better in the Grand Slam. “The 18 wins secured her first WTA ranking in 2024, a remarkable feat considering she was forced to miss Wimbledon due to injury. She was also hampered by the disease during her quarter-final loss to Roland Garros, although she continued to compete at majors the balance is 18-1″. Świątek, as expected, was the best in Paris (for the fourth time), but had problems in other tournaments. She reached the top eight of the US Open, but did not make it to the second week in Melbourne and London,” we read.
The above-mentioned Grand Slam successes were largely responsible for that the 26-year-old finished the season as the leader with 9,416 points. Her three-year-younger competitor has 8,295 points. After all, the Pole won as many as five titles this year – apart from Paris, she triumphed in the “thousanders” in Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome. In the last two finals she defeated Sabalenka, who finished the year with four titles (all on hard courts) – apart from two Grand Slams, she was the best in the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati and Wuhan.
Moreover, the Polish tennis player dominated the tour in terms of the number of victories. Out of 73 matches, she won as many as 64, which gave her an extremely impressive rate of 87.7%. wins, while her most dangerous rival had a record of 56-14 (80% wins). It was also recalled that the balance of direct clashes was in favor of the former. She won two of the three matches (Sabalenka triumphed in the Cincinnati semifinals), and one of them was particularly memorable.
“Their best match of the year – and probably the match of the season – took place on clay courts in Madrid, where the conditions put both players on a relatively equal level. Sabalenka could have easily won the event for the third time, but Świątek saved three match points in an impressive performance. victory 7:5, 4:6, 7:6(7)” – it was recalled. And the final verdict was given.
Iga Świątek or Aryna Sabalenka? They gave their final verdict
“Światek will certainly be a huge success in 2024, as evidenced by her huge number of titles and victories. However, these are not the only statistics that should be given importance, there has always been an emphasis on rankings and Grand Slam tournaments – and Sabalenka undeniably has it in her area advantage. She deserves to be called number one in the world and should be recognized as the biggest WTA star in 2024,” it concluded.
Perhaps the jurors of the plebiscite organized by the WTA followed a similar line of reasoning. In it, the award for Female Player of the Year was won by Aryna Sabalenka, who turned out to be better than Iga Świątek (Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Qinwen Zheng were also nominated).