Iga Swiatek becomes first player to win successive WTA Player of the Year awards since Serena Williams
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Published 12/12/2023 at 18:01 GMT
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has emulated the legendary Serena Williams by becoming the first player to win successive WTA Player of the Year awards. The Pole, who won her third French Open in the summer, won the China Open and WTA Finals later in the year to snatch the top ranking and win the WTA award for the second year in a row. Williams won the honour for four consecutive years from 2012 to 2015.
Swiatek breaks Serena's record & Back to No.1
Iga Swiatek has been named WTA Player of the Year for the second year running and is the first player to win back-to-back awards since Serena Williams.
The 22-year-old has a record of 68 wins and 11 defeats in 2023 and won the French Open in June - her third overall and one of a tour-leading six titles this term.
She also triumphed at the China Open and the WTA Finals for the first time in November to secure her status as the world No.1 and fend off competition from Aryna Sabalenka.
Swiatek also smashed Williams’ record at the WTA Finals after losing just 20 games over her five matches, beating the American’s tournament-best of 32 by some distance.
Her phenomenal form earned her a second WTA Player of the Year award, the first player to win the award two times in a row since Williams.
Williams most recently won the honour in 2015 after defending it for four successive years from 2012 before officially retiring from the sport last year.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner claimed the accolade seven times during her career.
In an exclusive interview with Europort, Swiatek recently spoke of the “overwhelming” pressure of ending the year at the head of the rankings.
She also mentioned that Sabalenka deserved to end the year as the top-ranked player after she won her maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year.
But the Belarusian lost the chance to end the year as world No. 1 when she lost to the in-form Pole in the WTA Finals semi-finals.
Tomasz Wiktorowski, who works alongside Swiatek, was named Coach of the Year.
Elsewhere, China’s Zheng Qinwen was named the Most Improved Player of the Year, while Elina Svitolina was given Comeback of the Year.
Mirra Andreeva was recognised as Newcomer of the Year.
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