Ranking Reaction: Iga Swiatek kicks off 40th consecutive week at No. 1

Iga Swiatek rose to No. 1 on the WTA rankings for the first time on April 4th, 2022, and today—January 2nd, 2023—the Polish trailblazer kicks off her 40th consecutive week at the top spot.

Since WTA rankings began in 1975, she’s just the fourth woman to spend 40 or more consecutive weeks at No. 1 in their first stint there.

TOP 10 LONGEST FIRST-TIME STINTS AS WTA NO. 1:
186 weeks: Steffi Graf [Aug. 17, 1987 to Mar. 10, 1991]
80 weeks: Martina Hingis [Mar. 31, 1997 to Oct. 11, 1998]
57 weeks: Serena Williams [Jul. 8, 2002 to Aug. 10, 2003]
40 weeks: Iga Swiatek [Apr. 4, 2022 to present]
26 weeks: Martina Navratilova [Jul. 10, 1978 to Jan. 13, 1979]
25 weeks: Chris Evert [Nov. 3, 1975 to Apr. 25, 1976]
25 weeks: Dinara Safina [Apr. 20, 2009 to Oct. 11, 2009]
21 weeks: Monica Seles [Mar. 11, 1991 to Aug. 4, 1991]
21 weeks: Naomi Osaka [Jan. 28, 2019 to Jun. 23, 2019]
20 weeks: Angelique Kerber [Sept. 12, 2016 to Jan. 29, 2017]

All stints combined, Swiatek is already the 13th woman in WTA rankings history to record 40 career weeks at No. 1.

MOST CAREER WEEKS AS WTA NO. 1 (40+ weeks):
377: Steffi Graf
332: Martina Navratilova
319: Serena Williams
260: Chris Evert
209: Martina Hingis
178: Monica Seles
121: Ashleigh Barty
117: Justine Henin
98: Lindsay Davenport
71: Caroline Wozniacki
64: Simona Halep
51: Victoria Azarenka
40: Iga Swiatek

Swiatek has already gotten her 2023 season off to a winning start, cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Yulia Putintseva on Saturday during Poland’s United Cup tie against Kazakhstan.

She also won a mixed doubles match alongside Hubert Hurkacz on Sunday, even pulling off an early frontrunner for shot of the year: