WTA Player of the Year Countdown, No. 1: Iga Swiatek

2023 By The Numbers

• 68-11: Overall win-loss record
• 17-3: Grand Slam win-loss record (AO 4R, RG 🏆, W QF, USO 4R)
• 6: Titles (Doha, Stuttgart, Roland Garros, Warsaw, Beijing, WTA Finals)
• 2: Runner-ups (Dubai, Madrid)
• 23: 6-0 sets
• 0: 0-6 sets
• 43: Voting points in WTA Player of the Year Countdown (See "The Voters' Thoughts" below for more.)

Tracy's Take

It was fascinating to watch Iga Swiatek this year.

At Roland Garros, she won her fourth major. But then she faced some perhaps unexpected challenges from other players, including losses to Elena Svitolina at Wimbledon, Coco Gauff in Cincinnati and Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open. Following that loss in New York, Iga was no longer ranked No. 1, after having held that spot for 75 weeks.

Then there came a match I’ll call a two-minute turnaround. In October, Iga played the dangerous Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals of Beijing. Iga lost the first set 7-6 (8) and then barely won the second in another tiebreaker, 7-6 (5). That narrow margin flipped her switch, and from there, Iga’s confidence soared. She won the third set 6-1—and didn’t lose another set the rest of the year. She won Beijing and then completely dominated the WTA Finals, with five straight wins over Top 7 players—including five 6-0 or 6-1 sets. That was a major statement to finish the year.—Tracy Austin, Hall of Famer and former No. 1

The Voters' Thoughts

👉 Ten voters from the TENNIS.com editorial team each selected five players for our 2023 WTA Player of the Year vote. Each voters' first-place selection was worth 5 points, second-place vote 4 points, and so forth. Selected commentary from voters will be included in each 2023 WTA Player of the Year write-up.

👉 👉 Each of the voters below gave Swiatek a first-place vote.

A third Roland Garros title and Tour Finals dominance give her the slight edge over Aryna Sabalenka.—Jon Levey

Ups and downs, but showed a big resurgence at the end with dominant win at WTA Finals.—Joel Drucker

The 22-year-old led the WTA in titles, total match wins, Top 10 wins and Top 5 wins—and notably captured a trophy at every tournament level in the same season for the first time.—Matt Fitzgerald

After last year’s dominance and historic winning streak, it would have been understandable for Swiatek to suffer a letdown. But the level-headed Pole did exactly the opposite: she won even more matches than last year (68 to 67), added another Grand Slam title to her name at Roland Garros—one of six trophies she clinched this year, including the 1000-level Beijing—and finished the season back at world No. 1 after a commanding victory at a WTA Finals in very challenging conditions.—Stephanie Livaudais

The upper echelon of the WTA was volatile most of this year—but when the year-end ranking was on the line at the WTA Finals, the 22-year-old Pole reeled off five dazzling wins to triumph going away.—Peter Bodo