Celebrating her birthday on 31st May 2001, Iga Świątek is a professional Polish tennis player. She is born to Olympic Rower father, Tomasz Świątek and Dorota Świątek and has a sister Agata Świątek. Iga was born in Warsaw, Poland, however she resides in Raszyn, Poland.
Women’s tennis has a new name atop its rankings. Iga Świątek has taken over Ashleigh Barty who has retired from the game. She became the first Polish player and the youngest player since Caroline Wozniacki to hold the position.
Świątek’s clinched the ranking with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland in the second round of the Miami Open.
With Ash Barty vacating the spot as world no.1, Świątek becomes the 28th different woman to hold the no.1 ranking since the computerized system debuted in November 1975.
Iga’s rise in the rankings has been steady and constant. She ended 2016 ranked no.903, cracked the top 500 for the first time in 2018, ended 2020 ranked no.17, then gained no.9 at the end of last year.
The 20-year-old is very proud of her achievement as world no.1. She said, “I’m really satisfied and really proud of myself.”
All about Iga Świątek’s family and her childhood
French Open: Iga Swiatek defeats Sofia Kenin to win women’s singles title | Tennis News | Sky Sports
Iga Swiatek once said that it was her father who came up with the idea of her and her sister taking up tennis. Tomasz Świątek always liked sport and wanted his daughter to practise tennis.
In 2019, Iga told WTA Insider, “My sister, who was three years older, was playing and I wanted to be like her. When I was younger, I was always competing against her and losing, which was very motivating for me.”
Tomasz Swiatek used to be an Olympic athlete himself. He used to practice rowing and participated at the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988. Tomasz competed in double four together with Sławomir Cieślakowski, Mirosław Mruk and Andrzej Krzepiński and finished in seventh place. In 1987 the same team won gold at the Universiade. Świątek has also participated in the world championships several times.
Meet Iga Swiatek’s father Tomasz Swiatek (Bio, Wiki)
When Świątek defeated Sofia Kenin in the 2020 Roland Garros, she was extremely emotional and thanked her dad. She said, “He taught me how to be a professional in sports. He also taught me how to be confident on the court.”
Iga’s mother, Dorota Świątek keeps herself out of the limelight. However, she greatly supports her daughter in her sports career. Dorota avoids the media, however, after the last year’s French Open she made an exception and gave an interview to “Super Express”. She said, “My approach to her sport has always been: no matter what result you achieve, the most important thing is the style.”
