The 2022 WTA season was a tremendous one to witness. It featured former world number one Ash Barty claim the Australian Open title, the emergence of Ons Jabeur who had made it to the final of two majors, and the retirement of tennis legend Serena Williams. However, the most exciting part of the season was the sheer dominance from Polish player Iga Swiatek. Swiatek won 8 singles titles, two major singles titles, a major semifinal, had a historic match win streak, and finished as the year-end world number one. It was a year to remember for Swiatek and tennis fans all over the world.
Iga Swiatek began the 2022 season in Adelaide at the Adelaide International. She made it to the semifinals, but lost to Australian native Ash Barty. A few weeks later Swiatek competed in the Australian Open. She advanced to the semifinals in Melbourne, but lost to eventual runner-up American Danielle Collins. It was Swiatek’s best finish at the Australian Open in her career so far. In February, Swiatek began a dominant stretch that saw her win 37 straight matches. It started in Doha when she beat Estonian Anett Kontaveit in the Qatar Open, a Masters 1000 event. She then won another Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells and then the Miami Open. After winning those two events dubbed the “sunshine double” Swiatek became the first woman to win the first three Masters 1000 titles to start a year. She won her 4th consecutive singles title at the WTA 500 event in Stuttgart. Swiatek won her 4th WTA Masters 1000 singles title and 5th consecutive title overall when she won the Italy Open. This extended her match-win streak to 28. Swiatek would carry this win streak over to the French Open where she was seeking her 2nd Roland Garros title.
Iga Swiatek entered the French Open as the world number one, the first polish tennis player, male or female, to achieve that rank, and was a heavy favorite. She reached her second major semifinal of the year when she faced off against Russian Daria Kasatkina. She defeated Kasatkina to reach the final. Swiatek beat Coco Gauff to claim her second Roland Garros title in her career and 6th straight singles title of 2022. This pushed her match win streak to 35. This tied her with Venus Williams’ record for longest match win streak since 2000. Swiatek broke Williams’ streak by winning the first round at Wimbledon to extend the streak to 36. She extended the streak to 37 by winning her second round match. Swiatek lost to Alize Cornet in the third round of Wimbledon, thus her match win streak came to an end. Swiatek lost in the quarterfinals of the Poland Open and had a pair of early exits in Toronto and Cincinnati.
Iga Swiatek entered the U.S. Open as a heavy favorite given her season-long dominance and the fact that she is the world number one. She was also looking for redemption following a bit of a midseason slump. Swiatek plowed her way through the competition, eventually reaching the final. She beat Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the final to claim her first U.S. Open singles title and third career major singles title. It was Swiatek’s 7th WTA singles title of 2022. It was her 10th overall career singles title. Swiatek won the San Diego Open to claim her 8th singles title of 2022 and 11th overall career singles title. Swiatek finished the season with the most titles of any player with 8 and the most match wins with 67. She became the first player since Serena Williams in 2013 to accomplish this feat.
Iga Swiatek qualified for the year-end WTA Tour Finals in Fort Worth. She lost in the Semifinals to Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka lost to Caroline Garcia in the Final. Despite losing in the semifinals, Swiatek still finished 2022 as the year-end world number one.
Given Swiatek’s marvelous 2022 season, I think it’s safe to say that she had the best performance for an individual athlete in any sport this year. The future is bright for Swiatek, who is only 21 years-old.
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