Road to the WTA Finals: Can Swiatek replicate last year’s perfect run?

Iga Swiatek continues to nestle herself alongside the game's legends. Still just 23 years old, she again dominated the clay season and continues to prove herself to be a consistent force on the hard courts. 

Like last season, Swiatek enters the WTA Finals, no longer in the top spot she has largely owned for the past three years. In Cancun last year, Swiatek went undefeated to capture her first WTA Finals title, reclaiming the No.1 ranking in the season’s final match.

Road to the WTA Finals: Sabalenka | Swiatek | Gauff | Paolini | Rybakina | Pegula | Zheng | Krejcikova

Meet the top doubles teams heading to Riyadh

Can she repeat the feat? 

The question may intrigue fans and pundits, but for Swiatek, it seems irrelevant. By skipping the Asian swing, she effectively conceded the top spot to Aryna Sabalenka, choosing instead to focus on a new direction. She brought in the seasoned Wim Fissette as her coach, and together they’ve used the time for the extended training block Swiatek has been craving all year. It’s clear her ambitions go beyond just holding onto No.1.

Now we'll see if her efforts bear immediate fruit in Riyadh. 

Season snapshot:
2024 tour-level win-loss record: 57-8
2024 titles: 5 (Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome, Roland Garros)
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 3
Best WTA Finals result: 2023 Champion

Defining moment: Swiatek's 2024 campaign can be summed up in her match-point-saving win against Sabalenka in the Mutua Madrid Open final. Bidding to complete her collection of the major European clay-court titles, Swiatek found a way past the two-time champion, who played the best clay-court match of her career. It wasn't enough against Swiatek, who saved three championship points to win 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7). 

It wasn't the only time Swiatek saved match points during her near-perfect clay season. She pulled off a similar escape at Roland Garros, saving a match point to come from 5-2 down in the final set to beat Naomi Osaka in the second round. 

Social buzz corner: From Zendaya to Taylor Swift, everyone wanted to rub elbows with Swiatek in 2024. 

Notable stats:

• Youngest player in the Open Era to win four Roland Garros titles
• Youngest player to win five Grand Slams since Serena Williams won her fifth 21 years ago at the 2003 Australian Open
• Brought her cumulative total of weeks at World No.1 to 125, surpassing Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin and Ashleigh Barty this year
• Youngest player to win 22 career titles since Justine Henin in 2005
• Won a tour-leading five titles this season, including a Grand Slam and four WTA 1000s
• First player to win five or more titles in three consecutive seasons since Serena from 2012 to 2015 and youngest since Venus Williams from 1999 to 2002
• Joined Serena as the only women to win the clay-court "Triple Crown," sweeping the Hologic WTA Tour's three biggest titles on the surface in Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.

From the camera roll: A sweet, fleeting moment shared between Swiatek and her father Tomasz after Iga sealed her third consecutive French Open title. Iga consistently celebrates her father for all his sacrifices to give her a chance at her history-making career.

Hot shot: Madison Keys threw everything and the kitchen sink at Swiatek in the Rome semifinals, but the Polish player had all the answers to earn May's Shot of the Month.

Memorable quote: "I feel like after such a match, I deserve a two-month vacation, but I can't have that. So I'll trade it for, like, six tiramisus or something." -- Swiatek after saving three-match points against Sabalenka in the final to win her first Madrid title.