"Sent by Tennis Gods... Keep making history"- Iga Swiatek receives adorable congratulatory gift from Madrid Open on 100 weeks as World No. 1 milestone

Iga Swiatek recently received a congratulatory message from the Madrid Open for completing 100 weeks as the World No. 1 in the WTA rankings.

Swiatek joined an elite list of players like Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, etc to become the ninth player in WTA history to have spent 100 weeks as World No. 1.

The Pole claimed the pinnacle of WTA rankings when Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement in April 2022. She held the spot for 75 weeks before succumbing the top spot to Aryna Sabalenka after she lost to Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round at the 2023 US Open title in September 2023

The four-time Grand Slam champion regained the World No. 1 ranking after winning the 2023 WTA Finals defeating Jessica Pegula in the final in November 2023.

Recently, the 2024 Madrid Open organizers sent a congratulatory message to Swiatek in a rather unique way. The message was:

"This yellow fluffy thing has been sent by tennis gods to congratulate you on reaching 100 weeks at World Number One. Keep making history, we believe in you! JAZDA."

Source- Iga Swiatek's Instagram story

The Polish star player has built up a stellar CV ever since she won her first title at the 2020 French Open. She has since then raked up three more Grand Slams, eight WTA 1000 tournaments, five WTA 500, one WTA 250, and a WTA Finals trophy.

Iga Swiatek- "You feel like everybody is chasing you"

2022 WTA Finals - Champion's Portraits

During a press conference at the 2024 Qatar Open, a reporter asked Iga Swiatek if she felt the additional responsibility as the World No. 1. The Pole replied that she felt that people always expected her to take a stand and have an opinion.

"Well, I feel like people expect us to sometimes take a stand and to be loud about what we think and our opinions. But I always try to remember that if I don't feel comfortable doing that, I can always just say that and mostly people respect that, journalists, you know," Iga Swiatek said.

Swiatek said that she felt a need to maintain a high standard, adding that she felt that everybody was chasing her.

“But for sure there is some responsibility, even when I'm practicing or working, I feel like because I'm at the top of the WTA I should have some, you know, standards. Sometimes it's a little bit harder to kind of take it easy, because you feel like everybody is chasing you,” Iga Swiatek said.

The 22-year-old said that she kept reminding herself that she is the same person, irrespective of her rank.

“But I'm also still trying to navigate through that. Yeah, there are some stuff that's changed because of the position that you're at, but on the other hand, I always try to remind myself that I'm still the same person no matter what my ranking is and no matter what the number next to my name is,” Iga Swiatek said.