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Several tennis players, past and present, have congratulated Iga Swiatek on winning the WTA Finals.
The Pole won the year-end championships for the first time in her career by thrashing Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-0 in the final. She did not drop a single set in the tournament in Cancun, having previously beaten Marketa Vondrousova, Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka.
A number of tennis players lauded Swiatek on her triumph, with Victoria Azarenka saying:
"Congratulations to @iga_swiatek for winning wta finals title! Great job."
Ben Shelton congratulated Swiatek by commenting on an Instagram picture of the Pole with her team celebrating the victory.
The legendary Billie Jean King heaped praise on Swiatek for her triumph, saying:
"Congratulations to @iga_swiatek, the #WTAFinals champion, on her 17th career singles title and 6th this season."
Swiatek's compatriots from Poland also congratulated her after her victory in Cancun, with Hubert Hurkacz tweeting:
"Brawo @iga_swiatek."
Magdalena Frech and Magda Linette both sent their congratulations to Swiatek on winning the WTA Finals.
Iga Swiatek, after her victory, said that the World No. 1 ranking did have a little impact on her despite her wanting it not to. She added, however, that her focus was completely on the game once she entered the court.
"I learned my lesson and this time I didn't want (the No.1 ranking) to have an impact on me. It did a little bit, it's hard not to think about stuff like that, but actually, when I went on court, I knew that I had to focus on different things. And actually, the conditions here that were kind of tricky, also helped me to just focus on my footwork, my shots, and that just kept me busy from thinking about all of that," Swiatek said as quoted by WTA.
Iga Swiatek finishes as year-end World No. 1 for the second straight year
Iga Swiatek's triumph in Cancun saw her regain the World No. 1 ranking after losing it to Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open. The Pole is assured of finishing 2023 at the top of the WTA rankings, thus marking her second year-end finish as the World No. 1. She is only the 11th woman to end successive seasons at the top of the rankings.
Swiatek has enjoyed an impressive 2023 season, winning 68 out of 79 matches, with six titles to her name.
The Pole successfully defended her titles at the French Open, the Qatar Open and the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Her only WTA 1000 triumph of 2023 came at the China Open, and she also won the Warsaw Open in front of her home crowd. The WTA Finals victory is Swiatek's sixth title of this season.
