Iga Swiatek left no doubt about her spot atop the game and Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz earned the biggest titles of their burgeoning careers. If there’s one thing we learned during the Sunshine Double in Indian Wells and Miami over the past month, it’s that the future is very much here in professional tennis.
There were star-studded showdowns and comebacks, record-breaking feats, the shocking retirement of world No. 1 and three-time major champion Ashleigh Barty, and, of course, some unbelievable tennis by some of the game’s rising superstars over the past four weeks.
Here’s what you need to know as we head into the clay-court season, and as you’ll see, March Madness wasn’t just contained to the hardwood this year.
The era of Iga
After the unexpected retirement of Barty, Swiatek, fresh off her title at Indian Wells, simply needed to win her opening match in Miami to take over the top spot in the world rankings. Still, with so much on the line and little turnaround in between tournaments, it wasn’t exactly a given.
But the 20-year-old more than understood the assignment with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 victory over Viktorija Golubic and secured the world No. 1 ranking and became the first Polish player in history to do so.
Former World No.1 🤝 Current World No.1
What a moment, @iga_swiatek 💜 pic.twitter.com/uYgEYD4fpR
— wta (@WTA) March 26, 2022
Former No. 1 Lindsay Davenport and tournament director James Blake presented her with flowers on the court after the match — and while she later called the moment “pretty surreal,” Swiatek wasn’t distracted by the life-changing moment. Swiatek won the title in Miami, too, with a dominant 6-4, 6-0 victory over Naomi Osaka in the final, and became the fourth woman in history to win the Sunshine Double and the first woman to win the first three 1000-level tournaments of the year.
Holding a 17-match winning streak, and a shiny brand-new ranking, it’s hard to believe hardcourt still might not even be her best surface….
Source : espn
