Ever since the decline of the Williams sisters, women’s tennis has become an ever-changing field, with no single player being able to dominate the inconsistent tour for long periods of time. Japanese star Naomi Osaka has faded into the background, and the young Aussie talent Ash Barty (who temporarily became a full-time professional cricket player during her career) retired contentedly after winning the 2022 Australian Open. Major tournaments became fair game for virtually any player able to make it into the main draw.

One player, Polish standout Iga Swiatek has been able to rise above the inconsistency and dominate the tour. By far the reigning World No. 1 over the past year, the twenty-one year old has inserted herself as a force in the game. During the summer of 2022, she achieved a stunning 37-match win streak, the longest streak on the women’s tour since Venus Williams in the year 2000. Last year she decidedly dominated the French Open and US Open, as well as four out of the nine WTA 1000s tournaments (the largest tournaments outside of Slams). At one point in the year, she had more than double the ranking points of even the World No. 2 at the time.

Swiatek has recently switched sponsorships from Asics to ON, a Swiss performance brand that also sponsors twenty-time slam winner Roger Federer.

But what factors make her able to dominate the pro circuit so well? One of the main reasons is simply her ability to hold and break serve better than any of her opposition. “Holding” is the ability to win your own service game, while “breaking” is being able to beat your opponent’s serve. It’s important to note that the men’s tour (ATP) tends to hold serve at a higher rate than the women’s, but with serve speeds averaging above 100 mph for some WTA players, being able to serve well has become more crucial over the years. As long as a player can hold their serve consistently and break every so often, the match is entirely in their hands.

No player is able to win her serve and return as well as Iga. She is clearly set apart. Winning over 60% of service points is very challenging at the highest level, indicating a high tendency to hold serve. But even more incredibly, over the past year she was able to win exactly 50% of return points. Considering that she is playing against the best players and servers in the world, it is absolutely incredible that she is able to even out return games. Her ability to read the direction of the ball against the strongest servers applies pressure on every player she encounters to hold serve. As a result of having this type of consistency, Iga tends to steamroll her opponents simply by serving incredibly well as well as being able to apply pressure on the serves of other players. She has been nicknamed the “baker” by the internet because of her score lines which tend to be “6-1” or “6-0” (breadsticks and bagels).

Iga Swiatek’s “bakery”: she barely dropped any games, even against top seeds, at the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships in February. (@deucelove on instagram)

Moving past just serves and returns, the World No. 1 is also superior at anticipation and movement. Anticipation involves reading the direction that the ball is going to go. Her intuition and anticipation of the ball allows her to be a step ahead of her opponents, even when she is in a defensive position. In addition, her movement is extremely efficient. She has a very aggressive playing style where she capitalizes on defensive balls by rushing the net (stepping forward into the court to take the offensive) to finish off points whenever she can.

One entertaining and crucial part of Iga’s movement is her ability to slide on any surface. Sliding on clay courts is not easy to master for many players, but being able to slide on hard courts (essentially gritty concrete surfaces) is generally extremely difficult. Iga is able to slide on pretty much any surface to hit any ball, making her shot-making much more efficient and quick. The movement allows her to decelerate when reaching for a ball to hit a more calculated shot. It can be used for stability when hitting defensive shots, or to be able to change directions more quickly in the corners of the court. With the clay season coming up in a few months, as well as the French Open, Swiatek will be a favorite to win.

Most players have a dominant foot/side when sliding, but Iga has mastered the ability to slide on either foot, moving forward, backward, or sideways. As a result, she can come back from tricky positions to win defensive points.

As of late, the only players who are able to best Swiatek are all players in the top 5, such as Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka. After years of instability on the WTA tour, it’s invigorating to watch these young players rise to the top and create refreshing rivalries. The World No. 1 title may be heavily contested this year, and a new era of women’s professional tennis is just around the corner.