Iga Swiatek plays tennis at a run. The Pole hunts every ball down with footwork that seems to buy her an extra half-second, then answers with a forehand of ferocious western-grip topspin, spin rates measured near those of her idol Rafael Nadal. On clay she turned that game into a reign: a first Roland Garros as a teenager in 2020, and in 2022 the whole tour bent around her, 37 matches without a loss, six titles in a row, and on 4 April the top of the rankings, a spot she held for 125 weeks. Four Roland Garros titles now sit behind her name.
The knock was that she was a dirtballer and nothing more. She buried it at Wimbledon in 2025, losing not a single game in the final, 6-0, 6-0, for a first major on grass and a set of 6 Grand Slam titles across all three surfaces. Composure is the quiet engine, drilled with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz until the biggest points feel ordinary. In 2026 she remains one of the few, with Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, who settle the sport's largest matches.
Five hundred and eighty. That is the ranking of Thea Frodin, the wildcard who opens the US Open against second seed Elena Rybakina. The women's singles draw was made today, ahead of the tournament's start on 30 August, with top seed Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1 and defending champion, opening against Camila Osorio.
Draw taleFifty. That is Diane Parry's new ranking, the French 23-year-old up 16 places from No. 66 to break into the top 50. The top four held station this week; Aryna Sabalenka held No. 1 without a deep run of her own, so the story sits lower down the list, with Xiyu Wang making the week's biggest jump, up 26 places to No. 82.
Ranking tale