Iga Swiatek follows Graf’s footsteps, Jannik Sinner defeats Djokovic

At the 2024 US Open, the two world number one players Jannik Sinner from Italy and Iga Swiatek from Poland are once again among the dominant figures in the field of participants. A comparison with the greatest legends of tennis now reveals how good the two 23-year-old top stars really are.

Iga Swiatek has won five Grand Slam titles so far, while Sinner’s CV only includes one success at one of the four most important tournaments in the world of tennis. If you compare the start of the careers of the two currently leading stars of the ATP and WTA tours, you have to assume that they will leave even deeper footprints.

Iga Swiatek played her 100th Grand Slam match in the round of 16 of the US Open. It was not surprising that the Pole gave the Russian Liudmila Samsonova, number 16 in the world rankings, no chance with a score of 6:4 and 6:1 – especially since the record of the first 100 Grand Slam appearances suggests great things to come.

Only six players in the history of the sport have recorded more victories in their first 100 major matches. This is reported by the sports data provider Opta. Swiatek won 83 games, the leader is Monica Seles with 93. She is followed by Chris Evert (90), Steffi Graf (87), Martina Hingis and Serena Williams (86) and Venus Williams (85). With five Grand Slam victories in singles, Hingis is the least decorated player in the illustrious selection, but the Swiss also suffered early injury-related setbacks in the most successful phase of her singles career.

Jannik Sinner even defeats Novak Djokovic

The triumph against Samsonova was at a Grand Slam and Swiatek’s twelfth victory in the series against an opponent from the top 20. A feat that in the past 40 years has only been achieved by Graf (22 Grand Slam titles), Seles (9 Grand Slam titles) and Serena Williams (23 Grand Slam titles).

Sinner’s entry into the quarterfinals also catapulted him into the ranks of absolute legends. At 23 years and 17 days, the Italian has now reached at least the round of the last eight at every Grand Slam in 2024. In the Open Era, only Pete Sampras (22 years, 18 days) and Rafael Nadal (22 years, 83 days) have managed to do so younger. Sinner defeated, among others, the record Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic (23 years, 100 days).