Swiatek, Raducanu: Who will finish 2022 as world number one?

Ashleigh Barty’s sudden retirement has rocked the tennis world and it now means the women’s tour will have a new world number one. 

Barty had held the honour of top spot for the past three seasons and is seventh on the all-time list of most weeks at number one, having held the ranking for 119 weeks in total. 

The 25-year-old had also been the most in-form player of 2022 so far, having secured her third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. 

Her retirement means that Poland’s Iga Swiatek will assume the number one spot for now but how likely is she to stay there? 

GiveMeSport Women assesses the main contenders to finish the year as the best player on the planet: 

Though Barty was more than 2000 points ahead of Swiatek when she retired, the Pole has also been in superb form so far this year. 

In fact, the 20-year-old is on a run of 11 straight wins and has claimed back-to-back titles at the Qatar Open and at Indian Wells. 

The clay-court season is also fast approaching and Swiatek is renowned as a specialist on that particular surface. 

In 2020, she stormed to her first Grand Slam title without dropping a set at the French Open and reached the quarter-final last year. 

Having also reached at least the fourth round of every major in 2021, the Pole is undeniably the favourite to solidify the top spot in the rankings. 

Kontaveit is ranked seventh in the world at the moment but the Estonian has multiple opportunities to pick up a lot of ranking points without dropping many between now and the end of the year. 

The 26-year-old was unstoppable at the end of 2021 –– winning back-to-back titles at the Transylvania Open and the Kremlin Cup. She also reached the final of the WTA finals, before losing to Garbine Muguruza. 

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