In the professional realm of tennis, few players have carved their names permanently with their epic battles and achievements. But after the era of Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert, questions arose regarding who would take the legacy of women’s tennis forward. Well, now it seems Andy Roddick has the answer. And it is none other than the current WTA world number one, Iga Swiatek.

During the ‘Served with Andy Roddick’ podcast, Roddick addressed Iga Swiatek’s path to glory and compared her relentless pursuit of excellence with four tennis legends. “Swiatek is on her way to becoming one of the best players of all time,” declared Andy Roddick before explaining the things that set her in the same league as the legends who ruled the sport. He started by noting, “Now the women’s side of the game has some separation between you know Martina, Crissy, Serena and then it’s kind of like the rest as far as like singles titles go… Steffi Graf is… I mean she is right there.”

And rightly so. Similar to the epic face-offs between Swiatek and Sabalenka in the Madrid Open final, the world witnessed Navratilova and Chris Evert’s dominance in the sport with their fierce on-court rivalry. This led them to win 18 grand slams each throughout their career. 

Not only that, he made a reference to Serena Williams’ achievement as well in this regard. While Williams achieved 23 grand slams along with 39 major titles in her career, there is a similarity between her and Swiatek in one regard so far. Quite interestingly, both of them won six WTA titles to their name on the hard court by the age of 22! And then there is Steffi Graf as well. Roddick explained how Graf, who earned one less grand slam than Williams, is “maybe the most dominant player I’ve seen day in day out in my entire life.”

Iga Swiatek, who is a formidable force on-court, also loves to keep a low profile off the court. Therefore, quite a few times, fans have found similarities between her style of play and her personality with that of Graf. Roddick, who thinks “those four are kind of separated from everyone else,” further emphasized how Swiatek can reach the same level as them very soon. However, he also compared Swiatek’s success with that of other players as well.

Roddick hints at Iga Swiatek’s potential to have an incredible future in tennis

Iga Swiatek, after winning three titles this season, has already bagged a total of 20 titles. Not only that, she has also previously achieved four grand slams. Roddick shared how these achievements at the mere age of 22 are a testament to the World No. 1’s ability to shine more. And also to make her name etched in the history of the sport. He further referred to Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Justine Henin’s achievements as well and pointed out how close she was to reaching their level.

“I mean, she’s one slam away from like Sharapova, Justine Henin. She’s three slams away from Venus. And she’s 22. And it’s not as if like, we can say ‘Oh, she’s gonna stop soon’. She’s 22,” opined Roddick.

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Roddick’s observation underlines an important phase in women’s tennis. Świątek, with her youth and ferocity, is not just knocking on the door of the greats. She’s poised to break it down. What do you think? Does she have a future like the greats?