Source: Sports Weekly All Media
Sports Weekly All Media Special Correspondent Yi Sang
When the world number one and defending champion Barty announced her retirement during the Miami game, a huge vacuum of more than 2,000 points was suddenly left behind, which was enough to allow her to maintain her post-ball throne even with zero participation. At least one month. Therefore, when the wayward Australian girl insisted on walking away, the outside world began to fall into some kind of panic – or expectation that the women’s tennis world would enter a state of separatism again.
And this kind of panic or expectation may be based on those not distant historical memories. In 2008, when Haining also retired at the top position with a huge advantage, Sharapova, Ivanovic and Jankovic reached the top within six months; However, he suddenly announced that he would leave the tennis world temporarily due to marriage and childbirth, and then in that year, Kerber, Ka Pliskova, Muguruza and Halep succeeded one after another.
So, historical experience seems to tell us that when a ruler leaves at his peak, he often leaves behind a turbulent era. At the beginning of March this year, the 7 players behind Barty were all within 900 points, so it is not unnecessary to worry that the women’s tennis will be headless again after she leaves. However, at this time, a name appeared, and she was the Polish Swatek born in 2001.
From Doha to Indian Wells to Miami, in these three consecutive WTA1000 competitions, Swatek has now achieved 16 consecutive victories. After reaching the Miami final, she is only one win away from the three consecutive championships! It’s been too long since we’ve seen such a consistent and dominant performance in women’s tennis, and the most recent memory comes from Swatek’s upcoming opponent in the Miami final: Naomi Osaka.
From Cincinnati in 2020 to Miami in 2021, Naomi Osaka has won an amazing 23 consecutive victories, and all of them are on hard courts, including the US Open and the Australian Open. But it was also after she lost to Sakari in the quarter-finals in Miami that she gradually began to fall into a trough. In the past year, she experienced refusal of the French Open press conference, an early exit at the Tokyo Olympics, psychological problems, the US Open and the Australian Open. The defending battles all fell to the third round, the tearful press conference and the arena…
When she came to Miami this year, Naomi Osaka’s ranking had dropped to 77th. In the past year, she did not make a final. After Indian Wells was out early, Naomi Osaka went to see a psychiatrist, and she received an immediate effect. Effect. “Get up wherever you fall.” In Miami, which began to stumble last year, she reached her first final in 13 months! It was officially announced that it had come out of a year-long trough.
As a result, Miami’s final lineup has become: next week will replace Swatek, who will replace Barty’s first world number one, and Naomi Osaka, the previous world number one before Barty’s ascent. One is a new post at the highlight of his career, and the other is an ex post who is trying to regain his former glory. This will definitely be a showdown that represents the toughest strength in women’s tennis today! It seems that Barty’s retirement did not bring chaos, but inspired the strongest voice of the new era.
The only previous encounter between the two came from Toronto in 2019, when Naomi Osaka defeated Swatek, who was ranked only 65th and came up from the qualifying round. Interestingly, it was with that victory that she briefly returned to the scene. World number one. When they met again two and a half years later, the situation of the two reversed. This time, it was Naomi Osaka who used the method of beheading Shinke No. 1 to return to the peak for herself, or it was Swatek who used the method of revenge for the former overlord. Dedicated to your upcoming first summit?
Either result seems to be an exciting answer, and we may also begin to become familiar with such a matchup, because Swatek vs. Naomi Osaka, this may be the main theme of women’s tennis in the next few years.Return to Sohu, see more
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