According to the Estonian newspaper, Postimees, the country’s number one tennis player, Anett Kontaveit, is going to be ranked second in the world in the Women’s Tennis Association’s rankings in the week of 6 June 2022.
Kontaveit, currently fifth in the WTA rankings, didn’t fare well in the French Open, falling out of the competition in the opening round, but the calculations show that next week, she will still rise to the second place in the WTA rankings, the newspaper said.
The Polish tennis player, Iga Swiatek, will keep her first ranking, but Kontaveit is going to raise to the second place – her highest so far. Postimees says Kontaveit benefitted from the quarter finals where Swiatek reigned over Jessica Pegula (WTA 11th) 6:3, 6:2. Kontaveit’s position was threatened by the American, Pegula, who was favoured to win the tournament.
The youngest ever to win a singles’ championship
According to the newspaper, many of the best tennis players were unsuccessful at the French Open who lost even more points than Kontaveit – and thus, helped the Estonian tennis player rise in the rankings to her best spot ever.
Kontaveit started training when she was six years old and three years later won her first title. In 2009, she won the Estonian women’s championship – at 13, she was the youngest ever to win the adult championship in singles.
Her international breakthrough came in 2011 when she started to play in the ITF women’s tournaments. At her first grass tournament of 2017, the Ricoh Open, Kontaveit reached her second final of the year. In that final, she clinched her maiden WTA title and ensured a top 40 debut.
In October 2021, Kontaveit won the inaugural Transylvania Open in Romania, securing the final spot at the WTA Finals – the women’s championship tennis tournament run by the Women’s Tennis Association – becoming the first player representing Estonia to make the year-ending championships. She also became the first Estonian tennis player to make the global top 10 in singles rankings.
Kontaveit is regarded as an aggressive baseline player, who utilises a variety of strokes to force opponents to hit awkward returns.
