Rafael Nadal, Iga Swiatek become ITF World Champions for 2022

Iga Swiatek and Rafael Nadal were honored by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Thursday as its 2022 ITF World Champions. Both have won two Grand Slam titles this season.

The ITF includes all tournaments to decide its awards, with particular attention given to the four major championships and the two team events, the Billie Jean King Cup and the Davis Cup. Nadal managed to win it despite being ranked second in the ATP rankings behind Carlos Alcaraz. While Swiatek topped the year-end WTA rankings.

In addition, this is the fifth time that Nadal has won the ITF honor, having done so in 2008, 2010, 2017, and 2019. He won a record 22 Grand Slam titles by winning the Australian Open in January and the French Open in June. Nadal also made the semi-finals at Wimbledon. But he had to quit before facing Nick Kyrgios due to an abdominal strain. On the other hand, Swiatek became the ITF World Champions for the first time. She achieved the award by winning the French Open and the US Open. These were her second and third career Major trophies respectively.

"I'm very happy to be named ITF World Champion for the fifth time. When I first won the award in 2008, I would not have expected to still be playing at such a high level 14 years later."

Nadal said

Meanwhile, Rajeev Ram of the United States and Great Britain's Joe Salisbury are first-time winners of the men's doubles. They achieve the award after claiming their third Grand Slam title together at the US Open. After that, they took the ATP Finals title for the first time in November. While Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova won the women's doubles prize for the third time. The Czech pair won three Grand Slam titles, triumphing at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.