PARIS – Iga Swiatek is playing for something huge at this Roland Garros: becoming the only woman in tennis history to win the title four years in a row.
Even if she insists on treating it like any other tournament on the calendar, the best player of the post-pandemic era faces a glorious opportunity in Paris: that fifth French Open title — and fourth consecutive — could place her in a special tier among the sport’s legends, while also putting an end to a generally underwhelming stretch of results.
The Pole, winner in 2020 and three-time defending champion, has a chance to break a peculiar curse that denied Chris Evert, Monica Seles and Justine Henin — each for reasons far beyond mere losses on court.
Evert, the greatest clay-court player in history and the record holder with seven titles in Paris, could have achieved it if she hadn’t chosen to play World Team Tennis — a mixed-team event held in the United States that attracted top players with lucrative prize money, taking place right during the French Open.
Seles was the favorite to accomplish it in 1993, but she was stabbed in the back in Hamburg, just three weeks before starting her title defense.
Henin chose not to try in 2008. She was the three-time defending champion but unexpectedly retired as world number one that May, very exhausted (she would return to competition in 2010 and 2011).
Swiatek is two wins away from making history at 24 years old. And there’s another record the Polish star could break, looking ahead to 2026: she already has 26 consecutive wins on Parisian clay, just three shy of the mark Evert set over several interrupted years. “I had no idea about that,” Swiatek said.
Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1, is the player who could end that winning streak in the French Open semifinals. If she reaches her first final in Paris, the Belarusian would deny Swiatek what fate has withheld from the great clay-court stars—and leave Swiatek without a final appearance in the past 12 months.
Swiatek and Sabalenka fuel the biggest rivalry of the past years in a women’s tennis landscape that has lacked major matchups.
They have faced each other 12 times, with Swiatek leading the head-to-head 8-4 overall and 5-1 on clay. Although Sabalenka won their most recent encounter, she is the Madrid champion and Stuttgart finalist, currently showing an even higher level.
A high-stakes clash and a premature final in the French capital.
