Roland Garros. Iga Świątek can go down in history. She is close to equaling the hundred-year-old record
Iga Świątek will soon start her march to defend her Roland Garros title. The Pole has a chance to catch up with the legend and equalize the hundred-year-old record. However, there are certain conditions to be met.
Roland Garros, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, will begin soon. The main part of the competition will start on May 26. The final is scheduled for June 8. The draw was very favorable for the Pole, because she can only face a top rival in the quarterfinals.
Iga Świątek is chasing the legend of Roland Garros
The favorite for the final triumph at Roland Garros is Iga Świątek, who is called the queen of clay. Not without reason, because she won the last two 1000-rank tournaments on this surface – in Madrid and Rome. In both finals she defeated her biggest rival – Aryna Sabalenka. Despite her young age, the Pole is making a mark in the history of world tennis. She is currently the leader of the world ranking and has won 21 WTA tournaments so far, including four Grand Slams – French Open 2020, 2022 and 2023 and US Open 2022.
If Iga Świątek manages to win Roland Garros for the fourth time, she will join a small group of tennis legends. Since 1968, only three tennis players have managed to triumph in the Paris competition four times. These were players such as Chris Evert, Suzanne Lenglen and Steffi Graf.
The latter of the mentioned players is a legend of the French Open. In total (in singles and doubles) she won on the courts. Roland Garros as many as 15 titles. In the singles game itself, the leader is Chris Evert, who won seven times (1974–1975, 1979–1980, 1983–1985). The French player has one less title (1920–1923, 1925–1926), just like Steffi Graf (1987–1988, 1993, 1995–1996, 1999). Margaret Smith Court (1962, 1964, 1969–1970, 1973) and Francoise Masson (1897–1899, 1902–1903) won five times in Paris.
Iga Świątek has a chance to break the hundred-year-old record. However, there are conditions to be met
Returning to Suzanne Lenglen, she made history at the Roland Garros Grand Slam as the winner of the most consecutive singles titles. The Frenchwoman repeated her feat four times in a row between 1920 and 1923.
Iga Świątek is very close to equaling this achievement. So far, the Pole has won this Grand Slam three times, including two in a row in 2022 and 2023. If the Raszynian manages to repeat her success from last year, she will only be one triumph short of equaling her success from 100 years ago.
So far, no one has managed to do this. Chris Evert won the French Open three times in a row (1983–1985), as did Francoise Masson (1897–1899). The condition for Iga Świątek to equal this record is that she must win Roland Garros this year and next, which certainly will not be easy.