Iga Swiatek ‘going to win at least seven or eight Roland Garros’ claims former No.1
Iga Swiatek has dominated Roland Garros in recent years, and former world No.1 Mats Wilander has backed her to do so for the foreseeable future.
Swiatek won the Roland Garros title in 2020, 2022 and most recently 2023, and sits as the favourite for the title once again this year.
The Pole is on a 12-match winning streak heading into the Paris major this year, after claiming both WTA 1000 titles in Madrid and Rome.
And Wilander has suggested that he believes there is ‘a very small chance’ that Swiatek slips up, “I think that with Iga Swiatek, I am more impressed the more I see her play. Some days, some matches, you can see that she has certain limitations, but it has to be conditions that are terrible for her, and there are very few tournaments that are completely terrible for her. There are very, very few players that are terrible for her.”
The Swede continued, “So I think that the confidence that she’s growing, winning all these clay court tournaments and taking one, two, three steps away from [Aryna] Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina and all the other women that are behind, I think that’s going to really help her on other surfaces.
“So to beat Iga on clay, because it’s a women’s tournament and it’s two out of three sets, yes, she could run into Aryna Sabalenka, who will have an unbelievable one hour of tennis and suddenly Iga is down a set and maybe a break 4-2 and now you’re 10 minutes away from losing, even though you’re not playing bad. But there is a very, very, very small chance that that’s going to happen.”
Iga is ???? site.#RolandGarros @iga_swiatek pic.twitter.com/LuxLXuWvJE
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 23, 2024
Wilander went onto draw comparisons to record 14-time champion Rafael Nadal, predicting how many titles he thinks Swiatek could win at Roland Garros in her career.
“I think Iga is as big a favourite this year as Rafa has been over all these years,” claimed Wilander. “He’s been the favourite and he’s won 14. Iga I think is going to win at least seven or eight Roland Garros if she stays healthy.”
Swiatek will begin her Roland Garros campaign against a qualifier, with a potential second round meeting against Naomi Osaka.
Watch Roland-Garros on Eurosport, Max and discovery+.
Inside the baseline…
Iga Swiatek winning Roland Garros does seem like a safe bet, given her form heading into the tournament and previous successes. It is easy to forgot that she is still only 22-years-old given some of her achievements already, that would be incredible for an entire career let alone someone that young. Seven or eight titles at one major does seem extreme, but given her current trajectory it is hard to argue with Mats Wilander.
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