Iga Swiatek ‘is a player on a mission’ with Pole backed to break Roland Garros record

Shahida Jacobs 24 May 2024 1:06 PM

Iga Swiatek with the Roland Garros trophy.

Iga Swiatek can “absolutely” break the record for most women’s titles won at Roland Garros with the current record holder Chris Evert saying the Pole “doesn’t seem to have any big holes in her game”.

World No 1 Swiatek heads to the French Open as the firm favourite to win a third consecutive title and fourth overall in Paris as she has been in a class of her own, not just in recent weeks but in general at Roland Garros.

The 22-year-old is 14-1 on clay this year having won back-to-back titles at the Madrid Open and the Italian Open with her only loss coming in the semi-final at the Stuttgart Open.

As for her record at the clay-court Grand Slam, she is unbeaten since her quarter-final exit in 2022. In fact, that was one of only two defeats at the event for Swiatek with her win-loss record 28–2 (93%).

If she wins the title this year she will move joint third in the all-time Open Era list for most French Open titles won by a woman with the four putting her level with Justine Henin with only Evert (7) and Steffi Graf (6) ahead.

READ MORE: French Open: The 9 greatest women’s singles champions – ranked!

Asked during an interview by The Associates Press whether or not Swiatek could break her record, Evert said: “Absolutely.

“Iga is a player on a mission. She’s more focused. She doesn’t get upset at all when she’s losing. She just has all the ingredients to be a champion. She really does. She checks all the boxes — the intangibles and the tangibles.”

And it is not just at Roland Garros that Swiatek has dominated the past two years as she also won the 2022 US Open title and has spent more than 100 weeks at No 1 in the rankings.

So what makes Swiatek such an incredible player?

“I just think Iga is the most solid of all players out there. She doesn’t seem to have any big holes in her game,” Evert said.

“She’s an excellent front-runner. Once she gets going, and she’s winning, she has that confidence.”

Fellow former world No 1 Mats Wilander also suggested that Swiatek will surpass Evert’s record as he believes she is on the same level as Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in terms of the favourite tag.

“I think Iga is as big a favourite this year as Rafa has been over all these years,” he said. “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.”