Girls’s tennis, in comparison with the lads’s sport, hasn’t had a single dominating power on clay. No feminine participant has actually come near being as synonymous with the floor as Spaniard Rafael Nadal, whose big shadow hovers over each inch of purple filth everywhere in the world.
This isn’t to say that there have been no nice dirt-ballers amongst ladies. In spite of everything, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Justine Henin and Serena Williams have 26 French Open titles between them, with essentially the most being Evert’s seven and the least Seles, Sanchez-Vicario and Williams’ three every.
Ranges of suspense
It’s simply that no match on clay was sucked out of all suspense with regard to the winner prefer it often occurred within the males’s sport with Nadal within the draw. Henin, at her finest, did give off the vibes of a transcendental clay-courter, successful 4 Roland-Garros titles between 2003 and 2007. However in comparison with Nadal’s 14, it was extra a blindingly good flicker than a raging fireplace.
With the 2025 version of the French Open getting underway on Sunday, the indicators are that this development will proceed, for Iga Swiatek, the three-time defending and four-time Roland-Garros champion, and considered one of solely three ladies to have received three in a row in Paris within the Open Period, has gone off the boil.
The 23-year-old is doubtless the very best on clay from the current technology and, for a major whereas, even threatened to be ‘Nadalesque’. She idolised the 22-time Slam winner, sneaked into stadiums to catch a glimpse like a lovestruck schoolkid and even stated she would possibly cease watching tennis after Nadal retired.
Mission Paris: Aryna Sabalenka has been the participant to beat this yr, having reached six finals in 9 tournaments. Out to show that she is as adept on the purple filth as she is on exhausting courts, the 27-year-old has been working exhausting on her clay-court sport. | Photograph credit score: Getty Photos
However now, Swiatek doesn’t fairly look the half. For the primary time in 5 seasons, she hasn’t received a tune-up — not even reached a closing — forward of the season’s second Main, and her as soon as formidable grip has loosened. Whereas it’s regular for reminiscence to magnify present-day struggles and masks previous achievements, even Swiatek is underneath no phantasm as she stated in Rome that “it might be silly to count on an excessive amount of as a result of proper now, I’m not capable of play my sport”.
Can World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka take benefit? The Belarusian has been the participant to beat this yr, having reached the ultimate in six of the 9 tournaments she has entered, successful three of these. What ought to give her confidence is that she is enjoying at near-peak degree, is nearly 4,000 WTA factors away from second-ranked Coco Gauff, and received in Madrid and completed runner-up in Stuttgart, two key warm-up competitions.
For some time, Sabalenka has been out to show that she is as adept on clay as she is on exhausting courts. Seventeen of her 20 Tour-level trophies, together with three Majors, might have come on the acrylic, however she is a three-time winner in Madrid and a four-time runner-up in Stuttgart. Of the seven reverses in clay-court finals, 4 have come in opposition to the easiest — Swiatek.
Profiting throughout a downturn
However with the Pole going via a downturn, Sabalenka can absolutely fancy her possibilities. It’s price noting that Madrid’s altitude and Stuttgart’s indoor situations do favour gamers like Sabalenka, who’ve a giant serve and crushing groundstrokes. However as information analyst Jeff Sackman outlined in an article on Tennis Summary simply after her win in Madrid, the slowness of the Parisian clay shouldn’t be a limiting issue for Sabalenka.
In opposition to her general Tour-level profession win share of 71 (364-151), Sabalenka’s success charge on clay is 70 (81-34). Collating information throughout the occasions main as much as the 2024 French Open, Sackman decided that the clay in Paris was the slowest (ranking of 0.66 to Madrid’s 0.82), however that didn’t alter the 27-year-old’s method.
Don’t rely her out: A former finalist in Paris, Coco Gauff has unbelievable retrieving abilities. Regardless of coping with a problematic serve and forehand, she managed to achieve back-to-back finals in Madrid and Rome. | Photograph credit score: Getty Photos
Her common rally size in Madrid was 3.30. At Roland-Garros, it was a comparable 3.54 and at Rome 3.25. For an enormous server like Sabalenka, the share of unreturned serves is usually excessive. Even on this, she had close to equal numbers, the tempo of the court docket however. If it was 30.4% in Madrid, it was 31.6% in Rome and 27.2% on the French Open.
These metrics make sense provided that they’ve translated into success, and right here, Sabalenka’s report isn’t too dangerous. In 2023, she misplaced an in depth three-set semifinal at Roland-Garros to Karolina Muchova, and in 2024, she made the ultimate in Rome (shedding to Swiatek) and misplaced one other tight three-set contest in Paris whereas battling an sickness, this time within the quarterfinals to Russia’s Mirra Andreeva.
“I’ve been working actually exhausting and bettering on bringing selection into my sport,” Sabalenka stated after the Madrid triumph. “My contact sport is significantly better proper now; [I’m] making an attempt to return to the online… I’m undecided if it’s actually profitable up to now, however I’m making an attempt. It’s at all times ‘work on your self’ and at all times in search of one thing to enhance and get higher at.”
What offers Sabalenka a chance at Roland-Garros is the openness of the sector. Aside from Swiatek’s lack of kind, Gauff, regardless of reaching back-to-back finals in Madrid and Rome, nonetheless appears to be like undercooked. She is a former finalist in Paris (2022) and has unbelievable retrieving abilities, however her serves and forehand have turned problematic once more. Within the 3-hour, 32-minute slugfest in opposition to Qinwen Zheng within the Rome semifinals, Gauff accounted for a whopping 16 double-faults.
Worthy adversaries
Nevertheless, Jasmine Paolini, who just lately conquered Rome and is now as much as No. 4, and Jelena Ostapenko, the all-action, supremely attacking 2017 Roland-Garros champion, can show to be worthy adversaries.
Harmful floater: Jelena Ostapenko, a former champion in Paris, boasts of an astonishing 6-0 report over Swiatek and defeated Sabalenka within the latest Stuttgart closing. | Photograph credit score: Getty Photos
Paolini was a shock finalist on the 2024 French Open, however by reaching the Wimbledon closing instantly after and staying within the top-10 for practically a yr, the 29-year-old Italian has proven that she isn’t one to be trifled with. Ostapenko is a harmful floater, and the 27-year-old Latvian boasts of an astonishing 6-0 report over Swiatek and defeated Sabalenka within the Stuttgart closing final month.
What Sabalenka must also be cautious of is her personal report in crunch matches. The Belarusian has misplaced 17 Tour-level summit clashes from the 37 she has contested, together with on the 2025 Australian Open to Madison Keys and the 2023 US Open to Gauff. As a top-five participant, and as No. 1, she has misplaced as many finals as she has received (5-5 and 3-3).
There’s additionally the possible assembly with Swiatek within the last-four. The Pole might have dropped right down to No. 5 — out of the highest three for the primary time since March 2022 — and first has to get previous Paolini within the quarterfinals, however enjoying a bona fide red-dirt skilled won’t be on most individuals’s bucket listing.
“Proper now, I’m stronger than ever, bodily and mentally, and in addition my sport improved loads,” Sabalenka insisted in Rome, the place she misplaced to Zheng within the quarterfinals. “So I actually hope that is the yr the place I’m going to look again on the clay-court season and be tremendous pleased with myself.”
Revealed – Could 23, 2025 11:30 pm IST
