Iga Swiatek won’t win a fourth consecutive French Open title in 2025, with former world No 1 Dinara Safina predicting the Pole won’t win any Grand Slams next year.
Five-time major champion Swiatek has dominated at Roland Garros for the past few years. She has won the title three years in a row and lifted the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in 2019.
Although the Pole has a 35–2 career record at the clay-court Grand Slam, Safina doesn’t think she will be successful at the French Open – or any other Slam – next year.
24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic was also overlooked for the majors following his unsuccessful 2024 season.
After winning the Australian, French, and US Opens last year, Djokovic failed to add to his major tally this campaign.
Three-time major finalist Safina was asked for her predictions for the 2025 season. She backed Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka to successfully defend their Australian Open titles, while Roland Garros will have two first-time major Slam winners in Alexander Zverev and Karolina Muchova.
“Australia – Sinner and Sabalenka. Roland Garros – Zverev and, let’s say, Muchova. I don’t think Swiatek will win a Slam on clay next year,” the Russian told Championat.
Zverev finished runner-up to Alcaraz at the 2024 French Open, while Muchova lost the 2023 final against Swiatek. Fans who had Roland Garros tickets on the day saw Swiatek’s brilliance throughout the tournament, and the final was an easy stroll for the then-world #1.
However, former world #1 thinks that 2025 would be different.
As for Wimbledon, Alcaraz is backed to defend his title and win three in a row at the All-England Club, while Daniil Medvedev could also surprise. Elena Rybakina, who won at SW19 in 2022, will win a second major.
Safina added: “Wimbledon – Alcaraz or Daniil Medvedev for men, Rybakina for women. US Open – for men Medvedev or Rublev, women Sabalenka again.”
Sinner is the reigning US Open champion after he defeated Taylor Fritz in this year’s final. Still, according to Safina, Medvedev or Andrey Rublev will be the champion, while Sabalenka is backed to defend her title at Flushing Meadows.
Medvedev won the US Open in 2021 and finished runner-up in 2019 and 2023. Rublev, meanwhile, has yet to advance past the quarter-final of the Grand Slam.
Safina also discussed Sinner’s rise following his incredible 2024 season that saw him win eight titles, including two Grand Slams and the ATP Finals.
“The most important factor that he started the season with a victory in Australia,” she said. “If he hadn’t won, he wouldn’t have had such a charge of confidence because Daniil was close to winning.
“Now Jannik is the leader, he plays incredible. It’s very interesting to watch Sinner. It’s even hard to tell me what he needs to add; he’s fine.”
Fans who already plan to follow Swiatek to Paris with Roland Garros tickets will take this insight with a pinch of salt. They think Swiatek has her chance to rewrite history by retaining her crown later in 2025.
Roland Garros Games In Top 5 Encounters of 2024
For the fans who were present in Paris, they witnessed two great games, during which exceptional talent was on display.
No, this was not the final, but in the lead. The two games stood apart in terms of competitiveness and playing level. Most fans with Roland Garros tickets will fondly remember these two.
Roland Garros SF, Carlos Alcaraz d. Jannik Sinner, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
In one of the most brutal matches of his career, Alcaraz outlasted Sinner in a battle of attrition on Court Philippe-Chatrier. On the way to his first Roland Garros title, the Spaniard twice surged back from a set down and overcame a slow start that saw him trail 4-0 in the opening set.
“You have to find the joy in suffering,” said Alcaraz, who dominated the winner count (65-39) but won two fewer points than the Italian (145-147). “That is the key, even more here on clay at Roland Garros. Long rallies, four-hour matches, five sets. You have to fight and suffer — but as I told my team, you have to enjoy suffering.”
Sinner struggled with a cramp midway through the third set but still took a two-sets-to-one lead, breaking serve immediately after receiving treatment.
There were ten breaks in the first three sets, but neither man could create a single break point in the fourth until Alcaraz broke through in its final game to force a decider. The Spaniard kept his foot firmly on the pedal to start set five, winning the first three games to cash in on his momentum.
As both players struggled to find their very best tennis for sustained stretches, this was a battle of heart and will as much as a test of skill. The drama continued until the final ball, with Alcaraz fighting through a deuce in his last three service games. On his third match point, he sealed his place in the final.
Roland Garros R3: Novak Djokovic d. Lorenzo Musetti 7-5, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
This third-round thriller, the first of two consecutive comeback, five-set wins for Djokovic, twisted and turned late into the early morning hours in Paris.
After leading by a break early in set two, the Serbian started well and had a set point on serve in the second-set tie-break. But the match’s complexion quickly changed when Musetti rattled off three straight points to level at one set all. Though midnight had already struck, the 25th-seeded Italian continued what could have been a Cinderella story with a dominant third set.
Musetti’s majestic one-handed backhand began to get the better of Djokovic’s rock-solid two-hander, and the Italian was firmly in the ascendency entering set four. Both players used every bit of Court Philippe-Chatrier, mixing in a steady stream of drop shots and angled attacks that entertained the crowd with Roland Garros tickets until a record-late finish at 3:07 a.m., breaking the event’s latest previous finish of 1:25 a.m.
“It didn’t feel great playing him that third set [and] at [the] beginning of the fourth,” Djokovic said. “The crowd got me going. I really needed that push, I really needed that energy. At two-all in the fourth, they started chanting my name, and I just felt a great new wave of willpower and energy. And I think I was a different player from that moment onwards. I think from that moment, I probably lost only one game the rest of the match.”
The one-sided ending was reminiscent of Djokovic’s five-set win against Musetti at Roland Garros in 2021.
In their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, the Serbian stormed back from two sets down, winning 16 of the last 17 games before Musetti retired late in the fifth set. The Italian soldiered on this occasion but could not stop Djokovic from crossing the finish line after four hours and 29 minutes of memorable all-court action.