The Roland Garros came alive for an unprecedented second time in a year when the historic Olympic Games were taking place in Paris.
The games re-ignited the spirit of tennis fans, who had the chance to purchase Roland Garros tickets for a special part of history.
While we recollect the great Olympic memories, we often forget the ascending history that unfolded in the Roland Garros of 2024.
Iga Swiatek – Fourth Roland Garros Title
It might be too early, but it looks like Iga Swiatek is slowly ascending the throne to become the queen of clay. She defeated Jasmine Paolini to win her fourth Roland Garros title.
For all the fans with Roland Garros tickets, they would recollect that Swiatek now has her fourth win since winning in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
As always, she had no mercy on her rival and overpowered her from the first point to the last game, winning 6-2 and 6-1.
The Italian Paolini saved her first turn of serve, which gave her confidence. In the third game, she scored the ‘break’ against a rival who knew she had much to gain and lose. The favourite tag had been chasing Swiatek since May 26, the day the French Open began.
The No. 1 came back on the scene immediately after to equalize at two games. She would concede four more points in the first set and one game, the penultimate game of the final.
Swiatek is the fifteenth player to win a major after saving a match point. In her case, it was in the second round with Naomi Osaka.
Paolini’s consolation is that next Monday, she will move up and become the seventh-ranked player on the women’s tour. Swiatek will consolidate her spot at the top, matching her career high of 11,695 points. In the summer, she can surpass Serena Williams’s all-time scoring record of 13,615.
Serena had been the only one to string titles at the Mutua Madrid Open, Rome and the French Open. It was in 2013. If anyone was looking for a player to continue the domination of Rafael Nadal on the ground in Paris, they now have one.
The four players who have reached four titles at Roland Garros
- Iga Swiatek 23 years and 9 days
- Justine Henin, 25 years and 8 days
- Chris Evert, 25 years and 168 days
- Steffi Graf, 25 years and 361 days
Consecutive matches won at Roland Garros:
- Chris Evert 29
- Monica Seles 25
- Justine Henin 24
- Iga Swiatek 21
- Steffi Graf 20
Swiatek’s Legacy
Swiatek’s aura at Roland Garros is becoming so great that she is now being dubbed the ‘Queen of Clay’.
The key statistics show why:
- Swiatek has won 21 matches at the French Open – the fourth-longest streak in women’s singles in the Open era.
- Swiatek has won 35 of her 37 matches at Roland Garros.
- By beating Paolini, Swiatek has become the youngest woman to win four French Open titles in the Open era. Only Chris Evert (seven), Steffi Graf (six) and Justine Henin (four) have matched or bettered her tally.
American great Evert, who won 18 major titles between 1974 and 1986, worries “every day” about Swiatek beating her record at Roland Garros.
“When I put my head under the pillow, I’m worried about Iga,” Evert joked about Eurosport.
“Iga will end up on double digits. I don’t just think she will beat my record here – I think it’s double digits.”
Asked for her response to Evert’s comments, Swiatek smiled. “It’s nice to hear such words. But I’m not thinking in these categories,” she said.
“Even being here and winning five Grand Slams seems pretty surreal. I would never have expected that when I was younger.
“Getting to double digits here still seems a long shot.
“I will surely work for it and do my best to become better and better every year – and play my best tennis here.”
While most of Swiatek’s Grand Slam success has come on the clay, her dominance on the WTA Tour has been underpinned by her ability on the hard courts.
Her other major triumph came at the 2022 US Open, and she won 13 of her 22 WTA titles on acrylic.
Grass has been her least proficient surface—she has played just 23 matches on it in her professional career, compared with 205 on hard and 90 on clay.
Wimbledon is the major tournament where she has had the most minor success as a professional.
Last year’s run to the quarter-finals was her best performance, although she did win the junior title at the All England Club in 2018.
“I think Swiatek will win all four Grand Slams,” said former British number one Annabel Croft, who summarised the final for BBC Radio 5 Live.
Zheng Made History At Roland Garros
Zheng Qinwen became the first Chinese tennis player to win an Olympic medal in singles as she produced the biggest shock of the tournament, toppling Iga Swiatek, the world No 1, 6-2, 7-5 on Thursday to reach the women’s gold medal match, shocking everyone with Roland Garros tickets.
It was a monumental victory for Zheng against an opponent heavily favoured to win her first Olympic gold medal after dominating at Roland Garros in recent years.
Swiatek entered Court Philippe-Chatrier on Thursday on a 25-match winning streak at Roland Garros, having won three consecutive French Open titles and four in total.
“This means everything to me because finally I broke the stage I always have in my head; I finally showed I could beat the world No. 1 on her best surface, at Roland Garros,” Zheng said. “It does mean everything. I always knew I could do it, but there’s a difference between knowing you can and showing it.”
Zheng, the sixth seed and a finalist at the Australian Open this year, is a tremendous talent with a sense for the big stage. While the 21-year-old had not produced her best tennis earlier in the week, she dragged herself to this semi-final through her willpower and mental strength, winning consecutive three-hour, three-set matches against Emma Navarro of the US and Germany’s Angelique Kerber to end the former No 1’s career.
A day later, Zheng stepped onto Court Philippe-Chatrier, fully aware that the pressure was on Swiatek. Those with Roland Garros tickets saw that she played with total freedom from the beginning.
As Zheng commanded the baseline, suffocating her opponent with a heavy forehand and mixing up loopy balls with drop shots, the Polish player struggled badly to find her range.
Swiatek struggled to find any rhythm, errors flowing from her racket. Even after establishing a 4-0 lead in the second set, the 23-year-old failed to shake off her nerves. The Pole was gradually pulled back in by Zheng, who found big serves when most needed and held her nerve at the end to win seven of the final eight games.
Although Zheng entered the match with a 0-6 record against Swiatek, she has shown glimpses of her potential against the No. 1 over the years, most notably when she pushed Swiatek to three sets on the same court in the fourth round of the 2022 French Open. It felt like only a matter of time until Zheng achieved such a significant win on a big stage.
For Swiatek, the pressure of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win the Olympic gold on her favourite court was too much. After the match, she was in tears as she could not hold back her disappointment, and she was forced to pause an interview to regain her composure.