French Open: Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff are among the women to watch in 2024
FILE - Poland's Iga Swiatek holds the trophy as she celebrates winning the women's final match of the French Open tennis tournament against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 10, 2023. Swiatek has won two titles in a row, and three overall, at the French Open, which starts Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)
PARIS (AP) — Here are some of the women to watch at the French Open, which starts at Roland Garros on Sunday:
Iga Swiatek
FILE - Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, serves to Zheng Qinwen, of China, during the women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. Sabalenka won the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, and is among the favorites at the 2024 French Open, which starts Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
Seeding: 1
Career-Best Ranking: 1
FILE - Coco Gauff, of the United States, holds up the championship trophy after defeating Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, in the women's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in New York. Gauff won her first Grand Slam title at last year’s U.S. Open and was the 2022 runner-up at the French Open, which starts Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
Country: Poland
Age: 22 (Turns 23 on May 31)
2024 Record: 38-4
2024 Titles: 4
Career Titles: 21
Grand Slam Titles: 4 — French Open (2020, 2022, 2023), U.S. Open (2022)
FILE - Czech Republic's Marketa Vondrousova celebrates with the trophy after beating Tunisia's Ons Jabeur to win the final of the women's singles on day thirteen of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Saturday, July 15, 2023. Vondrousova won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last year and was the 2019 runner-up at the French Open, which starts Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
Last 5 French Opens: 2023-Won Championship, 2022-Won Championship, 2021-Lost in Quarterfinals, 2020-Won Championship, 2019-Lost in 4th Round
FILE - Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhistan, serves to Magdalena Frech, of Poland, during a match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. Rybakina is one of the top women’s tennis players at the 2024 French Open, which starts Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
The Bracket: Could face four-time major champion and former No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the second round.
Aces: The ninth woman to spend at least 100 weeks at No. 1 in the WTA rankings since they began in 1975. ... Is 4-0 in Grand Slam finals. ... Nine of her 21 WTA singles titles have come on clay, including in Madrid and Rome this season. She is the first woman to win the championships in those two cities back-to-back since Serena Williams in 2013. ... Youngest woman to collect at least 20 singles trophies since Caroline Wozniacki in 2012. ... Voted WTA Player of the Year in 2023 for second season in a row; Serena Williams was the last to get that honor consecutively, doing so from 2012-15.
FILE - Zheng Qinwen, of China, celebrates after defeating Dayana Yastremska, of Ukraine, in semifinal match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. Zheng was the runner-up at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, and is one of the top women’s tennis players at the French Open, which starts Sunday at Roland Garros in Paris. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
She Said It: “I don’t think we all know what our limits are unless we’re done or we’re really mature.”
Read All About It: Swiatek has won three of the past four French Opens
Aryna Sabalenka
Seeding: 2
Career-Best Ranking: 1
Country: Belarus
Age: 26
2024 Record: 25-7
2024 Titles: 1
Career Titles: 14
Grand Slam Titles: 2 — Australian Open (2023, 2024)
Last 5 French Opens: 2023-SF, 2022-3rd, 2021-3rd, 2020-3rd, 2019-2nd
The Bracket: Could face several players with experience in late stages of majors — Daria Kasatkina, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Maria Sakkari — on the way to what could be a matchup against Iga Swiatek in the final.
Aces: Won the past two Australian Open titles. ... Was the runner-up to Swiatek in Madrid and Rome. ... Best result in Paris was getting to the semifinals last year before squandering a match point and a 5-2 lead in the third set to lose to eventual runner-up Karolina Muchova (who is injured and not in the field at Roland Garros this year). ... Has a record of 50-8 in her last 10 major tournaments. She was 16-14 in the first 14 of her career. ... Reached at least the semifinals at each of the past six Slams. ... Briefly ranked No. 1 last season.
She Said It: “After the Australian Open, I struggled for a couple of months. It’s been intense. It was tough to find myself back.”
Read All About It: Sabalenka's French Open got complicated off the court in 2023
Coco Gauff
Seeding: 3
Career-Best Ranking: 3
Country: United States
Age: 20
2024 Record: 25-8
2024 Titles: 1
Career Titles: 7
Grand Slam Titles: 1 — U.S. Open (2023)
Last 5 French Open Opens: 2023-QF, 2022-Runner-Up, 2021-QF, 2020-2nd, 2019-Did Not Play
The Bracket: Could face Iga Swiatek in the semifinals in what would be a rematch of the 2022 final, won by Swiatek.
Aces: Has reached at least the semifinals at the past two majors, the first time she's done that consecutively in her still-nascent career. ... She won the U.S. Open last September — the first American teenager to triumph there since Serena Williams in 1999 — then made it to the semifinals at the Australian Open this January. ... The 2024 French Open will be Gauff's first Grand Slam tournament as a 20-year-old. ... Has been ranked No. 1 in doubles. ... Started working with coach Brad Gilbert after a first-round exit at Wimbledon last July.
She Said It: “With the way my career has (gone), I played a lot of big names early. I think I just got used to separating the name from, I guess, the match.”
Read All About It: Gauff's first Slam trophy came at age 19
Elena Rybakina
Seeding: 4
Career-Best Ranking: 3
Country: Kazakhstan
Age: 24
2024 Record: 30-5
2024 Titles: 3
Career Titles: 8
Grand Slam Titles: 1 — Wimbledon (2022)
Last 5 French Opens: 2023-3rd, 2022-3rd, 2021-QF, 2020-2nd, 2019-1st
The Bracket: Could face another past Wimbledon winner, Angelique Kerber, in the second round.
Aces: Pulled out of the Italian Open, citing an illness. ... Withdrew from Roland Garros before her third-round match a year ago because she was sick. ... Won Wimbledon in 2022, but did not get the usual rankings bump because no points were awarded by the tours there that year. ... Reached the final at the Australian Open in 2023. ... Leads the WTA in aces this season; she's the only player with more than 200. ... Had a 16-match winning streak on clay until a loss to Aryna Sabalenka at Madrid.
She Said It: “The general public, they see us play — of course they don’t know how tough it is to be on the tour and how tough it is being a tennis player. Some weeks are good; some weeks are not.”
Read All About It: Rybakina's Wimbledon title came with a muted response
Marketa Vondrousova
Seeding: 5
Career-Best Ranking: 6
Country: Czech Republic
Age: 24
2024 Record: 10-7 (Entering Strasbourg)
2024 Titles: Zero
Career Titles: 2
Grand Slam Titles: 1 — Wimbledon (2023)
Last 5 French Opens: 2023-2nd, 2022-DNP, 2021-4th, 2020-1st, 2019-RU
The Bracket: Could face No. 11 seed Danielle Collins in the fourth round.
Aces: Has just two tour-level titles so far — but one came at a Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon last year. ... The left-hander has been sidelined for chunks of time because of wrist problems. ... While still a teenager, Vondrousova showed how talented, and how capable on clay courts, she is when she made a run to the final at Roland Garros before losing to Ash Barty.
She Said It: "It’s great to know that I can play anywhere.”
Read All About It: Vondrousova is a unique champion
Zheng Qwinen
Seeding: 7
Career-Best Ranking: 7
Country: China
Age: 21
2024 Record: 16-9
2024 Titles: Zero
Career Titles: 2
Grand Slam Titles: None — Best: Runner-Up, Australian Open (2024)
Last 5 French Opens: 2023-2nd, 2022-4th, 2021-DNP, 2020-DNP, 2019-DNP
The Bracket: Faces popular French veteran Alizé Cornet — who will retire after the tournament — in the first round.
Aces: An up-and-coming player with star potential who took a set off Iga Swiatek at the French Open two years ago and really broke through at the Australian Open this January by making it all the way to the final. ... Winning 74.4% of first-serve points, which leads the WTA among players with at least 20 matches this season. ... 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year. ... Now working with Pere Riba, who was helping coach Coco Gauff last year when she won her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open.
She Said It: “If you lose, there must be a reason behind why you lose, and we have to try to figure out why and then come back stronger and better next time.”
Read All About It: Zheng makes her way into her first Grand Slam final
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press