3 WTA contenders to watch at the French Open
The French Open is set to begin on May 30th. Unlike the men’s field, the women’s field will be wide open once again for the French Open.
Coming into the tournament, there will be no definite favorite to take home the title, as there is no 13-time French Open champion on the women’s side. Instead, there are 8-10 players who I believe have a great chance of winning the title here in Paris.
Out of those 8-10, I believe three stand out just a little more than the rest. Those three include Ashleigh Barty, Aryna Sabalenka, and Iga Swiatek. I know I am not including other amazing players like Naomi Osaka, Garbine Muguruza, or Serena Williams, who could all be included in that 8-10 I believe can win. However, I believe that Barty, Sabalenka, and Swiatek are the three to watch on the women’s side this year at the French.
Ashleigh Barty
The only thing that concerns me about Barty coming into the second Grand Slam of the year is her injury status. She recently had to retire in her quarterfinal match against Cori Gauff last week in Rome. After winning the first set 6-4 and leading the second 2-1, Ash Barty decided that the pain in her right arm was too significant to keep playing and was forced to retire. However, after the match, when asked if she would be ready for the French Open, Barty said that she would be “good to go.”
Other than the unfortunate injury news, Barty has had an otherwise terrific 2021 so far in terms of success on the court. She has made three finals since the end of March, winning two of them. At the Miami Open, she beat four top 15 players on route to the title, and then defeated three players in the top 10 on her way to the title in Stuttgart. When healthy, Barty is one of the best players on tour right now, and she should be the favorite entering a tournament she won just two years ago.
Aryna Sabalenka
Out of all the players on tour who have yet to win a Grand Slam, I give Sabalenka the best chance to be the first to win one. Other than a surprising loss to Cori Gauff last week in Rome, Sabalenka has been playing really well on the clay as of late. At her first clay event of the season, she beat Simona Halep in the semis before losing to Ash Barty in the final in three sets.
Sabalenka was able to get her revenge though, as she defeated Barty in the finals of the Madrid Open just a couple weeks later. Sabalenka is coming off of a great year in 2020, and even though it was a shortened year because of COVID-19, Sabalenka still took home three WTA titles. When she is playing at her best, she is almost impossible to beat. I expect a deep run from the world number four at the French, and the possibility of a first Grand Slam title for the 23-year-old.
Iga Swiatek
The last contender to watch for is 19-year-old Iga Swiatek, who also happens to be the defending French Open champion. Turning 20 on the second day of the tournament, Swiatek will be hoping for a repeat of last year’s run where she won the tournament without dropping a set. She will definitely be coming into the tournament with a lot of confidence after winning the WTA 1000 title in Rome last week. In the tournament, she defeated Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals before defeating Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.
The biggest test for Swiatek is how she will handle the pressure of being the defending champion in a Grand Slam, which is something most 19-year old’s do not have to worry about. Her only loss on clay in 2021 came at the hands of Ash Barty, who may be the only player who could stop Swiatek right now. If she plays as well as she did in last weeks tournament in Rome, we could be looking at back-to-back titles in Paris for Swiatek.