French Open 2024 women's final: Preview, prediction, and how to watch

Tennis fans finally have reached the point knew was coming all along. On Saturday, Iga Swiatek will once again play in the final of the French Open. The Pole, who is trending toward having a decent chance of coming close to Rafael Nadal's record of 14 titles at Roland Garros, has won three of the last four French Opens. She is, in other words, pretty good.

Her opponent will be 12th-seed Jasmine Paolini. The Italian has had a very good year in 2024, and she will move into the top ten of the WTA rankings once the rankings are released early next week. That will be a career-high. The odd part is that Paolini is five years older than Swiatek, but has accomplished much less.

In fact, Paolini had only once made it past the second round of any Grand Slam event before she reached the fourth round at the Australian Open. Swiatek has won four major titles in total - three at Roland Garros and one at the US Open. The Pole will have far more experience playing in such a high-stress match as the French Open final.

Who will win the women's final at the 2024 French Open?

There is little doubt that Iga Swiatek is going to be a heavy favorite to win on Saturday. Not only has she proven herself in majors before, but she is nearly unbeatable in finals in general. Her career record at the end of tournaments is 21-4. She hasn't lost a final at a Grand Slam. Swiatek's best surface is also clay where she has a record of 83-10.

That number of matches is a much smaller sample size than what Nadal has played, but Nadal's win percentage on clay is .909. Swiatek's is .892. There is not much difference.

Paolini is also a good matchup for Swiatek. The players that normally give Swiatek issues are those who can overpower her. The 5'4" Paolini cannot do that and will need to rely on consistently playing the angles perfectly. The two players have faced each other only twice, and Swiatek has won both while Paolini won a total of six games in the two matches. Swiatek should win 6-3 6-2.

How can you watch the French Open women's final?

In the United States, while the Tennis Channel has done the heavy lifting through the tournament, they give way to NBC for the women's and men's finals. That seems unfair as the Tennis Channel does a great job. Still, the NBC broadcast team is amazing with Noah Eagle handling the play-by-play and Mary Carillo and John McEnroe providing commentary.

In the UK and most of Europe, you can catch the final on Eurosport. In Asia, BEIN will carry the final. Australians can catch the action on NINE. Canadians can watch on TSN and RDS. Central and South Americans should be able to watch on ESPN. The match will begin at 15:00 in Paris (9 am in the Eastern time zone).

More tennis news and analysis: