Tennis
expert Jon Wertheim has weighed in on the possibility of
Iga Swiatek surpassing
Chris Evert's record of seven
French Open titles. The American legend holds the
absolute record at
Roland Garros with titles spanning from 1974 to 1986.
However,
Swiatek's dominance on clay has been evident, and at just 23 years old, she
already has four French Open trophies from her last five participations. On
Saturday, she secured another title at Philippe Chatrier, overpowering Jasmine
Paolini 6-2, 6-1.
The
Queen of Clay for the record
Swiatek,
the world No. 1, was dominant against nearly all her opponents. Her biggest
challenge came in the second round against
Naomi Osaka, where she saved a match
point before securing the victory. In her other six matches leading to the
title, she lost only 20 games across 12 sets, averaging just 1.6 games per set.
Her
spectacular performances at Roland Garros have given her a 35-2 record in the
tournament, with a current streak of 21 consecutive wins in Paris. On Tennis
Channel, Jon Wertheim was asked about Swiatek’s chances of winning three or
more additional French Open titles to surpass Evert's record. Initially
expressing some doubts, Wertheim acknowledged the possibility:
"Yeah,
I mean, I am sort of torn. On the one hand, that's crazy talk. What are we
doing? Seven Majors, I mean that's Venus Williams' total haul and we're sort of
casually saying, yeah she'll win seven Majors here, who knows?" Wertheim
said.
Iga Swiatek with her 4th French Open title
"At
the same time, you just do the math. And she's won four of the last five. She's
still in her early twenties, she'll have plenty more opportunities. It's almost
weird, it would be weird if she didn't win three more. I hate to say so. I
think it's just a matter of simple math. Yeah, she probably wins, she probably
exceeds Chris's mark," he added.
Evert’s perspective on Swiatek
Chris
Evert herself has predicted that Swiatek could surpass her record of seven
French Open titles in the future. The 18-time Grand Slam champion humorously
acknowledged that she frequently thinks about the possibility of Swiatek
eclipsing her.
"Yeah,
I think about it (Swiatek surpassing her French Open title haul) every day when
I put my head on the pillow, I'm worried about Iga. No, I think Iga will end up
with double digits, not only beating my seven," Chris Evert told Eurosport
before the 2024 French Open final .