Chris Evert Thinks Iga Swiatek Could Surpass Her Record of 7 French Open Titles 

French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 10, 2023 Poland's Iga Swiatek poses with her Suzanne Lenglen trophy after winning her final match against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova. (Reuters)
French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 10, 2023 Poland's Iga Swiatek poses with her Suzanne Lenglen trophy after winning her final match against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova. (Reuters)
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Chris Evert Thinks Iga Swiatek Could Surpass Her Record of 7 French Open Titles 

French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 10, 2023 Poland's Iga Swiatek poses with her Suzanne Lenglen trophy after winning her final match against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova. (Reuters)
French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 10, 2023 Poland's Iga Swiatek poses with her Suzanne Lenglen trophy after winning her final match against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova. (Reuters)

No less an authority on clay-court tennis than Chris Evert thinks her record of seven French Open championships could be surpassed by Iga Swiatek.

“Absolutely,” Evert, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, said in a phone interview. “Iga is a player on a mission. She’s more focused. She doesn’t get upset at all when she’s losing. She just has all the ingredients to be a champion. She really does. She checks all the boxes — the intangibles and the tangibles.”

Swiatek has been No. 1 in the WTA rankings for most of the past two years and will seek her fourth championship at Roland Garros — and fifth Grand Slam trophy overall — when play begins at the clay-court major tournament Sunday.

The 22-year-old from Poland is trying to become the first woman to win three consecutive French Opens since Justine Henin collected a trio from 2005 to 2007. And Swiatek is coming off a rare feat: She won her past two tournaments on clay at Madrid and Rome, the first woman to pull off that clay double since Serena Williams did it 11 years ago.

Swiatek, whose first trophy in Paris came at age 19 in 2020, seems built for the surface the French call “terre battue.”

She slides so well. Changes direction so smoothly. Her big forehand can push a foe back. Her serving is as effective as her returning.

“I just think Iga is the most solid of all players out there. She doesn’t seem to have any big holes in her game,” said Evert, who collected her prizes at Roland Garros in the 1970s and 1980s and closed her career with 18 Grand Slam titles, the same number as her great on-court rival, Martina Navratilova. “She’s an excellent front-runner. Once she gets going, and she’s winning, she has that confidence.”

And, as Evert noted, Swiatek is as much a marvel mentally as she is talented physically. Some of the credit for that surely goes to Daria Abramowicz, the sports psychologist who travels the circuit with Swiatek and is a constant presence at matches and at news conferences.

“I’m always kind of trying to stay present and do the same work no matter what stage of the match I’m in,” Swiatek said. “So I think that’s the main thing.”

She is 38-4 with four titles in 2024.

That sort of consistent excellence is “incredible,” and Swiatek is “great for the sport,” said four-time major champion Naomi Osaka, who could face her in the second round of the French Open.

Osaka also praised Swiatek for playing well week in and week out, “something that I honestly can’t think of, or can’t fathom, back when I was No. 1 for like five seconds.”

There is no sense of complacency with Swiatek. Nor does she — outwardly, anyway — get too down after a poor match.

No victory — or loss, for that matter — seems to linger with her for too long. It's simply on to the next one.

“Even if I win, it doesn’t stick in my head,” Swiatek said. “I celebrate for one day, then I’m off to another tournament, in my head, even.”

Opponents talk about the difficulty of trying to find a weakness on court against her. And they uniformly describe a constant sense of feeling as though Swiatek puts them under pressure, never allowing a moment to find a way out.

“She’s incredible. Her consistency and her focus is quite impressive. The way she’s been kind of handling her career, to go from one tournament and keep the focus, for her, works really well,” said Victoria Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion and former top-ranked player.

As for what sort of success Swiatek might have as the years go by?

“On the long term, it’s hard to predict. The tour is long. Players have injuries, etc., etc., so I don’t want to guess what is going to happen,” Azarenka said. “But at the moment, she definitely fully deserves to be No. 1, with the way she’s playing.”



Euro 2024: Belgium Face Slovakia to Open Group E in Clash of Italian Coaches

 Belgium's midfielder #07 Kevin De Bruyne takes part in a MD-1 training session during the UEFA Euro 2024 football Championship, at the team base camp in Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart, on June 16, 2024, on the eve of their first group match against Slovakia. (AFP)
Belgium's midfielder #07 Kevin De Bruyne takes part in a MD-1 training session during the UEFA Euro 2024 football Championship, at the team base camp in Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart, on June 16, 2024, on the eve of their first group match against Slovakia. (AFP)
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Euro 2024: Belgium Face Slovakia to Open Group E in Clash of Italian Coaches

 Belgium's midfielder #07 Kevin De Bruyne takes part in a MD-1 training session during the UEFA Euro 2024 football Championship, at the team base camp in Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart, on June 16, 2024, on the eve of their first group match against Slovakia. (AFP)
Belgium's midfielder #07 Kevin De Bruyne takes part in a MD-1 training session during the UEFA Euro 2024 football Championship, at the team base camp in Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart, on June 16, 2024, on the eve of their first group match against Slovakia. (AFP)

Belgium and Kevin De Bruyne face Slovakia to start their European Championship program on Monday in Group E. Also in the group are Romania and Ukraine. Kickoff in Frankfurt is at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT). Here’s what to know about the match.

Match facts:

— There is a strong Italian influence on the game. Slovakia coach Francesco Calzona is Italian, and was the interim coach since February at Napoli where he had been an assistant to Mauricio Sarri. Belgium’s 38-year-old coach Domenico Tedesco was born in Italy though is a citizen of Germany having grown up there.

— Slovakia is at its third straight Euro as an independent nation, all since the tournament was expanded to 24 teams. Slovakia reached the round of 16 in 2016 losing 3-0 to Germany. As half of the former Czechoslovakia it won the 1976 title.

— Belgium was the beaten finalist in 1980, losing to West Germany.

— The teams never met in a competitive game and last played a friendly against each other 11 years ago. A Belgium team featuring a 21-year-old De Bruyne beat Slovakia 2-1 in Brugge.

Team news:

— Belgium left arguably the world’s best goalkeeper at home. That’s despite Thibaut Courtois proving his fitness helping Real Madrid win the Champions League final. Courtois has been in dispute with Tedesco reportedly after not getting the captaincy for a game last year.

— Belgium has injuries in defense with doubts over Axel Witsel. Veteran Jan Vertonghen and Arthur Theate are both expected to be unavailable. Zeno Debast, just 20, and Maxim De Cuyper could get their chance.

— Slovakia’s lineup could include Peter Pekarík and Juraj Kucka. At age 37 they are Slovakia’s oldest ever players. They also are the last remaining members of the 2010 World Cup squad that beat and eliminated defending champion Italy in the group stage.

By the numbers:

— Belgium is still ranked No. 3 by FIFA despite not advancing out of its group at the 2022 World Cup. Belgium has a seven-year run in the top five, including atop the ranking from 2018 through 2021. Slovakia is No. 48.

— Romelu Lukaku’s record 85 goals for Belgium, aged just 31, is more than the top three Slovakia scorers combined since it became an independent soccer nation in 1994. Marek Hamsik, who retired last year and is now an assistant coach, leads with 26.

— Belgium captain De Bruyne made his 100th appearance for the Red Devils last week, scoring in a 2-0 warmup win against Montenegro.

— Slovakia gave up the fastest goal in the history of men's international soccer in March. It took just six seconds for Austria's Christoph Baumgartner to dribble the ball direct from the center spot and shoot past goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.

What they’re saying:

— “Belgium has a lot of fantastic individuals. Take De Bruyne, (Jérémy) Doku, Lukaku, (Leandro) Trossard, all of them are huge players. Belgium has two or three top players playing in top clubs in each position.” — Slovakia midfielder Stanislav Lobotka

— “Since the 2022 World Cup, he has had to build a completely new team with a lot of younger players, so everything had to be adjusted to his philosophy of playing.” — Kevin De Bruyne on coach Domenico Tedesco