Coco Gauff is under no illusions as the women’s final at the French Open tennis tournament approaches against Iga Swiatek: “She will obviously be the favourite, at least on paper”.
In an interview over the weekend, Swiatek sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz watched the main draw develop and admitted that her client “is — to be frank — the favourite” to leave the Philippe Chatrier court with the trophy. Saturday.
Common sense, right? Swiatek is world No. 1, has a 34-game winning streak and has already triumphed on Parisian clay. Gauff is just 18, making the youngest Grand Slam finalist since 2004, is ranked 23rd in the world, is 14-10 in 2022 through last week and has never reached the quarter-finals of a major tournament so far.
However, it is Roland-Garros, with its red clay and spring temperatures, a Grand Slam tournament that always has surprises in store. This competition often smiles on players who are unknown and who have no experience, and who overnight become big stars on the circuit.
“Clay is a more permissive surface for everyone,” noted Francesca Schiavone, who was the 17th seed at the 2010 French Open when she became the oldest player to win a title at 29. major since 1969. The odds of winning each game are 50-50. »
Obviously, we must ignore an aberration in the name of Rafael Nadal, who had a 110-3 record with 13 career titles at the Porte d’Auteuil before his semi-final duel against the German Alexander Zverev on Friday.
Scan the list of modern-era champions that began in 1968 and you’ll find more contenders who won their first Grand Slam title at the French Open, 42 — 21 women, 21 men — than the US Open. (13 women, 15 men), the Australian Open (13 women, 11 men) and Wimbledon (nine women, nine men).
On Saturday, Gauff could become the seventh woman in a row to triumph in Paris without having won a major title before in her career, after Garbine Muguruza (2016), Jelena Ostapenko (2017), Simona Halep (2018), Ashleigh Barty (2019) , Swiatek (2020) and Barbora Krejcikova (2021).
“This tournament is more modest, warmer,” Halep said, “so I feel like the players believe winning a Grand Slam title is more within their reach here.” »
And this must be taken into account as well. If Swiatek wins, then she would become only the fourth woman in 25 years to claim the French Open title as the tournament favorite. The others are Halep, Justine Henin in 2007, and the holder of 23 career Grand Slam titles, Serena Williams, in 2013 and 2015.