Chaos on clay. How else to describe this wild and wacky Roland Garros? High seeds were battered by inspired underdogs, roasted in record Parisian heat, and confounded by blustery winds. And then, in the men’s draw, the stars finally aligned for Alexander Zverev. No longer would the 29-year-old German be defined, even disparaged, as ‘the greatest player never to win a Grand Slam title’. In his fourth Major final and second at Roland Garros, Zverev outlasted Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1.

Like the Miracle Mets, whose ‘You gotta believe!’ rallying cry propelled their amazing pennant drive in 1973, Zverev never stopped believing. In fact, Sascha predicted he’d capture that elusive Major title this year. Yet, he could never have predicted the improbable events that smoothed his road to glory.

A plague of injuries had decimated the men’s field. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz and four young rising stars — Lorenzo Musetti, Arthur Fils, Holger Rune and Jack Draper — withdrew before the tournament. A year ago, Alcaraz saved three championship points against arch-rival Jannik Sinner to win a five-set thriller in what tennis cognoscenti consider the greatest French Open match in history. But the charismatic Spaniard, who completed a career Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January, hasn’t competed in the past two months because of a painful right wrist injury.Sinner thus became the prohibitive favourite, while Zverev was seeded No. 2 and the ageless Novak Djokovic No. 3. 

When a journalist asked Zverev — who had lost his last nine matches to the Italian superstar, including decisive defeats on clay at Monte Carlo and Madrid this spring — if he could beat Sinner in Paris, Zverev sounded confident: “I do believe, and I have to believe, I can beat him.” Oddsmakers were far less sanguine, though.  Sportico made Sinner the second-heaviest favourite at -275 at any Major this century, behind only Rafael Nadal at -400 at the 2009 Roland Garros.

The 24-year-old Italian looked unstoppable leading upto the tournament. Not only had Sinner captured five straight Masters 1000 events — Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome — but he’d dropped only three sets while pummelling 29 straight opponents with his trademark relentless power. During the winning spree, he defeated Alcaraz and Zverev (three times) and went 8-1 in tie-breaks.

Even more important than redeeming his heartbreaking Roland Garros final loss to Alcaraz a year ago, Sinner yearned for tennis immortality: a rare career Grand Slam. In the Open Era, only Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and Alcaraz have achieved it.

But just as Sinner’s team feared and Martina Navratilova predicted, the Italian’s surprisingly fragile body betrayed him in the record-breaking heat. At the Australian Open in January, Sinner was down 3-1 in the third set against unheralded grinder Eliot Spizzirri when he hobbled with cramps in the debilitating 94-degree heat. Play was suspended to close the roof due to the heat-index rule. During the fortuitous break, the resilient Italian recovered and won in four sets.

This time, iIn the second round against No. 56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Sinner was on the brink of victory. Leading 6-3, 6-2, 5-1, the slender Italian appeared to cramp in both legs and could barely move. The Argentine left-hander then won 18 straight points, and neither the tennis gods nor a highly controversial 10-minute medical timeout at 5-4 in the air-conditioned clubhouse could save Sinner.

“The chair umpire said it was dehydration, and that’s not an injury. It’s loss of condition,” rightly pointed out  TNT tennis analyst and former No. 1 Jim Courier. “This is unfair. We love the top players, but all players have to be treated equally. It hasn’t been a fair fight as far as the application of the rules is concerned.”

To his tactical credit, the poised, poker-faced Cerundolo extended rallies with a variety of shots to keep the valiant but debilitated Sinner moving around. The Italian poured water over his head and used a hand fan during changeovers but inexplicably, didn’t leave the court for a desperately needed break after the fourth set. With Sinner looking like a dead man walking, Cerundolo won 18 of the last 20 games for a 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 victory.

“One of the biggest upsets we’ve ever seen in tennis — or in sport,” exclaimed  TNT analyst Sam Querrey.

Could Zverev capitalise?

That was the big question. “When he’s had an opportunity in the past, Zverev has faded, he’s crumbled,” said the dubious Caroline Wozniacki, a  TNT analyst and former No. 1.Zverev squandered his first and best opportunity in the 2020 US Open final against Dominic Thiem, also vying for his first Major. Sascha won the first two sets and led 5-3 in the fifth set, with both warriors suffering from cramps. The more aggressive Thiem rallied to force a tie-break and pulled it out 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6). “I don’t think it would be possible for Zverev to have a tougher loss in his career,” said  ESPN’s John McEnroe.

The 2024 French Open final illustrated Mark Twain’s maxim: ‘ History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.’ Zverev blew a two-sets-to-one lead against new phenom Alcaraz and succumbed 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. Afterwards, the downcast German gave a candid admission. “I was not mature enough. I was maybe still too much of a kid. I didn’t know what the occasion meant. And that’s why I lost. I’m 27 years old now. So, definitely not a kid anymore. Already getting older. If not now, then when?”

Certainly not in the 2025 Australian Open final, when Sinner hammered him 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3. “Today, he completely outplayed me,” a discouraged Zverev said. “He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better than me. He volleys better than me.”

Going into the 2026 Roland Garros third round, Zverev had to be heartened that only one former Grand Slam champion was left in the draw. The bad news was that it was Djokovic, and his exceptional skills have not eroded, as his five-set win over Sinner showed in this year’s Australian Open semifinal.

But the GOAT faced a prodigy in a fascinating match that more than lived up to its lofty expectations. Djokovic, more than double the age of 19-year-old Brazilian hotshot Joao Fonseca, had never lost to a teenager (18-0) at a Major. Fonseca had never beaten a top-five player anywhere or reached a Major fourth round.

The Djoker surged ahead 6-4, 6-4 before the barrel-chested teenager complemented his signature rocket forehand with effective kick serves and smart drop shots to grab the next two sets 6-3, 7-5. Despite high heat and punishing rallies, Djokovic broke serve with a backhand drop-volley winner to lead 3-1 in the deciding set. Fonseca rebounded, and when he held serve at 5-all, the exhausted Serb sat briefly on the side wall to rest.

The Brazilian broke serve for 6-5 with a deceptive forehand drop-shot winner that Djokovic didn’t run for. In a last gasp to stave off defeat, the 24-time Major champion earned break point. Fonseca responded with three staccato-like aces, each over 130mph, to prevail 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 7-5.

In the four-hour, 53-minute shot-making extravaganza, the two players combined for 138 winners against only 86 unforced errors. “We’ve known Fonseca has power. Now, we know he has the legs and potential,” said Courier. “That was an insane level from both players. It was awesome.” Jimmy Arias, a  Tennis Channel analyst, saw the duel as a historic turning point. “This is one of the all-time classics. It has the feel of Roger Federer beating Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001.” CoCo Vandeweghe, a  TNT analyst and former top-10 player, agreed. “What stuck out was how Fonseca controlled the crowd. It really felt like a changing of the guard.”

As Guga Kuerten, the Brazilian sports hero who won three French Opens, watched, Fonseca faced 15th-seeded and two-time Roland Garros finalist Casper Ruud, who had also survived two five-set battles to make the fourth round. Once again, Fonseca justified the hype. Blasting 25 per cent of his forehands at 100mph or faster in the opening set, he notched a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6(8), 5-7, 6-2 victory.

The depth of men’s tennis, particularly outside the top 20, is so pronounced that of the potential 80 sets in the 16 third-round matches, 71 were played.

Fountain of youth

Two other budding stars also excelled. Jakub Mensik, the imposing 6ft 5in power-hitter from Czechia, overwhelmed No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur in four sets, and 27th-seeded Rafael Jodar of Spain defeated Alex Michelsen in five sets.

There was also France’s just-turned-17 Moise Kouame, the youngest player in the draw and the most intriguing newcomer, who lost to Alejandro Tabilo in four sets in his Grand Slam debut. Fired up by partisan spectators chanting his name, Kouame trounced former US Open champion Marin Cilic 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-1 in the first round and then outlasted Daniel Vallejo in a fifth-set match tiebreak 10-8. A born entertainer, the fist-pumping Kouame collapsed on his back on match point. “This boy can play,” said Courier. “He has the speed, the power. It’s just the beginning of the story, but he could be a big story for the next 15-20 years.”

The youngest Roland Garros quarterfinal since 2006 — when Nadal, 20, defeated Djokovic, 19 — pitted Mensik, 20, against Fonseca, 19. The Czech boasted a first serve averaging 125 mph, with 40 per cent going unreturned. The Brazilian’s booming forehand gave him the edge in long rallies. Their stamina would be the wild card if the match went five sets.

Mensik made sure it didn’t by dictating with his huge serve, aggressive backhand, improved movement and elite touch for a convincing 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(3) triumph. Fonseca fended off six match points, but Mensik clinched the tiebreak with three winners — a smash followed by two backhands — to extend his tiebreak record to 15-5 this season.

Zverev took care of business in his quarterfinal against ‘the new Rafa’, 19-year-old Jodar of Spain. Some of his University of Virginia teammates flew in to support Jodar, who had racked up a 19-2 match record on clay. He delighted them when he raced to a 5-3 lead and served for the set.

But Zverev broke him to love and then seized the tiebreak 7-3 for a record 12th straight tiebreak victory. The 6ft 6in German clinched a 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-3 victory with a spectacular 105mph forehand winner from way outside the alley. His once-criticised forehand had gone from passive to massive.

The ‘expect the unexpected’ theme continued in the much weaker top half of the draw as two Italians — not named Sinner or Musetti — reached the semifinals. No. 19 seed Frances Tiafoe, nicknamed ‘Big Foe’ for his bulging biceps and dynamic personality, led unseeded and undersized (6ft 1in, 170 pounds) Matteo Arnaldi by 5-2 and two service breaks in the fourth set. With the crowd cheering his every point, ‘Marathon Matteo’ pulled out a 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 win in five hours and 26 minutes at 1.08 a.m. “We live to play these matches,” Arnaldi told the spectators. “This is definitely the best match I’ve ever played.”

Arnaldi advanced to the semifinals when Matteo Berrettini, plagued by injuries during the past four years, had to retire while trailing 7-5, 5-2 because of a painful hip flexor that impeded his movement. Arnaldi consoled his good friend as they embraced at the net.

But Arnaldi’s 19 hours and 42 minutes of court time — a record to reach a Grand Slam semifinal — had also taken a serious toll on him.

Minutes before No. 104 Arnaldi, the lowest-ranked man to reach the semifinals since 1997, was due to play 10th-seeded Flavio Cobolli, the tournament announced that Arnaldi had withdrawn with a virus. At a joint media conference, with the two friends sitting surprisingly close together, an empathetic Cobolli said, “When he came to me almost one hour ago, I almost cried. It’s something you don’t expect at all. I was completely sad for him.”

Zverev was a heavy favourite against Mensik in their semifinal, even though the German hadn’t won a tournament this season. He had a considerably easier draw, facing just one seed, the inexperienced No. 27 Jodar, and had spent four fewer hours on court than the brawny Czech. Two statistics favoured Zverev: a 39-1 record against players ranked outside the Top 10 at the French Open since 2018, and a 92 per cent service hold rate in five matches going into the semifinals.

Oddly enough, the mental game edge also went to Zverev, despite the heavy pressure he faced. Why? Mensik summoned his mental coach to fly to Paris the day before his first Grand Slam semifinal to calm him and assuage any fears.

A rock-solid opening 7-5 set ignited Zverev’s comprehensive 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory. With former Czech champion Jan Kodes, tennis great Agassi and basketball star Kawhi Leonard watching, Mensik sparked hope for an upset only when he broke serve with a forehand drop-shot winner for 4-2 in the third set. But Zverev quickly got back in the driver’s seat with a break for 2-0 in the fourth set. Zverev was efficient, clinical and relentless, with no hint of nerves.

Champion at last

Agassi, who lost his first three Major finals before capturing eight Slam titles, liked Zverev’s chances this time.

“He deserves a lot of credit for always having a say at the end of these events,” Agassi told  TNT Sports. “Come rain or shine, the guy is there — if you get enough looks, it’s going to happen.”

Fortunately, it would not have to happen against the legendary Big Three or the new Big Two. Even so, Cobolli, who split two matches with Zverev this season, was a dangerous opponent. The handsome 25-year-old Italian heartthrob dropped only two sets before the final — one against fourth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime — and had four days’ rest.

“Cobolli is a tremendous athlete,” said  TNT analyst McEnroe. “He has a huge forehand. But he can run hot and cold.” Importantly, he hit forehands 78 per cent of the time after his serve at Roland Garros.

Early in the tournament, Cobolli rubbed dust off Nadal’s footprint plaque on the court. And the superstitious Italian hoped some of the 14-time Roland Garros champion’s magic would rub off on him. “Rafa told me he used the same shower since he was 14, so I use the same shower and go to the same restaurant and eat the same meal,” Flavio said.

Tennis was an ‘all in the family’ affair for both finalists. Both were coached by their fathers. Zverev’s brother Mischa, 10 years older, was a middle-echelon pro and one of the last full-time serve-and-volleyers. Near the player’s box sat his grandmother, an avid supporter. About his nervous mother, who habitually watched his big matches from the hotel, Zverev said, “The technical base is all her.”

For the first time, Zverev was favoured in a Major final — Kalshi Traders’ odds were 81 per cent. Germany was also yearning for its first Grand Slam champion since national hero Boris Becker won the 1996 Australian Open and its first French Open winner since Henner Henkel in 1937. Cobolli also had history on his mind. “It’s a dream of my career, of my life,” he said. In attendance was Adriano Panatta, a dashing, long-haired serve-and-volleyer and the last Italian champion here in 1976.

The nervous Cobolli looked overwhelmed by the occasion, losing his serve three times in the opening 6-1 set. T “It’s like a middleweight playing a heavyweight now,” said McEnroe. he momentum shifted abruptly in the fluctuating seventh game of the second set. Zverev, who said he spends more practice time on his second serve than any other part of his game, double-faulted twice. Spectators chanted for Cobolli as he eventually secured the critical break for 4-3 and soon claimed the set, 6-4.

Zverev’s last six losses have all been to Italians — four to Sinner — but he regrouped in the pivotal third set. After smacking a backhand winner to hold for 4-4, Sascha, who has Type 1 diabetes, gave himself an insulin shot during the changeover to to control his blood sugar level.

When Cobolli fired a rocket forehand winner to hold for 4-all, spectators sang in appreciation. Zverev broke serve to take the set 6-4 on an overhit Cobolli forehand error and pumped his fist and raised his arms to elicit more love from the crowd. The pendulum swung again in the fourth set, which climaxed in a tiebreak, something Zverev hadn’t lost at Roland Garros in four years. The energised Cobolli took a 6-4 lead with a gutsy forehand drop-shot winner from the backhand alley à la Nadal, only to blow the next point, set point, when he mistimed an easy overhead. He redeemed himself with a clutch forehand winner to seize the 7-5 tiebreak and the fourth set.

Order was restored in the lopsided deciding set. Zverev dictated with his bludgeoning serve and heavy groundstrokes, earning three service breaks against the weary Cobolli. Sascha also showed true grit, fending off three break points and conjuring a backhand volley winner on game point to take an insurmountable 4-0 lead. When Cobolli overhit a smash on championship point, a relieved and ecstatic Zverev fell on his back in celebration. Then, the victor embraced his close friend at the net, and the Italian tapped him affectionately on the cheek.

In his poignant victory speech, Zverev told the Philippe-Chatrier crowd: “This court is so special to me in so many ways. I’ve had the best moments of my life on this court, I had the worst moment of my life on this court. I was lying in that corner over there with seven broken ligaments and two fractured bones. I lost a Grand Slam final here two years ago. But now, finally, it’s a happy ending.”

MIRRA ANDREEVA WINS TITLE AFTER FINAL WIN OVER SHOCK QUALIFIER

In the women’s draw, the biggest disruption came from an obscure Polish qualifier, a 500-1 pre-tournament long shot, who streaked all the way to the women’s final. Fun to watch but exasperating to play, No. 114-ranked Maja Chwalinska sliced, diced, angled, drop-shotted, lobbed, wrong-footed, moonballed, stealth-volleyed, and otherwise bamboozled three qualifiers, three seeds, a former world No. 3 and an Olympic gold medallist. It took Mirra Andreeva, a 19-year-old Russian prodigy, to solve this new tennis riddle and end Chwalinska’s captivating Cinderella story.

Andreeva, signed by Nike at age 11, was tabbed as a ‘can’t-miss’ future champion when she reached the 2023 Madrid Open fourth round at 16 and the 2024 French Open semifinals at 17.

The Siberian-born and Moscow-trained teenager confirmed her potential during this fortnight, breezing through seven matches for her first Grand Slam title. The 5ft 10in athlete used her superior power, superb strokes and smart tactics to outclass the 5ft 5in Chwalinska 6-3, 6-2 in an anti-climactic final.

“It’s been one of my biggest dreams in life, and I’m just super happy that I was able to give my best and win the match and win this tournament,” Andreeva said afterwards. “These feelings are something extra special, and now I’m already thinking about how I’m going to prepare for the grass season. I feel like this thing is a little bit addictive, and I really want to do my best to experience all of this for the second time.”

Andreeva thus became the youngest French Open champion since all-time great Monica Seles, then 18, in 1992, and the first Russian woman to capture a Grand Slam title since Maria Sharapova here in 2014. For the first time since 1977, no previous Slam champion made the semis in either draw.

Big guns misfire

Despite disappointing three-set upset losses to Hailey Baptiste at Madrid and Sorana Cirstea at Rome, plus a minor back issue, No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was rated the favourite heading into Roland Garros. The hard-hitting Belarusian faced her first real test in a fourth-round encounter with 16th-seeded Naomi Osaka, whose four Grand Slam titles also came on hard courts.

As usual, Osaka made a fashion statement par excellence. This time, she ambled onto Court Philippe-Chatrier in an eye-catching golden bomber jacket over a gold sequin playing dress, trailing a tiered train with puffs of tulle. But tournament director Amelie Mauresmo made a far more important statement for equal rights when this marquee duel ended a notorious streak of 32 straight men’s matches in the night session on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

For sustained excellence, the two sluggers produced the match of the tournament. With Osaka leading 5-4 in the opening set, they had already whacked 26 winners, prompting  TNT Sports analyst Lindsay Davenport to say, “These two are making this slow clay court look like a hard court.”

Sabalenka, who leads the WTA stats in every service category, also showcased her stellar volleys, winning 10 of 11 points at the net during the entertaining 7-5, 6-3 victory lasting an hour and 32 minutes. At the end of her on-court interview, an extroverted Sabalenka displayed her glee by dancing to the background music.

Who could argue with Sabalenka when she said, “It’s really important that they put our match today as a night session. I think that’s the right move. The atmosphere and the attention that this match brought are going to show them that probably in the future they should consider putting, at least sometimes, women’s matches at night. So, I hope that this is the beginning, today’s match. It’s like we opened that door for women’s night sessions.”

While Mauresmo finally got that right, she blundered by refusing to use electronic line-calling (ELC), as do the other Grand Slams and all WTA and ATP events on clay. On why Roland Garros continues to rely on highly fallible humans, Mauresmo asserted, “What we observed at the clay-court tournaments leading up to Roland Garros is that the reliability of this system is not absolute. As of today, the machine is not 100 per cent reliable, so we continue to place our confidence in human officials.” On Mauresmo’s ‘straw-man’ argument, of course, ELC is not perfect, but it’s far more accurate than the human eye.

Disputes over close calls were not only fairly common and time-wasting — requiring umpires to leave their chairs to check ball marks on the clay — but line judges also erred on occasion, as video replays showed. Those errors sometimes proved costly, as was the case for two-time Roland Garros finalist Ruud in his loss to Fonseca. As former No. 1 Courier rightly said, “Humans are doing their level best, but we need electronic line-calling.”

Sabalenka shocker

But she had only herself to blame for her shocking quarterfinal collapse against 25th-seeded Diana Shnaider. The Russian left-hander, who had never played a No. 1 before and owned only one win over a top-five opponent, trailed 6-3, 4-1, 30-love with Sabalenka serving.

But wind is the biggest equaliser in tennis, and when Sabalenka’s all-out first-strike game started misfiring in the swirling winds, the the emotional champion unravelled in frustration. Meanwhile, Shnaider kept her head and fought back brilliantly for a stunning 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 upset.

“Just when we think the surprises are over, the No. 1 seed loses 10 games in a row to lose the match,” said  TNT analyst Mary Joe Fernandez. “It’s truly astonishing.”

Likely recalling the ghosts of other big Slam matches where she blew huge leads, Sabalenka admitted, “Mentally I got into a very deep, deep, dark hole. … I just couldn’t get back mentally on track.”

Distraught and discouraged, Sabalenka said, “No thoughts, no emotions, just want to quit tennis. You know those rooms where you just go in and you smash everything. Probably I will spend a whole day tomorrow over there destroying stuff. Maybe it will help. Maybe not.”

With much less drama, No. 2 seed and Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina also suffered a stunning upset. Yuliia Starodubtseva, a 26-year-old Ukrainian who was previously 0-6 against top-10 opponents, knocked out Rybakina 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4). “My boyfriend [Pearce Dolan] is my coach, and he said if I win, he’ll propose,” said the doubly happy Starodubtseva.

Defending champion Coco Gauff’s 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 third-round loss to 28th-seeded Anastasia Potapova was not a total surprise, given Gauff’s performances on clay before Paris.

The 22-year-old American had dropped three straight three-set matches against quality foes — to Karolina Muchova at Stuttgart, Linda Noskova at Madrid and Elina Svitolina in the Rome final. Potapova had also beaten Gauff in their last two encounters.

Potapova, who left her native, embattled Russia for greener and more peaceful pastures in Austria, fought off arm cramps in the broiling heat, capitalised on Gauff’s erratic forehand, and blasted 29 winners, 16 on the backhand. “Coco is such a champion,” said the gracious winner afterwards. “I respect her so much, and yeah, I’m unbelievably proud of myself as well that I stayed there, that I’ve been fighting for the last point, and here I am.”

On temperatures soaring into the 90s F during the first week, two-time Roland Garros champion Courier said, “Not one time was the heat rule invoked despite record temperatures, and that’s a rule that should be re-evaluated.”

What about Iga Swiatek? Was she a player in decline, as her mediocre 6-3 win-loss record on European clay this season indicated? Or could she suddenly regain the form that won Roland Garros titles in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024, and, stunningly, Wimbledon in 2025?

Polish fans believed the latter. By the hundreds, they purchased tickets and booked hotel rooms. Some brought Polish flags and signs such as ‘Poland Garros’ to signify her domination on the terre battue this decade.

Their hopes rose when Swiatek defeated fellow countrywoman Magda Linette 6-4, 6-4 in the third round. Her viciously spinning Western forehand was back. It produced 160 more rpm than last year and with a safer trajectory of nine centimetres more net clearance.

In the end, Marta Kostyuk, riding a red-hot 15-match winning streak, thrashed the former Queen of Clay 7-5, 6-1 on Swiatek’s 25th birthday.

A former teen prodigy now 23, Kostyuk had learned to control her emotions and harness her power and exceptional athleticism — she performed a backflip after winning in Madrid.

Most improved was her ‘serve plus one’ aggressive formula, which shortened rallies to an average of 3.8 shots when she served. “[I’d] never taken a set off her, it’s incredible,” Kostyuk said. “I still cannot believe it.”

Off-court battles

It may have been a shocker, but it was no fluke. In the first all-Ukraine Grand Slam quarter-final, Kostyuk outplayed Svitolina 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, seizing 13 of the last 14 points, nine on clean winners.

That made Kostyuk the first Ukrainian woman to reach the French Open semifinals, while the disappointed Svitolina dropped to 0-6 in Roland Garros quarterfinals.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago, Kostyuk and Svitolina have refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents after matches unless they have spoken out against their government’s war of aggression. Kostyuk texts her mother and sister every morning to make sure they are safe in Kyiv. Hours before her first-round victory, she learned a Russian missile had landed just 100 metres from her parents’ house, destroying a building. Afterwards, Kostyuk said, “It was one of the most difficult matches of my career … I use my platform, I use my speeches or, whenever I have a moment to remind about it, to remind of the horror of everyday lives of people.”

Although Kostyuk defeated Andreeva in the Madrid final, the pressure of the war in her beloved homeland and competing in her first Slam semifinal took an emotional toll. Kostyuk had no idea how to play in the swirling wind, nervously spraying errors everywhere. When the roof finally closed late in the second set, it was too late for a comeback, and the more poised Andreeva prevailed 6-1, 6-3.  TNT’s Davenport praised her “backhand down the line, footwork, foot speed, and margins of error. She was so mature for a teenager.” Former world No. 1 Wozniacki, who had predicted the Russian would win multiple Majors, explained, “What she does so well is she constantly tries to get out of her comfort zone. All of a sudden, she improved her serve, her forehand, she’s constantly improving.”

Improvement can come at any age or stage of one’s career, as 36-year-old Cirstea proved. Andreeva stopped the 18th-seeded Cirstea in a 6-0, 6-3 quarterfinal, an amazing 17 years after the Romanian reached her first quarterfinal at Roland Garros. “I don’t beat myself anymore,” said Cirstea. “I’ve found that balance between being aggressive and disciplined.” Reporters asked Sorana whether she should reconsider her plan to retire at the end of 2026, given that she had just reached a career-high ranking of No. 18. Only three weeks earlier, when she upset Sabalenka en route to the Italian Open semifinals, Cirstea offered a clue with this maxim: “I always said there’s no expiration date for ambition and dreams.”

In 2021, Chwalinska, then 19, put her tennis ambitions and dreams on hold after a two-year battle with severe depression. She took a four-month break from tennis and took up boxing and running to recover from ‘the unbearable sadness’. During her career-changing fortnight, she said, “The results don’t define me as much as they did before. I just couldn’t differentiate between Maja and the tennis player. I was just one. I just needed time to kind of figure it out, and also do something else — not just tennis.”

A knee injury at Wimbledon in 2022 sidelined Chwalinska for seven months and derailed her career again. Close followers of pro tennis may have noticed Chwalinska serving as the ice-bag girl for Swiatek, her longtime friend, at the 2026 United Cup in January.

Chwalinska arrived at Roland Garros ranked a lowly No. 114 with no career wins over top-50 opponents, no sponsors and short on funds.

So short, she could not afford to pay for her hotel room following her second-round win over 23rd-seeded Elise Mertens. Oshee, a Polish drinks company that sponsors Swiatek, came to the rescue.

Spectators chanted ‘Maja, Maja, Maja’ as she out-hit (32 winners), out-finessed (winning 14 of 17 points on drop shots or drop volleys), and out-steadied (only 11 unforced errors) Shnaider 7-6(4), 6-4 in a semifinal battle of crafty left-handers.

The underdog had become not only a crowd favourite in Paris but a national heroine. Incredibly, her last two matches attracted higher television ratings in Poland than all four of Swiatek’s Roland Garros finals.

“Iga and Maja are polar opposites,” Maciej Ryszczuk, their co-physical trainer, told Polish journalists. “Iga is dynamic and always has been, while Maja is the kind of girl who solves forensic or mathematical puzzles on the court. She always knows how to answer her opponents. The truth is, everyone uses the skills they have and adapts their tennis accordingly, and we also adapt our physicality to that.

“Maja has a great overview of the court and a very high tennis IQ. She has all of this at a level currently unheard of in the top ranks of women’s tennis. I think that’s why she’s causing such surprises now.”

Alas, a fairy-tale ending was not to be. Andreeva broke Chwalinska’s lightweight serve seven times and blasted 25 winners to her foe’s 10.

Navratilova put it best: “All that variety doesn’t work as well against a player as complete as Andreeva, an athlete, a jock. She wasn’t bothered by her artistry and sophistry.”

Even so, this Roland Garros will go down in history as much for Chwalinska’s magical run as for Andreeva’s maiden Major title.

Published on Jun 19, 2026