\u201cWhat I like about Iga coming into this tournament is this ability to acknowledge that she’s had to go away and work on things,\u201d Woodbridge noted of Swiatek, who has recently linked up with Rafael Nadal\u2019s former coach Francisco Roig.<\/p>\n
\u201cIga is I think kind of new in seeking out new information and trying to get better and making some changes. I see that as a bit of a positive for her coming into the tournament that she loves.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe’s not under pressure as defending champion anymore. And I’ve always felt you kind of see a glint and steeliness in her eye at a point in the tournament, where everybody’s in trouble. And we’ll see early on whether she has that, but I kind of like her for the French.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coco Gauff<\/p>\n
Just like last year, Gauff enters Roland Garros having made the Rome final, a sign she\u2019s finding her footing on her favourite surface.<\/p>\n
Gauff\u2019s two previous major titles \u2013 US Open 2023, Roland Garros 2025 \u2013 followed strong lead-up form, which bodes well as the 22-year-old targets more Grand Slam silverware.<\/p>\n
The world No.4\u2019s game, built around athleticism, variety and grittiness, is a perfect fit for clay; she\u2019s reached at least the quarterfinals in her past five Roland Garros campaigns.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe comes in as defending champion and having made the final in Rome. Yes, she lost to Svitolina [in Rome], but I think given her movement and her ability to defend on the clay courts and then move from defense up on the baseline and turn that into attack, [she\u2019s dangerous],\u201d former top-30 player Casey Dellacqua told ausopen.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s what she did so well last year at Roland Garros. I think that she’s certainly in the mix as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jessica Pegula<\/p>\n
While Pegula might not be at her most dangerous on clay, the American has reached the semifinals at her last two Slams and is enjoying a stellar season.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s 28-6 this year, and has only lost to three players \u2013 Rybakina, Swiatek and Kostyuk.<\/p>\n
A quarterfinalist at Roland Garros in 2022, Pegula has built a 9-2 record on clay this year, helped by defending her title at the WTA 500 green clay tournament in Charleston.<\/p>\n
Her most recent outing was a quarterfinal in Rome, where she was stopped by a rampant Swiatek.<\/p>\n
Elina Svitolina<\/p>\n
It was Svitolina who ultimately prevailed in the Italian capital, completing one of the finest tournament runs in recent years.<\/p>\n
She beat Rybakina, Swiatek and Gauff in succession \u2013 all top-four players \u2013 to win her first WTA 1000 title in eight years, and is playing with enormous confidence.<\/p>\n
An Australian Open semifinalist and Dubai finalist earlier this season, Svitolina is No.3 in the Race to the WTA Finals and boasts a win-loss record of 29-7 in 2026.<\/p>\n
Five times a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, the Ukrainian star will attempt to surpass that barrier for the first time at age 31.<\/p>\n
In her past three campaigns in Paris, it\u2019s taken Swiatek, Rybakina and Sabalenka to stop her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSvitolina always seems to be the bridesmaid, never the bride,\u201d observed former world No.15 Wally Masur. \u201cBut wow, she did well in Rome. That’s a classy win, to beat Swiatek and then Gauff back-to-back to take the title.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mirra Andreeva<\/p>\n
The teen superstar has earned more points on clay during 2026 than any other woman on tour.<\/p>\n
Andreeva\u2019s haul came thanks to the 500-level title in Linz, a semifinal in Stuttgart, a final in Madrid and a quarterfinal finish in Rome, giving her a 15-3 record on clay this season.<\/p>\n
After reaching the Roland Garros semifinals in 2024, the 18-year-old returned to the quarters in Paris last year and is shaping as one of the biggest threats for the 2026 trophy.<\/p>\n
Her blend of power and counterpunching, and ability to cleverly construct points, translate well to the Roland Garros, where she\u2019s won more matches and owns the highest winning percentage of any of the four Slams.<\/p>\n
Karolina Muchova<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to predict what the oft-injured Czech might do, but the signs are good following a sizzling start to 2026.<\/p>\n
This week, Muchova returned to the top 10 for the first time since February 2024, and she\u2019s won 22 of her 28 matches so far this year.<\/p>\n
Her high point of 2026 came with a WTA 1000 title in Doha, her first tournament title in seven years. More recently she progressed to the final in Stuttgart, on clay, notching wins over Gauff and Svitolina along the way.<\/p>\n
In 2023, she stared down a match point to beat Sabalenka in the Roland Garros semis, then pushed Swiatek to the limit in the final, falling 6-4 in the third.<\/p>\n
With her penchant for beating the best players on the biggest stages, she\u2019ll be dangerous if she\u2019s healthy in Paris.<\/p>\n
Marta Kostyuk<\/p>\n
At a career-high ranking of world No.15, Kostyuk is the only woman this year to win multiple claycourt titles.<\/p>\n
Her victory at the WTA 250 event in Rouen was followed by the biggest of her career in Madrid, a WTA 1000 trophy.<\/p>\n
After beating Andreeva in the final \u2013 one of three top-15 players she defeated en route to the title \u2013 Kostyuk celebrated her breakthrough with an acrobatic backflip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhat I like about Iga coming into this tournament is this ability to acknowledge that she’s had to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452463,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-452462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}