Shocked, Karolina Muchova (43rd in the WTA) covers her face with a towel and cries.
A quarter of an hour earlier, he found himself facing the abyss: he managed to save a match point.
If she cries, it is because perhaps she did not expect to see herself where she is at that moment: the Czech is already 26 years old and yet, she has barely won a WTA title in her entire career, a minor title (Seoul, in 2019).
(…)
Now, Philippe Chatrier gives her an ovation: Muchova has just surpassed the favorite, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (2nd in the world), in an endless match of 3h13m (7-6 (5), 6-7 (5) and 7-5), and has been projected to the final of Roland Garros, a commitment that has never lived before.
And for that, he says:
–Hearing the public chanting your name, do you know what that is? –He tells Mats Wilander.
(And maybe you’re thinking of other wonders of Czech women’s tennis, Navratilova, Mandlikova, Novotna or Karolina Pliskova…).
The story will confront the queen of contemporary tennis, the Polish Iga Swiatek (22), the woman who has inherited the throne from Ashleigh Barty (the Australian retired in March last year) and who, step by step, is opening a path in the imaginary of tennis.
Those who look at Swiatek (already 64 weeks as leader) see details of Justine Henin or Monica Seles. There are dissonances between her tennis and her presence.
With flying feathers, it is presumed smaller than overwhelming. It’s just an impression: Swiatek is a tennis player of her time. The ball runs when it hits, it hits with all its soul, and forcefulness has allowed it to win three Grand Slam titles (one of them right here, in Paris, in 2022) and, with a 6-2 and 7-6 ( 7), getting off Beatriz Haddad Maia, a revelation in Paris, like Muchova, and standing in the women’s final.
