World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has dominated the ladies’s tennis scene the previous couple of years and would not appear to be slowing down any time quickly. As she continues to shine, different prime rivals are taking discover, together with males’s tennis star Carlos Alcaraz.
“Iga is the most effective participant on this planet proper now,” Alcaraz instructed CBS Sports activities. “She is taking part in nice tennis … All she has completed is unbelievable.”
Alcaraz is presently on the quilt of Prime Spin 2K25 together with Swiatek and Francis Tiafoe. They joined an elite record of gamers that embody Serena Williams and Roger Ferderer within the Legends roster.
“These two? Legends,” Alcaraz mentioned of Williams and Federer. “Not solely in tennis, however in sports activities typically. A variety of athletes look as much as them and it is superb to have them as ambassadors of tennis.”
Swiatek and Alcaraz are presently the favorites to win their respective singles competitions on this yr’s French Open. The previous has not misplaced a match at Roland Garros since 2021, and she or he arrived to Paris recent off title victories in Madrid and Rome.
A 23-year-old from Poland, Swiatek has been on the rise for some time. She had a 37-match win streak in 2022, marking the longest WTA profitable streak since Martina Hingis began the 1997 season 37-0. In 2023, Swiatek turned the primary participant since Serena Williams to win WTA Participant of the 12 months in consecutive years.
As Swiatek chases a three-peat at Roland Garros, she has largely been cruising — apart from the second spherical, when she virtually suffered an upset loss to Naomi Osaka. Swiatek used that second-round match as a get up name, resulting in some of the dominant performances of her profession: a 6-0, 6-0 win over Anastasia Potapova that took solely solely 40 minutes. It was the shortest tour-level match of her profession.
Swiatek defeated Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2 within the quarterfinals Tuesday and can now face American star Coco Gauff in Thursday’s semifinals. That might be a rematch of the 2022 French Open last, a match Swiatek gained 6-1, 6-3.
