"I think this is what the Big Three had": Swiatek excited by rivalries with Sabalenka and Rybakina going into Roland Garros

Iga Swiatek is excited about the growing rivalry between herself and Aryna Sabalenka & Elena Rybakina ahead of Roland Garros comparing it to the big three.

For much of the past two decades, ATP tennis was dominated by the big three narrative. We had three legendary players playing against each other pretty much at every event creating iconic tennis moments that will be remember for a while. The WTA is getting something like that this year with the rises of Rybakina and Sabalenka.

It was very unexpected so the Tour is adjusting to it but we already got some incredible matches. Rybakina beat Swiatek twice already and the Madrid Open final between Sabalenka and Swiatek was a great one too.

Read also

Preview 2023 French Open Roland Garros: Life after Nadal, chance for Djokovic and Swiatek’s dominance questioned

Swiatek Talks Injury

Speaking before Roland Garros kicks off, Swiatek talked about her injury:

"Luckily nothing serious happened, so I had a couple of days off. I'm still recovering from the thigh injury, but I'll be good for my first round. That's the most important thing for me. I just love coming back here no matter what my ranking is or no matter what my previous results are."

The injury in Rome was a minor one which is great for the event to have the defending champion back.

Read also

2023 French Open Roland Garros ATP and WTA Prize Money and Points Breakdown with €49.6m on offer

WTA Big Three

This year's Roland Garros will see Swiatek battle it out with a couple of challengers. The field looks a lot more dangerous compared to last year and it's something she's embracing:

"Totally different situation than last year. It's nice to have somebody constantly kind of watching you. We played so many matches against each other that tactically we know our games pretty well. But we also have to kind of come up with some different solutions sometimes, which is pretty exciting, because I never had that yet in my career. I think this is what the Big Three [Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic] had to do for sure when they played like, 30 matches against each other or even more."

Read also

"Very mild-mannered and very soft-spoken": Craybas believes personality and on-court persona of Rybakina sees her fly under the radar