Iga Swiatek still has to beat three WTA legends to become complete Queen of Clay

Iga Swiatek has been the dominant force in the clay swing in recent years, with three French Open titles at just 22 years old. The world No. 1 is in the fourth round of the Madrid Open, a tournament she has yet to win despite being the top favorite in this edition, where she also defends the 2023 final.

After defeating Sorana Cirstea on Thursday, the Polish player reached an incredible 87% winning rate on clay, making her the best female tennis player on this surface in this century. Only three players have better statistics than Swiatek on clay, although at the moment, she is far from reaching them.

Other clay dominators:

Steffi Graf – 89.2%

Graf's ability to adapt to all surfaces allowed her to win each of the four Grand Slam titles at least four times, six of them at Roland Garros, where she was the runner-up three times. The German won 32 clay titles and the silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, losing the gold to Jennifer Capriati. Graf won 89.2% of her matches on clay, with a record of 273-3

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Margaret Court – 91%

The Australian achieved 24 Grand Slam titles between the Amateur and Open Eras. With five French Open trophies, three of them in the Open Era, Court had an extraordinary record on clay of 327-33, totaling 91% of wins on the surface.

Swiatek has a record of 28-2 at the French Open (94%), with three titles in 5 appearances.

Chris Evert – 94,2%

So far, the female tennis player who has achieved the most success on clay. Evert had the astonishing figure of 70 individual titles on clay and had a streak of 125 consecutive victories on clay between 1973 and 1979. Evert won 18 Grand Slam titles, seven of them at the French Open, setting the absolute record in Paris.

In her 13 participations in the tournament, she only failed to reach at least the semifinals once. In total, she maintained a record of 441-27 on clay (94.2%), something unreachable for any man or woman currently.

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