No Grand Slams for Swiatek or Djokovic: Dinara Safina predicts the 2025 Major champions

Dinara Safina shared her favourites for the 2025 Grand Slam titles with some surprising picks. The former World No. 1 expects another stellar year for Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka but also hinted at a shock scenario: a year without Major wins for Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic.

The three-time Grand Slam runner-up spoke in an interview with Championat in Russia, comparing the current WTA era, led by Swiatek and Sabalenka, to her own competitive years, which featured stars like Venus and Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, and Maria Sharapova.

At just 23 years old, Swiatek is already staking her claim as one of the all-time greats at Roland Garros. The Pole boasts four French Open titles—three of them consecutive—and an impressive 35–2 record on the Parisian clay. Ranked World No. 2, she has showcased unmatched dominance on clay and consistency on Philippe Chatrier. The last player to win four titles was Justine Henin between 2003 and 2007, with both players tied for third on the all-time champions list, behind Chris Evert (7 titles) and Steffi Graf (6 titles).

However, Swiatek did not finish the season strongly, with a quarterfinal exit at the US Open, a Round Robin elimination at the WTA Finals, and skipping the Asian swing altogether, which ended her 50-week reign as World No. 1. Recently embroiled in a doping controversy, doubts linger about how she will perform in 2025 amidst ongoing scrutiny.

When asked to pick her favourites for the upcoming Majors, Safina’s most surprising choice was Karolina Muchova as a champion over Swiatek. The Russian reaffirmed her belief in Sinner and Sabalenka continuing their dominance, both adding to their Grand Slam tallies.

"Australia — Sinner and Sabalenka,” she said. “Roland Garros — Zverev and, let it be, Muchova. I don’t think Šwiątek will win the Grand Slam on clay next year.”

“Wimbledon — Alcaraz or Medvedev for men, Rybakina for girls. US Open — Medvedev or Rublev for men, Sabalenka again for girls," Safina added.

Safina also drew comparisons between her era of competition 20 years ago and today’s WTA Tour."In my time, there were more consistent players. There were Serena and Venus Williams, Davenport, Mauresmo, Henin, Sharapova, Clijsters and so on. Everyone was consistent all year round, they rarely had easy losses. The top 10 was very tight, you couldn't touch the girls,” she said.

“And now someone can fail three or four tournaments and then return to the top 10. Now there is Gauff, Pegula, but they are all unstable. Only Sabalenka and Swiatek played the whole season almost without slumps," Safina explained.