"Out of nowhere": Caroline Wozniacki doesn't rule out Jasmine Paolini for Roland Garros with 'room for surprises'

As the French Open approaches, Caroline Wozniacki offers her insights into the tournament, acknowledging the strong favorites like Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka but stressing that there's still room for surprises in the later rounds. The Danish former world No. 1 will be joining the TNT Sports commentary team during Roland Garros.

Wozniacki spoke to TennisUpToDate about the heightened consistency among WTA players over the past season. Across six WTA 1000 tournaments, the familiar faces of the top 8 have consistently reached the final stages.

"Well, I think you know obviously for a while now we've seen Swiatek consistently playing great and playing well on clay. We've seen Sabalenka getting result after result. We've seen Paolini came also kind of shut out there, out of nowhere and and has been playing incredible for a year and a half now," Wozniacki stated.

Sabalenka leads with two titles and an additional final in WTA 1000 events (plus the Australian Open final), while Mirra Andreeva also claimed two WTA 1000 titles. Jasmine Paolini's recent victory in Rome adds to this trend. Similarly, Coco Gauff reached two finals, and Jessica Pegula made one final in Miami.

Other highly-ranked players have also had strong runs, even if they didn't reach the final. Iga Swiatek, for instance, made several semifinal appearances (two WTA 1000s and the Australian Open). Zheng Qinwen reached the semifinals in Rome and the quarterfinals in both Indian Wells and Miami. The top seeds have rarely faltered in early rounds, showing consistent performance in the biggest tournaments.

"I think we're seeing consistency and I I think again, maturity, the players are getting older they've been there for a while. They know their pros and cons and have been at the late stages and I think that helps," she added. "And, you know, to expect consistency like the big three or Serena - that almost win everything that they show up to, again, it's very difficult. Everyone wants to win, everyone works hard every day at home, and, you know, there'll always be competition."

"There's a lot of money at play, there's a lot of prestige at play. So, I think you'll constantly see people trying to push new players that are finding levels that we haven't seen before."

The upcoming French Open is once again expected to feature the same dominant names among the top 8 favorites, including Madison Keys, who won the Australian Open, reached the semifinals in Indian Wells, and the quarterfinals in Madrid. Will there be room for new surprises at Roland Garros? For former world No. 1 Wozniacki, the biggest names cannot be entirely complacent given the high level that lower-ranked players can demonstrate.