Former
world No. 3,
Pam Shriver, shared her opinion that
Iga Swiatek could pursue
Chris Evert's French Open record, but she also emphasized the need for caution
regarding potential competition, particularly from
Mirra Andreeva.
Shriver
participated in the Inside-In podcast on Tennis Channel and commented on
Swiatek's impressive clay court performance. The Polish player has won 28
matches at the French Open with just two defeats, resulting in a remarkable 93%
success rate in the tournament.
She has
already claimed the title three times at the age of 22. Her first victory was
in 2020 when she surprised everyone by winning all her matches in straight
sets, with an average of just two games lost per set played.
Chris Evert
currently holds the record with 7 Roland Garros titles, followed by Steffi Graf
with 6. According to Pam Shriver, Swiatek has a promising future, especially at
the French Open, and she sees her as having the potential to chase down Evert's
record:
“I do think
Iga Swiatek can certainly chase down Chrissie’s record, already with three.
It’s hard to believe it’s two years ago this week that Iga played that crazy
Roland Garros in the middle of October because of the pandemic. That’s what
started to up her tally,” former US Open finalist said.
However,
Shriver also cautioned that we cannot predict what the future holds or which
players might emerge as contenders in upcoming clay court tournaments. She
pointed out Mirra Andreeva, a 16-year-old Russian player with an impressive
23-4 record on clay, who could pose a threat to Swiatek in the future:
“Anything
is possible. I think she can (Swiatek to reach Evert's record). Obviously you
don’t know what’s around the corner as far as if Andreeva, for example, just
becomes a great clay court player,” she added.
“But who
else looks as comfortable on clay… whether it’s a little older than Iga, the
same age or a little bit younger… nobody,” former world No. 3 stated.
