"She's still beatable" - Wilander on Swiatek ahead of the French Open

Iga Swiatek’s stunning winning run could be ended at the French Open by the unpredictability of three-set tennis, according to Eurosport expert Mats Wilander.

The world No.1 goes into the second Grand Slam of the year on the back of 28 straight victories, making her the overwhelming favourite for the title at Roland-Garros - having won the trophy for the first time in 2020. Wilander, a three-time singles champion in Paris, thinks there are very few players who would be able to get near Swiatek if the women’s game was played over five sets - but says best of three means she cannot be quite as dominant.

He explained:

“If it was five sets, I would say Iga Swiatek is always the big, big favourite because the level she would play at over five sets, she would always be the big favourite. Because it’s three sets, there are a lot of women that can come out and play unbelievably for 45 minutes to an hour and in that time they could leave Swiatek 6-3 or up a break and suddenly we now need a little bit of luck to turn the match around."

He continued:

“She’s the favourite for sure, but it’s much more difficult to consistently be the favourite over three sets. Iga still needs good starts in matches whereas Novak [Djokovic] does not need a good start in any match and after one, two hours, he will slowly become the favourite over a match that will last a minimum of three hours. With Iga it could last one hour and she might not have found her form that day.”