Maja Chwalinska Hopes Her Roland Garros Final Run Inspires Players Outside of Top 100

Maja Chwalinska was ranked outside the top 100 before this Roland Garros. But on Monday, she will reach her career-best No.21 ranking, all thanks to her run to the final at the French Major.

In the final, held on Saturday (June 6), the Pole suffered a 6-3, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Mirra Andreeva. Chwalinska entered the Roland Garros as a qualifier, and had she defeated the Russian ace, she would have become the first qualifier to win the clay-court Major.

After the final, Chwalinska was asked at the press conference whether she thinks her run would inspire the players outside of the top 100 to perform well in Majors.

Well, I think so. I know many, many great players that are ranked outside the top 100. It’s such a thin line now. I feel like a lot of things need to click. But for sure, there are so many great players. I wish them all the best. I hope that my story these last days is inspiring for them, and I’ll see them in the, let’s say, top 50 now.

En route to the final, the 24-year-old eliminated three seeded players: Elise Mertens, Anna Kalinskaya, and Diana Shnaider. She also knocked out 2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist Qinwen Zheng on her Roland Garros main draw debut.

Andreeva clinched her third title of the season. After her win over Victoria Mboko in Adelaide, Andreeva beat Anastasia Potapova in Linz and later lost the Madrid Open final to Marta Kostyuk. The French Open title was also her third title on clay.

Maja Chwalinska won’t be playing a grass-court tournament before Wimbledon

The clay season will end after the conclusion of the men’s French Open final on Sunday (June 7). Maja Chwalinska, at the press conference after the Roland Garros final, has made it clear that she doesn’t plan to play a warm-up tournament on grass before Wimbledon.

In recent years, I have found it hard to play on grass, honestly, but I used to love it before. I feel I can use a lot of touch and slices; I move quite well on the court and anticipate well. Plus, it’s always exciting because the grass season is very short. We’ll see, but I am ready for the challenge.

Chwalinska made her Grand Slam main draw debut at the 2022 Wimbledon, losing the match to Alison Riske-Amritraj. Last year, she lost her first qualifying match in the grass-court Major.

For now, I’m not going to play anything before Wimbledon for sure; I need time to recharge my batteries. Even before Roland Garros, I said I needed a vacation after the tournament, so I have been thinking about it for three weeks now, although, of course, I wanted to be here. I need time to regain energy, and this year I’m only playing Wimbledon.

Maja Chwalinska added

But Mirra Andreeva is already thinking of repeating the Roland Garros result at Wimbledon, even though she has never won a title on grass. Last year at Wimbledon, the Russian ace lost to Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals, also her best performance in the tournament.

The 19-year-old, also the third youngest woman to win a Major in this century after Maria Sharapova and Emma Raducanu, won her third Big Title in Paris. Last year, she lifted two consecutive WTA 1000 titles in Dubai (beat Clara Tauson) and Indian Wells (beat Aryna Sabalenka). She is also the first Russian woman since Sharapova at the 2014 French Open to win a Grand Slam singles title.

At Wimbledon, Iga Swiatek will play as the defending champion. She had clinched a 6-0, 6-0 win over Amanda Anisimova in the final last year.

Also read: Alexander Zverev Reveals the Key Previous Mistakes he Hopes to Not Repeat in Roland Garros Final