Chris Evert thinks Iga Swiatek could surpass her record of 7 French Open titles

PARIS (AP) — No less an authority on clay-court tennis than Chris Evert thinks her record of seven French Open championships could be surpassed by Iga Swiatek.

“Absolutely,” Evert, a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, said in a phone interview. “Iga is a player on a mission. She’s more focused. She doesn’t get upset at all when she’s losing. She just has all the ingredients to be a champion. She really does. She checks all the boxes — the intangibles and the tangibles.”

Swiatek has been No. 1 in the WTA rankings for most of the past two years and will seek her fourth championship at Roland Garros — and fifth Grand Slam trophy overall — when play begins at the clay-court major tournament Sunday.

The 22-year-old from Poland was listed as the –155 money-line favorite by BetMGM Sportsbook as she tries to become the first woman to win three consecutive French Opens since Justine Henin collected a trio from 2005 to 2007. And Swiatek is coming off a rare feat: She won her past two tournaments on clay at Madrid and Rome, the first woman to pull off that clay double since Serena Williams did it 11 years ago.