Most Italian Open winners have not performed well at the French Open over the past decade.
The conditions at the Italian Open are very similar to those at Roland Garros. Conditions at the Madrid Open are significantly faster due to the elevation, but not in Rome. Additionally, these two tournaments take place just a week apart.
Therefore, the winner of the Italian Open should ideally also have a strong chance of winning Roland Garros. However, this hasn’t really happened in women’s tennis over the last decade. Since 2013, only a few tennis players – Serena Williams in 2013 and Iga Swiatek in 2022 – have managed to win the Italian Open and French Open titles in the same year.
Maria Sharapova, who showed excellent form from 2010 to 2015, won three Italian Open titles and two French Open titles during this period. However, she managed to achieve the “double” only in 2012. Her main competitor on clay during this period was Williams. The American’s victories at Roland Garros (2013 and 2015) took place in different years than the Italian Open (2013, 2014 and 2016), with the exception of 2013. Then there a Elina Svitolina, who won back-to-back Italian Open titles in 2017 and 2018 but could not repeat her success at Roland Garros. Elena Rybakina won the title in Rome last year but failed to win the French Open.
On the other hand, there have been several one-time winners at the French Open over the past decade, such as Simona Halep, Jelena Ostapenko, Garbine Muguruza and Ashleigh Barty. Except for Halep, none of them managed to win the Italian Open, and Halep did it another year.
Swiatek is currently the dominant player on women’s clay. During this period, she won three titles at the French Open and also managed to win three titles at the Italian Open. There’s no reason why she can’t achieve the double again this year. It would be a big surprise if she didn’t succeed. As Iga also won the Madrid Open title this year, she will score a hat-trick if she wins in Paris next month.
Vyacheslav Gorbachev, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
