French Open 2025: 4-time champ Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff lead the women's field
PARIS (AP) — Here is a look at some of the top women at the French Open, which starts at Roland-Garros on Sunday, with money-line odds via BetMGM Sportsbook:
Aryna Sabalenka
Seeding: 1
Career-Best Ranking: 1
Country: Belarus
Age: 27
2025 Record: 34-6
2025 Titles: 3
Career Titles: 20
Grand Slam Titles: 3 — Australian Open (2: 2023, 2024), U.S. Open (1: 2024)
Last 5 French Opens: 2024-Lost in Quarterfinals, 2023-SF, 2022-3rd, 2021-3rd, 2020-3rd
Aces: Was the runner-up at the Australian Open in January. ... She's the first woman since Serena Williams in 2013 to win the titles on hard courts at Miami and clay courts in Madrid in the same season. ... Was 6-0 against opponents ranked in the top 10 — winning every set, too — in 2025 until losing to Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in Rome this month. ... Replaced Iga Swiatek at No. 1 late last season.
She Said It: 'It's trophy or nothing. Nobody remembers the finalist, you know? Nobody puts next to the winner, (the) finalist's name. I mean, at this point, I go for titles.'
Read All About It:
Sabalenka came up just short of a third straight Australian Open title
Odds Are: +275
Coco Gauff
Seeding: 2
Career-Best Ranking: 2
Country: United States
Age: 21
2025 Record: 24-8
2025 Titles: 1
Career Titles: 10
Grand Slam Titles: 1 — U.S. Open (2023)
Last 5 French Opens: 2024-SF, 2023-QF, 2022-Runner-Up, 2021-QF, 2020-2nd
Aces: Produced a 6-1, 6-1 win over Swiatek en route to reaching the final at the Italian Open, showing how good she can be on clay, but has had an up-and-down season overall. ... Closed 2024 by winning the WTA Finals for the first time, her biggest title since the 2023 U.S. Open. ... Has won a Grand Slam championship in doubles — last year at the French Open — to go alongside her major singles triumph in New York. ... Started her own management firm, Coco Gauff Enterprises.
She Said It: 'You can't miss a bunch of tournaments just to practice. I mean, you can, but I didn't want to do that. ... So I just decided to be willing to accept the losses and wins while working on things.'
Read All About It:
Coco Gauff says: 'I just lost a couple of matches! I'm chillin'!'
Odds Are: +500
Jasmine Paolini
Seeding: 4
Career-Best Ranking: 4
Country: Italy
Age: 29
2025 Record: 22-8
2025 Titles: 1
Career Titles: 3
Grand Slam Titles: Zero — Best: Runner-Up, French Open (2024), Wimbledon (2024)
Last 5 French Opens: 2024-RU, 2023-2nd, 2022-1st, 2021-2nd, 2020-2nd
Aces: First woman from Italy to win the title in Rome in 40 years. ... Was 3-5 at the French Open for her career, never making it past the second round, until last year's breakthrough run to the final. Then she followed that up by getting to the Wimbledon final, too. ... Each of her initial 16 Grand Slam appearances resulted in losses in the first or second round. ... Last season, paired with Sara Errani to win gold for Italy in doubles at the Paris Olympics and helped the country win the Billie Jean King Cup.
She Said It: 'I grew up as a player, but also, as a person, I think I'm more mature. I believe more in myself than three, four years ago.'
Read All About It:
Jasmine Paolini leads Italy to the Billie Jean King Cup title
Odds Are: +1200
Iga Swiatek
Seeding: 5
Career-Best Ranking: 1
Country: Poland
Age: 23 (Turns 24 on May 31)
2025 Record: 27-9
2025 Titles: Zero
Career Titles: 22
Grand Slam Titles: 5 — French Open (4: 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024), U.S. Open (1: 2022)
Last 5 French Opens: 2024-Won Championship, 2023-W, 2022-W, 2021-QF, 2020-W
Aces: Not only hasn't she won a title since last year's French Open, Swiatek hasn't even reached another final in that span. ... Out of the top two in the rankings for the first time since July 2022. ... Accepted a one-month suspension in November after testing positive for a banned substance she said came from a contaminated supplement. ... 5-0 in Grand Slam finals.
She Said It: 'On a tennis court, you kind of need to be ruthless.'
Read All About It:
Swiatek won her fifth Grand Slam title a year ago in Paris
Odds Are: +350
Mirra Andreeva
Seeding: 6
Career-Best Ranking: 6
Country: Russia
Age: 18
2025 Record: 27-7
2025 Titles: 2
Career Titles: 3
Grand Slam Titles: Zero — Best: Semifinals, French Open (2024)
Last 5 French Opens: 2024-SF, 2023-3rd, 2022-Did Not Play, 2021-DNP, 2020-DNP
Aces: Announced herself as a leading player by winning Masters 1000 titles at Dubai and Indian Wells this year. She beat Swiatek in the semifinals and Sabalenka in the final at the latter to become the event's youngest champion since Williams in 1999. ... This will be just her ninth Grand Slam appearance; got to the semifinals in Paris a year ago. ... Won a 2024 Olympic gold medal in doubles. ... Coached by 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez.
She Said It: 'I can see a bit of similarities with me and Martina Hingis.'
Read All About It:
Mirra Andreeva reaches her first major semifinal at just 17
Odds Are: +600
Madison Keys
Seeding: 7
Career-Best Ranking: 5
Country: United States
Age: 30
2025 Record: 23-5
2025 Titles: 2
Career Titles: 10
Grand Slam Titles: 1 — Australian Open (2025)
Last 5 French Opens: 2024-3rd, 2023-2nd, 2022-4th, 2021-3rd, 2020-1st
Aces: Captured her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, upsetting No. 2 Swiatek in the semifinals and No. 1 Sabalenka in the final. ... Said some of the credit went to a new mindset in which she no longer felt the need to win a major to consider her career successful. Also credited a racket change last season. ... Her best French Open showings: semifinals in 2018, quarterfinals in 2019.
She Said It: 'I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without a Grand Slam. I finally got to the point where I was OK if it didn't happen. ... Finally letting go of that kind of internal talk, that I had, just gave me the ability to actually go out and play some really good tennis.'
Read All About It:
Madison Keys told herself to be brave on the way to the Australian Open title
Odds Are: +4000
___
Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here:
https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich
. More AP tennis:
https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
12 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Madrid coach Alonso hoping Mbappé is 'back soon' at Club World Cup after illness
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso still can't say whether Kylian Mbappé will be available to play in the next round of the Club World Cup after missing all three group games. Mbappé was hospitalized last week with acute gastroenteritis and has not played a minute of the tournament so far. Despite being back in training, he was not even named as a substitute for Thursday's 3-0 win against RB Salzburg. 'I don't want to be optimistic and get ahead of myself, but we need him because he's a top player, one of the best in the world. We hope he's back soon,' Alonso said when asked about Mbappé's availability for the round of 16 game against Juventus on Tuesday. Mbappé is one of the biggest stars at the expanded Club World Cup being staged in the United States and his absence has been a blow to a tournament FIFA president Gianni Infantino wants to become one of the biggest events in the sport. Infantino managed to get Lionel Messi into the tournament when Inter Miami was granted entry despite not winning the MLS Cup and encouraged teams to try to sign Cristiano Ronaldo during a specially created transfer window before the first game kicked off this month. Mbappé, along with Messi and Erling Haaland, is one of the top attractions, but his headlines have been limited to off-field issues. As well as his illness, he also made the news this week when it emerged he had filed a moral harassment case against former club Paris Saint-Germain. He unhappy with the way he was treated by this year's Champions League winner when he was sidelined after his decision not to extend his contract with the club in 2023. Mbappé is also at odds with PSG, arguing he is owed 55 million euros ($61 million) in unpaid wages. None of this is helping Madrid's bid to become the first team to lift the new Club World Cup and the golden trophy crafted by Tiffany & Co. The 26-year-old Mbappe was Madrid's top scorer last season, with 43 goals in 56 appearances. He had been following specific medical treatment to recover from gastroenteritis, Madrid said, but has missed two games since being discharged from hospital. 'We need him and we want him back as soon as possible and in the best possible condition,' Alonso said. ___ James Robson is at ___ AP soccer:
San Francisco Chronicle
39 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Kara Lawson has always been a basketball trailblazer and has a legit chance to lead USA squad in LA
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Kara Lawson has always been a basketball trailblazer and now the Duke women's coach has a legit chance to lead USA to another gold medal. She has already done it once. Lawson guided the Americans to a 3-on-3 Olympic gold medal and could have the chance to lead the USA's 5-on-5 squad at the Los Angeles Games in three years. First up is coaching the U.S. AmeriCup team that begins play this weekend in Chile. Coaching is something she wanted to do since she was a young girl growing up in Virginia. She just didn't know it would be for her country. 'I played for a long time, and, so I got into coaching a little bit later just because I had a long playing career, which is as a good excuse as any to get into coaching later,' Lawson quipped during an interview with The Associated Press. 'So I was always drawn to it. I just didn't know what my entry point was.' She just thought the entry point might be at the high school level as the WNBA didn't exist and college wasn't something she strived to do. Fast forward 37 years and she's in charge of the group of college players heading to South America. 'I'm fortunate enough to be assigned something as important as America's head coach, my goal is to do the best job possible,' Lawson said during a break as she prepared her team for the World Cup qualifying tournament. The 44-year-old Lawson could become the second African American to lead the USA women's Olympic basketball team. Dawn Staley was the women's head coach for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Lawson was a point guard at Tennessee and credits her time learning under iconic Lady Vols Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt as a big reason for her recent success roaming the sidelines. 'If you wanna learn how to coach, why not go to the best coach,' Lawson said. Lawson has had success already with USA Basketball, leading the 3-on-3 team to a gold medal at the Tokyo Games. She didn't want to look at this opportunity as a tryout to be the 2028 Olympic coach or even next year's World Cup where she is on the short list to be the next head coach. That decision will be made by Sue Bird, who took over as the new national team managing director earlier this year. 'In my experience in life, if you just keep that mindset of being in the moment, more opportunities tend to happen for you,' said Lawson, who helped the USA win gold in 2008 at the Bejing Games, where she and Bird were teammates. 'And if you're so worried about where you fit and who goes where, and am I next in line? I just never found that to to be productive and drives you crazy and it's a waste of energy. "So I try to just lock in on like, 'what do I need to do at this job to be really good?' ' Lawson's path to coaching wasn't the one many have taken. She went from playing 13 years in the WNBA to becoming a broadcaster. From there, she spent some time with the Boston Celtics as an assistant before getting the Duke job in 2020. She led Duke to its first ACC Tournament championship under her coaching this past March and the Blue Devils made a run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The team has advanced further in the NCAAs each of the past three seasons. Coaching in the AmeriCup is a full circle moment for Lawson. She played in the AmeriCup in 2007, which was also in Chile, and helped the U.S. win it and qualify for the Beijing Olympics the next year. Now she'll try and lead the team to another victory and the automatic berth to the World Cup next year in Germany. 'I think the mentality for every team is to win,' Lawson said. 'Our group understands that we're on the lower end of the experience totem pole entering this competition and that we're going to face some very good teams. So the race is on for us to gain continuity, pick up our playbook as quickly as we can and get on the same page.' She knows the pressure that comes with coaching a USA team. Anything less than a gold medal is considered a failure. Lawson doesn't let the lofty expectations create additional pressure on her. DeLisha Milton-Jones was a teammate of Lawson's on the 2007 AmeriCup team and now is coaching with her. She's been impressed with what she's seen so far from Lawson as a coach. 'She has a knack for the game,' Milton-Jones said. 'Kara is well versed when it comes to the game. Started off at an early age going to games with her father. Going to college and being coached by one of the greatest ever to coach. Having experiences from NBA, WNBA, international side of things.' In the AmeriCup, Lawson will be coaching some of the most talented players in women's college basketball, including Flau'Jae Johnson (LSU), Olivia Miles (TCU), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), Madison Booker (Texas), Joyce Edwards (South Carolina) and Raegan Beers (Oklahoma). Lawson has made an impression. 'The intensity she brings every day, you feel it like that's a pro right there,' Johnson said. 'Just learning from her I learned so much in these (few) days, it's been amazing.' ___ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
San Francisco Chronicle
39 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Van Nistelrooy out as coach of relegated Leicester
LONDON (AP) — Ruud van Nistelrooy has agreed to terminate his contract as coach of Leicester, the English club said Friday. The former Netherlands striker took over Leicester in November last year on a contract through June 2027, but he couldn't prevent relegation as the team finished the Premier League in 18th place. The club said it is looking for his replacement. It thanked Van Nistelrooy for his 'dedication and hard work,' while the former Manchester United star wished the team well for the future. The 48-year-old Van Nistelrooy previously coached Dutch side PSV Eindhoven and acted as an interim coach for United. Leicester faces the possibility of a points reduction in the Championship next season for a possible breach of financial rules.
