We are well and truly into the clay court season now, having seen the Monte-Carlo Masters live up to expectations, and now currently enjoying events in Stuttgart, Munich and Barcelona.
However, the culmination of this swing of the tour is inevitably Roland-Garros, with this the only clay-court Grand Slam.
Having been dominated by Rafael Nadal over the last few decades, his recent reemergence suggests that he has his sights set on claiming the men’s title yet again. But on the women’s side, it feels a lot more open.
One former coach though, who enjoyed spells overseeing the early development of Serena and Venus Williams as well as Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick, has now outlined his ‘HEAVY favourite’ to raise the cup from the WTA.
Rick Macci backs Iga Świątek to win the French Open
Rick Macci is one of tennis’ most infamous coaches, having even seen his early career brought to life on the big screen as part of Will Smith’s ‘King Richard’ film, released in 2021.
In it, the American actor played the father of the aforementioned Williams sisters, who consistently pushed his daughters to achieve greatness. Well, achieve it they did.
Macci therefore naturally has an eye for gifted players, and on the current women’s tour, there are arguably few more talented than Iga Swiatek.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the Hall of Fame coach has outlined the Polish superstar as his pick to win the French Open, sending out the following tweet as the 22-year-old impressed against an empowered Emma Raducanu.
He wrote: ‘She is a HEAVY favorite to win her the French Open on the dirt mainly because of her HEAVY BRUTAL ANGLES’.
This comes just days after he suggested Raducanu already has something that can win her more Grand Slams.
Emma Raducanu impressed against Iga Swiatek
Although Swiatek will dominate the headlines as she once again claimed victory, it is actually Raducanu who has arguably come out of the match with more acclaim.
After all, she is enjoying a mesmerising run on clay, and the fact that she ran the world number one so close only further emphasises this.
Having been drawn against the three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber in the first round at Stuttgart, many feared for the 21-year-old.
However, a swift 6-2, 6-1 demolition left many stunned.
Then facing Linda Noskova, who is one of few to administer a defeat to Swiatek this season, and again alarm bells were ringing. No problem for Raducanu though, who strolled to another easy 6-0, 7-5 win.
Swiatek proved a step too far, naturally, but given how the 2021 US Open winner performed on clay at the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers just last week, this promises to be a revelatory leg of the season for Raducanu.
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