2025 French Open Women’s Preview: Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek Among Top Storylines to Follow

Roland-Garros features three-time defending champion, Iga Swiatek, going for French Open history, while American Coco Gauff aims for her first win in Paris.

America's Coco Gauff (L) and Poland's Iga Swiatek pose for a picture prior to their women's singles semi-final match of the French Open tennis tournament in Paris on June 6, 2024. Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

Paris will be the focus of much of the sports world for the next few weeks with the 2025 French Open.

It begins on May 25, with the Women’s Singles draw concluding on June 7. This will be the 124th edition of Roland-Garros, and the women’s side is full of intriguing subplots ranging from the historical domination by defending champion Iga Swiatek to American, Jessica Pegula, searching for a Grand Slam breakthrough.

Here are the top storylines involving the women’s singles in the French Open 2025.

Iga Swiatek Going for History

Swiatek isn’t just the defending champion, she’s the three-time reigning champion at Roland-Garros. She won each of the last three years, and she also won this tournament in 2020 to give her four French Open titles.

Another victory would make Swiatek just the fourth woman to have at least five French Open championships, and it would also give her four straight victories. The latter is something that hasn’t been done in over 100 years as Suzanne Lenglen (1920-23) was the last woman to win four straight, and the Paris native did it in her home country.

A native of Poland, Swiatek is hoping for a win not just for history but also to interrupt what’s been a down season for her. She hasn’t won any of the nine tournaments she’s competed in this year as she’s gone from the No. 1 ranked player in the world to currently No. 5.

Coco Gauff Contending But Not Winning

Coco Gauff is a U.S. Open champion but it’s at Roland-Garros that she’s had her most match success amongst the majors. Gauff has an 80 percent win rate on the clay courts of Paris, which is higher than any other major tournament, and she’s made as many semifinals (two) at the French Open as she has as the U.S. Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon combined.

What she doesn’t have, however, is a French Open title, and the same goes for any clay court tournament victory this season.

Gauff made the finals of both the Madrid Open and Italian Open—each held on clay—but lost in the championship match in each.

One of those defeats came to Aryna Sabalenka, who is the top-ranked player in the world and the No. 1 seed for the French Open, while Gauff is the No. 2 seed. Gauff did win the 2024 French Open doubles title, alongside partner Kateřina Siniaková but tennis legacies are defined by what one does as an individual.

Can Aryna Sabalenka Win on Clay?

Sabalenka became the No. 1 player in the world in October 2024 and has shown no signs of relinquishing that ranking. She has three tournament victories this year, and to the surprise of many, one of those came on clay.

It was just her third clay title across 30 clay tournaments, and the Belarusian also has three Grand Slam titles. None of those, though, have come at Roland-Garros, as Sabalenka’s game doesn’t quite have the same effectiveness on clay, or grass, as it does at hard courts.

All three of her Grand Slams have come on hard surfaces as she’s out to prove she’s more than just a hard court specialist. As the top seed, she’ll have the easiest path to a title, and as a 2-seed in each of the last two years, her French Open runs ended in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

25th Time’s the Charm for Jessica Pegula?

Pegula is the daughter of Terry and Kim Pegula, who are the owners of the Buffalo Bills. And much like the Bills are known for infamously coming up short in four straight Super Bowls, Pegula is known for coming up short in every Grand Slam she’s competed in.

Roland-Garros 2025 will be Pegula’s 25th Grand Slam appearance, and she’s still searching for her first major singles title. Actually, she doesn’t have a Grand Slam doubles title either, going 0 for 22 when paired with a teammate. She made last year’s U.S. Open final in the women’s singles draw, but she’s never reached the semifinals in her French Open career.

While history isn’t in her favor to suddenly break through, she is the No. 3 seed and is, perhaps, the best chance after Gauff for an American woman to prevail in Paris.

Past Champs Looking to Make an Impact

With Swiatek’s clay court domination, and recent retirements of players like Simona Halep and Garbiñe Muguruza, there are just two other past French Open winners in this year’s field. One is 2021 champion, Barbora Krejčíková, and the other is 2017 winner, Jeļena Ostapenko. They’re both seeded 15th or worse, and neither has advanced past the third round of the French Open since they’re victories.

However, Ostapenko has two things in her favor that indicate she won’t be an easy out this year. One is that she collected her ninth singles title just last month in Germany on an indoor clay court. The other is that she has thoroughly dominated the Queen of Clay, Swiatek, in head-to-head matchups.

The Latvian is 6-0 all-time versus Swiatek, which includes beating her in that clay court title earlier this year.