Who will grab the Olympic rings and take Paris? — Will Świątek continue her clay dominance?

Anywho, we’re back in Paris and it’s the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Games that the Olympics will be held on red clay — at Roland Garros, of course. With 64 players, 16 were announced as seeds:

1. Iga Świątek
2. Coco Gauff
3. Elena Rybakina
4. Jasmine Paolini
5. Jessica Pegula
6. Qinwen Zheng
7. Maria Sakkari
8. Danielle Collins
9. Barbora Krejčíková
10. Jelena Ostapenko
11. Emma Navarro
12. Marta Kostyuk
13. Donna Vekić
14. Beatriz Haddad-Maia
15. Diana Shnaider
16. Leylah Fernandez

With the Olympics being played on clay, an increasing number of players have withdrawn, choosing to rank points or save their bodies for the North American hardcourt swing instead of going from clay to grass and back to clay again. The wear-and-tear that surface changes bring to the body is one of the most unspoken challenges players face in the calendar, in my opinion. Still, the Olympics are perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so players like Danielle Collins, who is playing her final season, are frothing at the mouth to represent their country and embrace the experience. Even if that means less preparation for hard courts and a likelier chance of potential injury.

Of course, off of clay court form alone, Iga Świątek is the heavy favorite. She’s lost only three matches on the surface since July 2022 — twice to Elena Rybakina and once to Aryna Sabalenka. Elina Svitolina is the lone Tokyo medalist to play Paris as reigning champion Belinda Bencic trains to come back following maternity leave and runner-up Marketa Vondroušová was the most recent withdrawal due to injury. Svitolina’s foe in the bronze medal match, Rybakina, is perhaps the biggest challenge for Świątek. She has the game to go toe-to-toe with the Pole and has the experience this year to knock her out. Though she’s at a career-high ranking, the head-to-head for Coco Gauff just doesn’t bode well for the American. In fact, Świątek has the number of pretty much every player in the draw. Jelena Ostapenko and Danielle Collins are two players that have either stunned Świątek and/or pushed her to the brink, but again, clay brings out another beast in Świątek.

Because the draws aren’t out yet, I can’t hilariously give you any predictions, so that will have to wait until next week. However, there are a few players I think you should keep an eye out on that could pull off a Monica Puig-esque run like she did in Rio.

• Diana Shnaider: The Russian is the youngest player since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009 to win WTA titles on three surfaces. She won on grass the week before Wimbledon and didn’t bat an eye to win on clay the week after. She’s knocking on the door of the Top 20 and with the right draw, she can make some damage.
• Naomi Osaka: The face of the Tokyo Games who crashed out to Vondroušová in the third round is looking for some redemption. She’s by far a clay-courter, but she had match point against Świątek in Paris in perhaps the match of the tournament. Could she build off of that and shock the world?
• Jasmine Paolini: She’s coming off of finals appearances at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. What’s to stop her from continuing to reach new heights?
• Caroline Garcia: Sure, she hasn’t done much of late and historically has faltered in front of the French crowd. However, when she’s on, she’s sublime and near unstoppable.
• Emma Navarro: When fans were calling her out playing WTA 125 events in the off-season, Navarro was playing chess to pretty much ensure her Paris participation. She’s a former Roland Garros junior doubles champion and singles runner-up and loves the clay. Though she’s part of a loaded Team USA, don’t be too surprised if she ends up being the last American standing.

Au revoir, and onto the links!

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This Week in Women’s Tennis

Diana Shnaider won her third WTA title of the year at the Hungarian Grand Prix with a win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The doubles title was won by Fanny Stollár and Katarzyna Piter, who defended their 2023 crown over Anna Danilina and Irina Khromacheva.

At the Palermo Ladies Open, Zheng Qinwen defended a title for the first time in her career with a three-set tussle over Karolina Muchová. Yana Sizikova also defended her title from last year, but this year partnered with Alexandra Panova to overcome the pairing of Yvonne Cavallé-Reimers and Aurora Zantedeschi.

If you have to follow anyone for Olympics content, it’s a no-brainer. Daria Saville is already delivering.

After a COVID diagnosis thwarted her Olympic debut in Tokyo, Coco Gauff penned a really great letter to her younger self as she goes for glory in Paris.

The WTA grass season will be adding another tournament with a WTA 125 event being held alongside an ATP Challenger in Newport, Rhode Island. The ATP’s Hall of Fame Championship is folding, but luckily they’re adding women to make a comeback to the site for the first time since 1990.

Jamea Jackson has high hopes to bring Arizona State to the top of collegiate tennis but is first keen on building a strong foundation with her current crop of athletes.

Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková received a unique gift from Lego after her big win.

Ahead of her campaign to win another Olympic medal, Elina Svitolina announced she and coach Raemon Sluiter have parted ways.

In case you’ve missed it, be sure to check out Uninterrupted’s Top Class: Tennis series on Amazon Prime, delving into the lives of four junior tennis players as they gear up for the Orange Bowl. Sloane Stephens is an executive producer on the series and I’m crossing my fingers it gets green-lit for another season.

Billie Jean King, whose namesake team event is making a move to Malaga, shared the origin story of her most famous quote. I admit, I didn’t know this story, but my dream is to have BJK write it so I can have it tattooed. Reader, if you can make this happen, please reach out!

Fortunately, Madison Keys’ injury at Wimbledon isn’t as severe as thought, but she’s using her downtime wisely with an array of home improvement projects and wedding preparation.

The WTA and Corpay extended their partnership through 2026 to handle their foreign exchange payments.

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Tweet of the Week

Serena Williams received the Legend Award at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and gave a cute speech to the future legends in the audience:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nickelodeon (@nickelodeon)

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Five at The IX: My Favorite Olympic tennis moments

2004: Greek Eleni Danilidou overcoming a quad injury to delight the Athens crowd with an upset over Magdalena Maleeva:

2016: Monica Puig defying the odds to stun the world and claim Puerto Rico’s first-ever gold medal:

1988: In the first-ever non-demonstration Olympic tennis event, Steffi Graf claims the gold medal to clinch the Golden Grand Slam:

2012: Serena Williams destroying the field to claim the lone singles gold medal of her career:

2008: Elena Dementieva may have never been able to get that elusive Grand Slam, but Olympic gold was pretty damn impressive:

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Mondays: Soccer

By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer

Tuesdays: Tennis

By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer

Wednesdays: Basketball

By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next

Thursdays: Golf

By: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX

Fridays: Hockey

By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden

Saturdays: Gymnastics

By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer