For many years, the women's draw was the 'more open' one, but at this year's Roland Garros, it's the men's side, and Iga Swiatek commented on that ahead of the event.
When we look at the WTA side of tennis, we'll notice that it doesn't seem as open as it generally has been. For many years, there has been a narrative that 15 players could win any event at any time.
The lines were quite blurry, as players were pretty similar in level, so it came down to momentum. On the ATP side, there was the Big Three, dominating for so long that it was impossible to see anybody else winning any Grand Slams.
Andy Murray won a few, Stan Wawrinka won a few, but for the most part, it's been the same three guys doing it over and over again. This year's Roland Garros flipped the script.
On the women's side, there are clear-cut favorites, Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka. There are also some dark horses like Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina, but nobody expects anybody else to get involved.
On the men's side, it's way more wide open. There are a handful of names that could win the title, even though most would put Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, and Carlos Alcaraz at the top of that pile. It's an interesting dynamic that Swiatek was asked about, and she gave her take on it.
"Well, I wouldn't say it's been switched because it's not like women's tennis was nothing but it depends on what you're interested in. If you're a fan of ATP, you're gonna take this draw more important. If you're a fan of WTA, you're gonna take women's draw more important."
For Swiatek, though, the bottom line is that things can change at any time. An injury dramatically changes the draw landscape, and surprises do happen on both sides of the sport.
"I wouldn't say there was any switch. We'll see, I guess. This tournament is long and many things can happen. You don't know who is going to get injured, you don't know who is going to recover and be ready to play. Like last year we weren't sure if I'm going to play the first round so this is not so black and white."
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