Road to French Open 2025: What Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek need to achieve to meet expectations on clay
Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek are the defending champions of the upcoming 2025 edition of the French Open. As such, these two are at the forefront of players expected to do well at the event. It’s not just because they have won this event in the past—it’s because they are genuinely fantastic tennis players who play amazing tennis on clay.
Alcaraz is from Spain and has grown up on this surface, so that familiarity is what helps him. Swiatek has similarly spent much of her life on these surfaces, which helps as well. Let's separate the narrative and see what can be expected of them at the upcoming French Open.
Carlos Alcaraz
Last year was the first time in his career that Carlos Alcaraz won the French Open. It wasn’t an easy undertaking because he faced some problems in a couple of matches, including the semifinal and the final. He lost two sets in both but still emerged on top, becoming the deserved champion.
There are expectations that he’s going to do the same thing this year. The field doesn’t look too tough, considering that Jannik Sinner will be returning from a suspension and lacking any form. Novak Djokovic doesn’t look capable of challenging for such a trophy right now, while Alexander Zverev looks lost.
Alcaraz seems like the natural candidate to win it again, considering how well he plays on clay and how great of a player he generally is. The thing is, he’s not playing his best tennis either. The season has been somewhat shaky, which sounds bizarre considering that he has two trophies to his name, one of which is the ATP Monte-Carlo Masters, a clay event.
The good thing, though, is that he was able to win that one without having to play his best tennis, which kind of conveys how odd the tennis landscape looks right now. Even if he’s not playing his best or close to his best, Carlos Alcaraz’s talent alone is good enough to carry him against 99% of players on clay.
The few that could stop him are not playing well right now, and nobody knows what will happen with Sinner when he gets back. He might look amazing, or he might look poor. Whatever happens, anything other than winning the French Open could be considered a failure for Alcaraz.
Iga Swiatek
Similar to Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek also has the imperative to win the French Open. It’s not so much that her career will fall apart if she doesn’t, but more in the sense that she’s been doing it for a couple of years now, so essentially everyone expects it by now. She’s the premier player on clay on the WTA Tour, having dominated the surface in the past couple of years.
What makes Swiatek so tough on clay is that she’s a consistent hitter who doesn’t make too many mistakes and is capable of putting a lot of pressure on so many players, many of whom don’t know how to deal with that.
Another crucial thing is her movement because she is by far the best mover on clay on the tennis tour—it’s not even close. So, to truly beat her, you have to outhit her, which seems damn near impossible. The thing is, it’s not as impossible as it once was.
Swiatek hasn’t been playing all too well in 2025 so far, failing to hit that high level of consistency she’s had in the past. On clay, that should look a bit better and easier, but some players can challenge her. Not many, but someone like Coco Gauff could do it, provided that she plays close to her best.
Then we have Mirra Andreeva, who has proven to be a massive problem not just for Swiatek but for a lot of players. She has that consistent hitting that gives Swiatek many issues, and she showed it in Indian Wells by beating Swiatek in such a way that, at times, the former world number one looked rather silly out there.
That sort of approach and smarts could help Andreeva challenge for the French Open title. As for Swiatek, not winning would be a problem. It doesn’t seem likely that she will challenge for any of the other Grand Slams right now because her level doesn’t seem good enough.
That could change at any time, but at least right now, it seems like Iga Swiatek could realistically only challenge for Roland Garros. So if she doesn’t win the trophy, her season might just end up being a massive disappointment. That’s why both she and Carlos Alcaraz essentially need to win the trophy, because those are the expectations. Anything less than that would be a pretty big failure for both players and certainly not good enough.