Swiatek looks to extend Roland Garros dominance to the Olympic stage

Later, when Iga Swiatek was asked what it would mean to win a medal in Paris, she smiled and offered her most enthusiastic response of the session.

“From my side as a professional,” Swiatek said, “I’m going to treat it as any other tournament, to keep my routines, be able to perform my best. But it would mean obviously a lot. I’ll really work hard to achieve that.

“But it’s tennis, so you never know. We don’t get many chances. I’m going to compete in singles and mixed doubles basically. I’ll just do my best.”

That best at this Olympic tennis venue, fabled Roland Garros, has been good enough to secure Swiatek four titles in the past five years. The most recent came only seven weeks ago, when she dropped only one set in seven matches on her favorite court in the world. These Olympic Games could make her five-for-five.

As a result, Swiatek has a distinct advantage going into the 64-player tournament that begins Saturday. How will things play out? History — albeit a very small sample — suggests these Games will look a lot like the recently completed French Open.

This is the 17^th time tennis has been a full-medal sport at the Olympics. There were seven competitions from 1896-1924, including two in Paris and one in London. After a long hiatus, tennis returned in 1988 at Seoul, South Korea.

In 2012, Wimbledon’s fortnight (June 25-July 8) was followed three weeks later by the Olympics at the same All England Club location. In the women’s semifinals, Serena Williams defeated Victoria Azarenka, while Agnieszka Radwanska was a winner over Angelique Kerber. Williams won the final over Radwanska in three sets and teamed with sister Venus to win the doubles title.

On the men’s side, Roger Federer took the final over home favorite Andy Murray in four sets. The same pair made the Olympic final, with Murray reversing the result for the gold medal.

Serena was a repeat winner in singles, defeating Maria Sharapova in the gold-medal final — for her first and only singles gold — while Azarenka took bronze. Serena and Venus were again doubles champions, taking their third Olympic gold medal.

So, will Paris follow suit?

Perhaps, but there are a few different variables in play that will open up the possibilities. Three of the quarterfinalists at this year’s French Open will not be in the field: No.3 Aryna Sabalenka, No.16 Ons Jabeur and reigning silver medalist Marketa Vondrousova, who recently withdrew with a hand injury. In addition, a number of distinguished players — among them, Daria Kasatkina, Madison Keys, Paula Badosa, Veronika Kudermetova, Sloane Stephens and Emma Raducanu — have chosen to compete in the WTA Tour 500 in Washington, D.C.

Swiatek is the No.1 seed, joined by No.2 Coco Gauff, No.4 Jasmine Polini and No.5 Jessica Pegula. It’s worth noting that Swiatek beat Gauff in the recent Roland Garros semifinals and Paolini in the final. Swiatek and Gauff can’t meet until the gold-medal final.

There was a terrific post recently on X: “Iga arriving in Paris after playing on grass for three matches.” The clip was actress Sarah Jessica Parker in a “Sex and the City” episode when she literally jumped for joy at the sight of the Eiffel Tower.

That about sums up Swiatek’s emotional state coming into the facility where she’s won 35 of 37 singles matches. She’ll also played mixed doubles with Hubert Hurkacz.

Doubles, on the other hand, is likely to provide some high drama. Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, defending Olympic champions and seven-time Grand Slam winners, will be playing only their second match together since last November.