My French Open top 10

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Here are my top 10 French Open occurrences, in ascending order:

10. No surprise: The last two juniors standing, 12th seed Tereza Valentova and 3rd seed Laura Samson, are both from the Czech Republic. Of course they are--the Czech Republic may be a small country, but it produces great tennis players. Valentova won the title, defeating Samson 6-3, 7-6 (0). Valentova, with partner Renata Jamrichova (from Slovakia) also won the doubles title.

9. Gone too soon: We lost some notable players in the first round of the tournament. 6th seed (and 2020 finalist) Maria Sakkari was defeated by Varvara Gracheva. The 13th seed, the indefatigable Beatriz Haddad Maia, lost to Elisabetta Cocciaretta. And 2021 champion Barbora Krejcikova lost to Victorija Golubic.

8. Back in the mix: In 2016, Laura Siegemund won the U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Mate Pavic. Eight years later, she is again a major champion. Siegemund and Edouard Roger-Vasselin won the French Open mixed doubles title. Seeded 2nd, Siegemund and Roger-Vasselin defeated Desirae Krawczyk and Neal Skupski in the final.

7. Ajde!: Every major has an under-the-radar star, and at this year's French Open, it was Olga Danilovic. The Serbian player, ranked 125 in the world, had to play three qualifying rounds before she even got to the main draw, but once she got there, she earned everyone's attention. In the opening round, she easily defeated Martina Trevisan, who can be a really tough opponent. In the second round, she upset 11th seed Danielle Collins, arguably the hottest player on the tour right now who isn't named Swiatek. Then, in the third round, Danilovic beat Donna Vekic, despite getting bageled in the first set. She was finally stopped by 5th seed Marketa Vondrousova, in the round of 16, but it was an unforgettable run.

6. You haven't seen Hot Wheels like these: She did it again. Top seed and three-time defending champion Diede de Groot won her fifth French Open singles championship, defeating Zhenzhen Zhu in the final. She and partner Aniek Van Koot, seeded 2nd, also won their sixth French Open doubles title. (Tennis Channel Plus didn't show wheelchair matches this year, and that is unacceptable.)

5. Illness 2, tennis stars 0: Elena Rybankina has been dealing with health problems for a while now. She withdrew from both Indian Wells and Rome, which would have been bad enough, but--to make it much worse--she was the defending champion at both tournaments. I don't know what the ailment is that's affecting the world number 's career, but in addition to it, she also struggles with allergies. And it was announced this past week that she has also developed sleep problems, which may be the most difficult condition of all. In her quarterfinal match against Jasmine Paolini, she appeared listless, though she rallied to win the second set. Fans, of course, have taken this opportunity to criticize her relentlessly. My wish is that she get the medical care that she needs sooner than later.

Also during the quarterfinals, 2nd seed Aryna Sabalenka developed a stomach illness, which clearly hampered her, and she lost to Mirra Andreeva.

4. Mamma Mia! I picked Jasmine Paolini as my dark horse for this tournament, and it turned out to be a pretty good pick--she made it all the way to the final. The new generation Fighting Italian, in addition to defeating Rybakina, also defeated the likes of Bianca Andreescu, the in-form Varvara Gracheva, and teen star Mirra Andreeva. 

3. Living dangerously: No one would be surprised to see Naomi Osaka play a very impressive comeback match, but a lot of people would be surprised to see her do it on clay. But that's exactly what the former world number 1 did in the second round. Osaka took top seed Iga Swiatek to the very edge, and I'm still not totally sure how Swiatek survived the ordeal. The match lasted almost three hours, and Swiatek went down 0-3 in the third set. She then found herself down 2-5 and facing a match point. It was at this point that the top seed's mental strength was on magnificent display, and she emerged the winner, 7-6 (1), 1-6, 7-5. It was the match of the tournament.

2. How do you do? Could you help me lift this trophy?: Coco Gauff's doubles partner, Jess Pegula, is still recovering from injury and didn't play in this year's French Open. Katerina Siniakova's doubles partner, Storm Hunter, is out with injury, as is her Rome partner, Taylor Townsend. So, at the last minute, Gauff and Siniakova decided to form a team in Paris. The pair, seeded 5th, dropped only one set the entire tournament, and won the title when they defeated the team of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini (there she is again!) 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the final. This is Gauff's first major doubles title. It is Siniakova's eighth major doubles title and her third French Open doubles title. Siniakova won all of her other major titles with former long-time partner Barbora Krejcikova.

1. She loves Paris every moment: The French Open image that will probably stay with most of us is that of Iga Swiatek sobbing with relief and release after just barely escaping a loss to Naomi Osaka in the second round. She had not only escaped an early round loss, she had proven to herself what she can do with her nerves of steel. Osaka threw everything at her, but she survived. And after that, it was a pretty easy ride for the world number 1, culminating with her win over Paolini in the final.

This is Swiatek's third consecutive French Open title, and her fourth French Open title overall; she also won Rome and Madrid. During her two weeks in Paris, Swiatek treated us not only to some spectacular tennis, but also some peak (and charming) nerdiness. When she couldn't recall the name of the place she had visited, she bent down and drew a map in the clay so that the interviewer could identify her destination. A couple of days later, she explained, with gestures, the wind current patterns to the people in the stands. (After all, this is the woman who, once, during a changeover, read Wuthering Heights.) She is an extraordinary athlete. She knows about a lot of different things. She is the Queen of Paris.