Latest / Bleacher Report / Maja Chwalińska Reflects on Her Run to the Final _ Roland-Garros 2026

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Maja Chwalińska Reflects on Her Run to the Final _ Roland-Garros 2026 · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There are matches you remember, there are moments that live forever,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and there are stories you got to see to believe,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and we had that here this week on the women's side.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: In fact, it was since May eighteenth. She has been
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: here longer than any other player. Maya Valinska the first
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: woman or man to ever make the final as a qualifier.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: She broke the top one hundred, the top fifty, the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: top thirty, nine wins in a row, only losing one
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: set until the finals, and now she is joining us
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: on set for the final time. I'm so excited to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: say Maya Valinska is here.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: It's a pleasure to have you.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And I before we even get into your run, what
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: is it like sitting next to this guy?
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Because I could tell it was a cool moment for me.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I'm so stressed.
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: I feel like I was stressed yesterday. But no, I'm
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: just like, you know, someone need to pinch me.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: What is it about Andre that you love so much?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he's such a legend. You know.
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: When I was younger, I also watched a lot of
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: older clips.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: I don't want to say older.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Clips, so you know, I basically grew up watching you
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: and Pete and yeah, I mean the big free later.
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I'm just very like in shock right now.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: It's been a while, right Andre, What was it like
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: to watch her run?
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's it's beautiful to watch your game. I
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: love love your creativity, and I love your heart and
• 1:26
  Speaker 5: your spirit. I'm just really curious, like, what's the first
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: thing you're gonna buy? I mean, I remember when I
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: won my first big price check. It was like for me,
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: it was a Corvette, you know, like I went home
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: and bought a white Corvette.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Oh my god, are you going to do something fun?
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: No?
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: No, I'm not gonna buy anything like that. No, for now,
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: I just need to kind of relax a bit.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: It was a lot of I mean, a lot of
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: things happened during these three weeks.
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  Speaker 2: So I just need to chill a bit, that's for sure.
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: I understand that feeling.
• 2:00
  Speaker 6: Well, speaking of your game, under just mentioned it. It's refreshing,
• 2:03
  Speaker 6: right you throw up the high loop or you're crafty
• 2:05
  Speaker 6: with the slice. I think a lot of people loved
• 2:07
  Speaker 6: watching you play because that's how a lot of club
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: players kind of play. You obviously played at a much
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: higher level. Is that just something that came natural to
• 2:14
  Speaker 6: you when you were younger or is that intentional how
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: you play well.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: When I was younger, I played more flats, that's for sure,
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  Speaker 4: and I played a lot of slices, even more of
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: a now and drop shots, so I kind of developed,
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: I would say, these shots for the years. Yeah, so
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: you know, I'm not speak I'm not very strong, so
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: I had to have my own weapons, I would say.
• 2:44
  Speaker 7: Speaking of your game, from qualities until the finals, you
• 2:47
  Speaker 7: played a lot of different people, right, and we saw
• 2:50
  Speaker 7: your game. My favorite shot of yours is a forehand
• 2:52
  Speaker 7: down the line, the high looper one. How do you
• 2:55
  Speaker 7: think you've improved over the last three weeks.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: Well, I feel like every match was such a battle,
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: Like even in qualifying, you know, like hairs are so
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: good and it's really a fight for your life there.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: So yeah, every day was a challenge for me.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: So I feel like I'm just very proud that I had,
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: like I was able to adapt to the different conditions
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: different players. Yeah, and I definitely gained a lot of
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: confidence as well, because before I didn't really have an
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: opportunity to play against these girls, the high ranked players.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: So yeah, definitely great three weeks I.
• 3:37
  Speaker 8: Loved your backhand drop shot personally, you had that going
• 3:40
  Speaker 8: for three straight weeks, absolutely amazing. But I want to know,
• 3:42
  Speaker 8: at what point during your run through qualities and through
• 3:45
  Speaker 8: the main draw did you realize that you might have
• 3:47
  Speaker 8: something really special brewing here.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Not really, I feel like I still didn't process it,
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: you know, didn't process what happened. I just really focused
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: on every single much because you know, these are the
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: best players in the world, so I knew that I
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: need to play my best game to win. So yeah,
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: I didn't have any any moment that's you know, I
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: thought that maybe something specially is going to happen.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I can tell you're still processing everything that's happened. What
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: was so cool for me to see was your home
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: country and the love that you have gotten. We saw
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: it here on the grounds, Polish fans bringing the flags
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: calling it Poland Garros, the newspapers in your home country,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: all the articles being written, the headlines about you. We
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: had some insight here yesterday where I love this one,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: this one was phenomenal, but saying that the ratings for
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: your matches in Poland were higher than even Egos and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: it's not a competition at all, but just shows the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: amount that they supported you. What has it been like
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to have their support through this one?
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: I mean it's incredible. I honestly don't know what I
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: did to deserve it, but yeah, I'm just so grateful.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: You know, I feel like tennis and sports in general
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: are more than just wins and loses. You know, It's
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: about the people and the stories behind them. So I
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: feel like I'm just very grateful to share the passion
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  Speaker 4: for tennis. And also, you know, I can see the
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: emotions that my game brings in people, So yeah, it's
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: definitely an incredible feeling.
• 5:26
  Speaker 5: Well, if you don't know why you deserve it, let
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: me help you understand that you qualified and got to
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  Speaker 5: the finals one of the toughest toughest challenges in all
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  Speaker 5: of our sports. And don't be distracted by those articles.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: Don't be distracted by wins and losses. Keep making yourself
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  Speaker 5: better because you're a gift to the sport.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Thank you, And I just want to add.
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  Speaker 2: You deserve it.
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  Speaker 1: That's what I think we're all feeling right now is
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: when great things happen to good people, it makes us
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: feel good. And I think I don't want to get emotional.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: I think everyone can see how great you are. So
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: thank you for sharing that with us.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, would you mind signing some balls and throwing them
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: out to the cropt?
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: How is the autograph? Have you refined it?
• 6:10
  Speaker 7: No?
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Effected it?
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: You're gonna have to sign a lot when you get to.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Poland, let's see. I guess no, we know.
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: This is when we're glad we're not golfers, right.
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: I won't lie, but I feel like we need to
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: keep on for the set for mems Maya Linsko.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: Everybody, Oh no, the tree, Oh no, the tree Maya.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: We're so happy to add to the moment that you
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: got to meet Andre And again, congratulations and we can't
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: wait to watch it the rest of the year.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, guys, one more luck.
• 6:48
  Speaker 6: The hug.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Liav Linsk truly a Cinderella story that will not end
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: for quite some time.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Bava Linsk, thank you again so much.