Latest / Bleacher Report / Venus Williams & TNT Crew Preview Andreeva vs. Chwalinska Final | Roland-Garros 2026

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Venus Williams & TNT Crew Preview Andreeva vs. Chwalinska Final | Roland-Garros 2026 · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: That we've seen that from me or Indian Wells, especially
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: letting it all out. But now that she's controlled, it's
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: turned into her play with the racket. These two combined
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: thirty six and two in sets in this tournament, each
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of them only losing one set, but they feel different.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Mira has had control, Valinska has been Wow. I can't
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: believe she's made it. How do you handicap the final?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, everything we've set so far Venus is right
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: with the person that wasn't supposed to win has been winning.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: I do think for Mira it's going to be a
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: tough matchup because Farinska, I think you, I almost have
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: to hit through her and Andreava doesn't have that easy
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: power that Sablenka or some of the other players have,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: so she'll have to grind it out. She has to
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: stay steady. It's going to be tough for her as well,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: just staying cool under the pressure. She understands that Frardinska
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: is technically quote unquote an easy opponent in the finals.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: She would have taken that coming into the tournament, but
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: nothing is easy when you come this far, and Fardisca
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: has been really taking advantage, playing great clay court tennis.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: So I'm thinking it's going to be a battle. It
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: could be three sets, and I don't know. I'm gonna
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: say I think Andreava is gonna win three sets.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: But again, I mean, I like mindset.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: If we keep going this way, we're going to keep
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: being wrong. Sloan, what do you think?
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: I think that if Helenca can get into the match
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: and keep it close, I think that she could win.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: I love the way that mir has been playing. I
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: love the way that she's been able to keep her composure.
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: I love that she's actually made huge strides in this tournament,
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: that we've actually been able to see that she's been
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: able to see and I watched. Both of them could win, honestly,
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: but I no, no, no, I want I know, I
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: want both of them to win for different reasons totally.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: But I think if it's windy, whatever the conditions are
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: that day, will affect the match a lot, because Helenska
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: is going to benefit from whin. She's going to benefit
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: from the court being slower, if it's like muggy, if
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: it's been raining, if there was no that much clay
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: on the courtine because it was so windy, like that
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: helps Helenska, not Mira. Yes, and they're gonna have to
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: play a lot of rallies. If there's the fifty points
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: that have plus nine shots like that goes in Holenska's favor,
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: not necessarily Mira. So it really depends on how we
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: wake up on Saturday and what the weather is like
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: and the vibes. And that's why I'm like, I can't
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: really well check your vibe Saturday, but the sun comes
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: out on Saturday. I'll let you guys, now, I'll see
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: what's happening.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: I'm having flashback to last year. It was Mira Andreev
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: against Lowe Boisson, the French woman that was wearing three
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty first in the world, made a surprise
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: run to the Semis. The difference there was the entire
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: stadium was for Lowe Bosson. I'm not sure how it's
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: going to be split tomorrow. But that was also a
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: different style of player up against Mira, and it created
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: a lot of issues.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Look, I think for Mira, the biggest thing I saw
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: from her today and I mentioned this earlier, she was
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: up sixty three four on breakpoint to go up five
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: to one, didn't get it, then lost Sir kost Schakeld.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: It was four to three. But just like Tiger Woods
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: and Scottie Scheffler when they bogie a Holt, they bounced
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: back with a birdie.
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: There's these bounce The best athletes bounce back quickly after
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: the little uls, right, And that's exactly what Mira did
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: today because that match could have got tricky had it
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: got to four all in the second Shiit set. And Mira,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: we know over the years mentally she's mentally she's gone
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: off a little bit at times. She didn't do that
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: at all to day, she kept her cool, came right
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: back one eight of the next ten points to close
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: out this match.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: I think this role on Girrol's crowd is going to
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: be on Valinska's side.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I mean like they just.
• 3:29
  Speaker 5: Love this underdog story.
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: How can you not.
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: But her opponent across Sanet in two days time is
• 3:34
  Speaker 5: also beloved. It's just two great women players going going
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: at it in this final. It's going to be about
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: I mean, pick against Valinska at your own peril. I agree,
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: everyone's done it for such a long time. I'm going
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: to do it one more time and take Andreeva. But
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: She's going for ten matches in a row here at
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Rolling Garrols.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: It's unbelievable.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: She was the only woman in the Kalshi odds a
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: few months ago that people thought even had a chance
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: to win. Valinska only really made it onto the odds
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: like two days ago because it just the belief wasn't there.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Venus sometimes it's written in the stars. This feels like
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: one of those Cinderella stories.
• 4:10
  Speaker 6: It's definitely a Cinderella story. Doesn't feel like it. And
• 4:13
  Speaker 6: I think one of the advantages that she has, Maya
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: is that no one's played her before. She's seen everyone
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: else play, no one's played her, and she plays a
• 4:23
  Speaker 6: little bit different than most players. Every player is used
• 4:26
  Speaker 6: to seeing maybe a little more pace, a little more speed.
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: The women's game has become even more power game than
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: it ever was, and she's coming out like rolling the ball,
• 4:33
  Speaker 6: and everybody's like, what do we do? Maybe overhitting, overplaying, overthinking,
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: maybe thinking I should be winning easier, and then they're
• 4:40
  Speaker 6: packing their bags and going home. So she definitely has
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: that advantage, and Mira is going to have a lot
• 4:45
  Speaker 6: to think about. I played an upstart once in a
• 4:48
  Speaker 6: final in a Grand Slam final that came through beat everyone,
• 4:52
  Speaker 6: and as a player that's supposed to win, you definitely
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: think about it. I was thinking about it and maybe
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: didn't play my best. I pulled through, but you know,
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: I kind of had some moments where it didn't work
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: the way I was hoping.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Take us through that. What was it like the night before?
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: What was it like when you went out there on
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the court being in that situation.
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: Well, I studied her film NonStop. I did, so I
• 5:14
  Speaker 6: knew exactly what she was going to do before she
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: did it. But at the same time, even though I
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: knew the game, mentally, I was like, you don't want
• 5:19
  Speaker 6: to lose, especially a match that you should definitely win.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like a no win situation. Granted you
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: left it, but it's also you're supposed to.
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I I lost it. Not the match. I lost
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: a set. I lost a second set. Rain delay. I
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: was able to kind of think through it and kind
• 5:34
  Speaker 6: of compose myself and I came back out and you know,
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: sped through that set. So maybe the rain will help
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: if I'm driva falls, I don't know, But in any case,
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: it's not as straightforward as it looks.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: And Sloan. You've stepped on there for a final before.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: What will both of these women be feeling in that
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: moment on Saturday.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: It'll definitely be nerve wracking. This is one of the
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: tournaments where they pull they bring out the trophy like
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: after the first set, like there's a lot going on
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: on the court that you're like, oh god, that could
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: be me, Like there's so much happening, and this is
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: like one of the few tournaments that does it, like
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: they literally like out, yeah, like it's.
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: There's a lot.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: So I think for Maya, who has never even experienced
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: a second, third, fourth round final here, like it's going
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: to be nerve wracking, but she has everything to play for.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: I think when nobody knows your game, when they don't,
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: when they're not familiar with you, like this is her
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: opportunity right now to win a Grand Slam, Like this
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: might be the only opportunity that she ever gets to
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: play in a Grand Slam final. But the way she's playing,
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: nobody knows her game style, no one has played her.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: The opportunity is now we've seen Mere, we know how
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: Mira plays, we know what can happen, what can go
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: off the rails, we actually don't know what Maya can't do,
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: Like we don't know if she can get crazy, and
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: we have no idea, right, so it's like she has
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: everything to play for, but the biggest opportunity is is going.
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: To be on Saturday.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Boy, she has been poised this entire time. I just checked.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: It just turned eight o'clock in Paris and that's way
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: far for midnight, So Cinderella's still got a few hours left.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Mira or Maya both great stories. Your move ATP that's right,