Maja Chwalinska’s fairytale run to the women’s singles final of the 2026 French Open has unsurprisingly drawn comparisons with Emma Raducanu’s title triumph at the US Open five years ago. However, Raducanu has also ended up catching strays from certain tennis fans, and one instance of this led to Australian former doubles No. 1 Rennae Stubbs delivering a fired-up reaction.
In 2021, an 18-year-old qualifier from Great Britain, Emma Raducanu, sent shockwaves through the world of tennis by winning the US Open, becoming the first qualifier in the Open Era to claim a major crown. Now, 24-year-old Maja Chwalinska of Poland is aiming to follow in the Brit’s footsteps. Having started her French Open campaign in the first round of qualifying, Chwalinska has won nine straight matches to secure progress to the final.
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Following the World No. 114’s semifinal victory over Diana Shnaider at Roland Garros, Rennae Stubbs took to X (formerly Twitter) and lauded the Pole’s game. Stubbs also brought up Raducanu in her post, writing:
“Chwalinska is so fun to watch!!! could we have another Emma Raducanu????”
Later, a fan, in a reply, criticized Stubbs’ post, opining that the Chwalinska-Raducanu comparisons are getting ‘tedious’.
“I hope so then everyone can “fan” her and we’ll stop hearing about Emma, it’s tedious now,” the fan wrote.
Irked by the fan’s response, the former doubles No. 1 who briefly coached Serena Williams fired back. Defending Raducanu’s run to the US Open title in 2021, Stubbs wrote:
“Why so sad?? i mean no matter how bitter u are as a human, Emma will always have a VERY well earned Major title. Again as i said, EARNED!! YOU on the other hand, will always just be a person thats bitter about someone elses success.”
Maja Chwalinska discloses plan to rest and recover ahead of French Open final showdown against Mirra Andreeva
Mirra Andreeva, the 19-year-old World No. 8 from Russia, stands in the way of Maja Chwalinska and the women’s singles title at the 2026 French Open. Following her semifinal win over Diana Shnaider, Chwalinska spoke up about her recovery plan ahead of her maiden major final outing, telling reporters at a press conference:
“I’m going to repeat myself, but I’m going to sleep, I’m going to drink my tea and I’m going to watch something good, maybe some tennis a bit because I’m a tennis freak a bit. That’s it.”
Andreeva made short work of Ukrainian star Marta Kostyuk in the other semifinal, and on paper, facing the 19-year-old is Maja Chwalinska’s most daunting challenge yet in her remarkable Roland Garros run.
Edited by Sudipto Pati