Chris Evert makes bold prediction about Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz

Chris Evert has earned the right to be called “noble” and “talented.” She had the talent that earned her 18 major titles as a player. If World Team Tennis hadn’t kept her away from Grand Slam events, she might have won several more. In fact, Serena Williams has won 24 major titles, but Evert and Martina Navratilova could have reached that number without WTT.

Tennis was different in the 1970s. The focus was less on the majors and more on selling the sport. This may seem incomprehensible today, but we can’t pretend that World Team Tennis wasn’t important. The players made good money this way, no matter what their legacy was.

Still, 18 Grand Slam victories is a lot. Iga Swiatek, who recently won her fourth French Open title, now has only five. However, the Pole is only 23 years old and should have a chance to win many more majors. The same can be said of Carlos Alcaraz. He is only 21 and has three major victories to his name.

After both Alcaraz and Swiatek won at Roland Garros, Evert took to X/Twitter to not only congratulate them but also predict how well they will do in the future. The problem is that Evert may have gone a bit overboard in her effusive praise. This caused some on social media to wonder what exactly she meant.

Evert wrote: “Congratulations to (Swiatek) and (Alcaraz)! You have taken the game to a new and higher level. I predict double-digit results at the Grand Slam tournaments. You will be around for a long time!”

Because both Swiatek and Alcaraz are so young, there’s a real chance they’ll both reach double-digit Grand Slam wins. Swiatek could come close to matching Evert’s number of major wins. The Pole is arguably the best player on the women’s side of the French Open since Evert started playing there.

The question is whether Swiatek and Alcaraz really took tennis to a “higher level.” As many fans have pointed out, saying the two young players took tennis to a new level ignores the achievements of players like Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Evert probably didn’t mean to imply that, but she reiterated her statement when asked about it.

Of course, Chris Evert may be right. Who can say for sure that Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz will not end their careers with the most Grand Slam wins on their respective sides of tennis? And who are we to doubt Evert?

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