A 24-year-old Polish tennis player arrived in Paris last week ranked 114th in the world, with no sponsors, no guaranteed income, and no certainty she could even pay for her hotel room.
She had to win three qualifying matches just to enter the French Open main draw. Prize money is only paid at the end of the tournament, so a Polish sports drink brand quietly stepped in and covered her hotel bill.
Her name is Maja Chwalinska. And today, she plays in the French Open final.
Before this tournament, she had won exactly one Grand Slam main draw match in her entire career. She had battled depression so severe that in 2021 she couldn't get out of bed. She underwent knee surgery in 2022. She spent years grinding through small tournaments across Europe just to stay afloat.
Then she arrived in Paris, won three qualifiers, and kept winning. Zheng Qinwen. Elise Mertens. Maria Sakkari. Diana Shnaider. Nine straight matches. One set dropped.
She is now the first qualifier in French Open history to reach the final. The last time a qualifier reached a Grand Slam final, it was Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. Raducanu won.
By simply making the final, Chwalinska has earned more prize money than her entire career combined. The runner-up cheque alone is $1.6 million. If she wins today, she takes home $3.25 million.
One week ago she couldn't pay for her hotel room.
Congratulations to Ayla Tuua at Destiny Christian Academy for being named the 2025-26 @Gatorade California Girls Softball Player of the Year! 🏆👏
#GatoradePartner#GatoradePOY
How does this even happen⁉️😭
A woman somehow drove her car onto Seattle’s elevated light rail tracks at Mount Baker Station on Wednesday evening, bringing train service to a halt. 😳🚆
Witnesses say the driver told people she was “following GPS” after ending up on the tracks and driving a significant distance before getting stuck. The vehicle had to be removed from the guideway, causing major delays for riders across the 1 Line. #DUBSEA
ESPN's #WCWS viewership continues to soar 📈
🥎 Through 10 games, 1.5M avg. viewers
🥎 3 of the 5 most-watched non-Finals games on record
🥎 @TexasTechSB-@UCLASoftball 2.0M avg. viewers, the 2nd most-watched non-Finals game EVER
#NCAASoftball
Introduce yourself with 10 bands you’ve seen live:
Metallica
Blink 182
Rammstein
Deftones
Bring Me The Horizon
Dave Matthews Band
Foo Fighters
Lamb of God
Linkin Park
Eric Church