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.
Good morning and Happy Saturday to everyone who remembers, on No Kings Day, that as Gen. Milley said "We don't take an oath to a king or a queen... we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator.
We take an oath to the Constitution."
Keep it peaceful.🙏
This is Marine Colonel Doug Krugman, a 24-year combat veteran. He has resigned citing Trump's disregard for the Constitution: "I have given up the service I loved for the freedom to do the right thing...to speak in defense of our country."
RETWEET if you stand with Col. Krugman!
@BreakParDDB Reporting is the toughest step to this problem and is also the root problem. Compounding it the consequential issue of the chain of command using collateral misconduct to go after the victims instead of actually pursuing the CRIMINALS who commit it!## #CSA
@BreakParDDB Yes, we must defeat this sh*t does not belong anywhere in society and against anyone. After years of fighting this epidemic, I now wonder if my very own whom I have also been protecting and entrusted military ‘leaders’ to do the same have not just betrayed us.
Good morning Twitter. This is your daily reminder to remember that we can train to defeat the enemy, modernize our efforts to do so, eradicate SA/SH and extremism from our force, take care of our people and selves and have fun doing it...ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Now off to do PT.