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.
𝘼𝙙𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮.✔️
Wartburg head coach Marcus Newsom takes home his seventh 2026 USTFCCCA Midwest Region Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year honor!
🔗: https://t.co/LmIdlw71zE
#GoKnights x @WTF_knights
“Delta Dental calls itself a nonprofit — while its CEO took $48 MILLION in four years.”
Her pay ballooned from $4.5 million to $15 million a year.
Provider reimbursements were cut. Patients paid MORE.
‘Nonprofit’ for the tax break. For-profit at the top.
Team Pic after our state qualifying meet at Iowa City High School. Another awesome performance by the girls. We have unofficially qualified for state in the 4x800, shuttle hurdle relay, distance med, open 800, and 4x400!! This is 5 events with 15 girls!!
We finalized our spring meeting with @bennetthansen26 signing his commitment to attend and play football for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Congrats to Bennett and his family!
𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. ⚔️
The Wartburg coaching staff was named both the @AmerRiversConf men's and women's coaching staff of the year!!
#GoKnights x @WTF_knights
Former Mason City Girls Track and Field Athletes, Janae Hansen and Savannah Davis lighting up the track in the women’s 800m final today in the American Rivers Conference Meet. Savannah also ran a leg on Lora’s’ 4x800m relay who placed 1st in 9:07.28. Proud of you girls!
U.S. President Donald Trump has fired all 24 members of the National Science Board, the body that oversees the National Science Foundation. Many science advocates see it as the latest step by his administration to erode—some would say destroy—the independence of the 76-year-old research agency. https://t.co/5LrByFdzHz
For more than 25 years, comedian Dave Chappelle has called the small village of Yellow Springs, Ohio, home.
@IAmAmnaNawaz traveled there to meet with Chappelle and understand why he’s invested millions of dollars into this community and why he believes the local public media station is crucial to the town’s future.
This was one of reasons many of us supported Donald Trump.
Where has this man gone?
Now he’s sending US troops into another Middle East war that will cost us trillions more and precious lives.
No wonder he turned his back on me for fighting him to release the Epstein files.
What would cause a man to change so much?
Terrifying revelation. A retired top US General exposes Pete Hegseth for firing the Army's Chief of Chaplains. He reveals these top generals were purged because they stood up against Hegseth's psychotic claim that US soldiers are fighting for Jesus. A nationalist takeover!
WATCH: "Humanity's next great voyage begins."
NASA's Artemis II mission launches four astronauts to the moon in humanity's first lunar voyage in more than 50 years.