Maja Chwalinska’s remarkable 2026 season has taken her from relative obscurity to two of the biggest finals in women’s tennis. But the road from Roland-Garros to her maiden WTA 1000 title in Wuhan was anything but smooth.
The 24-year-old Pole, who rallied from a set down to defeat Sonay Kartal 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Sunday’s final, admitted that the aftermath of her stunning breakthrough in Paris had taken an emotional toll.
“It tastes very sweet, I have to admit. I still don’t realize that I won,” Chwalinska said after claiming the biggest title of her career on Sunday in Wuhan. “It feels special because after the amazing French Open, I had some tough moments. I feel people were also very rough towards me, and it took a toll on me as well. I’m just a human.”
Chwalinska arrived at Roland-Garros ranked No.114, with just six career WTA main-draw victories to her name. She promptly doubled that total, becoming just the third woman in history to reach the Roland-Garros final on her main-draw debut, joining Evonne Goolagong (1971) and Chris Evert (1973).
She also became just the third woman ranked outside the Top 100 to reach a Grand Slam final in the last 40 years, joining Serena Williams and Emma Raducanu.
She did it with style, treating the fabled Parisian clay as her own personal chessboard. The left-handed Pole’s clever game opened angles and also opened the eyes to the public of the immense talent she possessed.
Not surprisingly, the sudden attention proved difficult to navigate, and Chwalinska managed just one victory between Roland-Garros and the US Open.
“It was very tough for me,” she told WTAtennis.com after Sunday’s triumph. “It’s just such a different world for me now. Tennis stays the same, but off court it’s just so much different.”
The unorthodox Pole, who relies on creativity and peppery court craft rather than raw power, also admitted that she had long questioned whether her unconventional game could succeed at the highest level.
She doesn’t need to worry any longer – the proof is in the pudding, and today’s career-high ranking of No.11.
“I wasn’t sure if my game can compete against the best in the world because it’s not very common,” she said her post-match press conference at Wuhan, with quotes provided by tennis journalist Michael Samulski. “I think that was the biggest question mark for me.”
Now that she’s a WTA 1000 champion and a Grand Slam finalist, Chwalinska can go into the off-season knowing that she obliterated even her wildest expectations this year.
“My goal was to be top 100 this year, so I think I did a pretty good job,” she said. “But I feel like there are so many things to improve in my game and in myself.”
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