The French Open had plenty of exciting storylines to follow, with the women’s bracket showing up and showing out. Just Women’s Sports has three takeaways from Roland-Garros as attention shifts away from clay and towards the grass.

Coco Gauff has arrived

Coco Gauff advanced to her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, capping off a month in which she also graduated high school.

She also appears to have graduated to another level of play.

In the singles bracket, Gauff didn’t drop a set en route to the championship match. Her only stumbling block was Swiatek, who sits No. 1 in the world and is on a 35-match winning streak. Since her finals loss, Gauff has risen 10 spots in the world rankings to a career-high No. 13.

“I feel like throughout my career, and even in juniors, the reason I had success so early is that I was able to see that level and then go back and practice and try to reach that level,” Gauff said after the final singles match.

“Now that I have seen the level, this level of No.1 and 35 matches [won in a row], I know what I have to do,” she said. “I’m sure I’m going to play her in another final and hopefully it’s a different result.”

Admittedly, Gauff’s mindset around the big matches has changed, which she says is a big contributor to her success. She handled her first major final like a pro.

“In the match it probably looked like I was freaking out, but really it was just Iga was too good,” Gauff said. “I wasn’t freaking out. So I think the moment, I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I was going to be.”

Can anyone stop Iga Swiatek?

Entering the French Open, there was no question about Iga Swiatek’s dominance since she ascended to the world No. 1 ranking. En route to her second title in three years at Roland Garros, Swiatek dropped just one set.

While there was no doubt that she would keep her current ranking, she’s only solidified her grip on No. 1. With 8,631 points, she has a 4,305-point lead on second-ranked Anett Kontaveit.

With a 35-match winning streak, Swiatek has bested Serena Williams and tied with Venus Williams for the longest streak since 2000. The Polish player will forever have her name etched into the history books.

The only question that remains is what could have happened if the Swiatek of right now had the chance to go up against Ash Barty, who retired after her dominant Australian Open win.

“I do,” Swiatek told the Guardian when asked if she wished she could play Barty right now. “I was thinking about that yesterday. I would love to be in a better shape than I was when I was playing against her, just have more variety and more abilities and to win against Ash. That would be great.”

The women deserve more respect

French Open director Amelie Mauresmo made headlines when she said that women’s tennis has less “appeal” than men’s tennis in attempting to defend the decision to schedule just one women’s match across 10 night sessions.

Following criticism from both fans and players, Mauresmo walked her comments back, apologizing to the players and saying that she was taken out of context. She said on the Tennis Channel that it was about whether or not it was “fair to ticketholders” to put a three-set women’s match in the night spot versus a five-set men’s match.

“I feel that it’s really tougher to schedule a women’s match because we have to take into consideration the length [of the matches],” she said, adding that next year they may look into having two matches at night “or maybe a women’s match plus a doubles match.”

On average, best-of-three matches last 90 minutes, while best-of-five matches can last around 2 hours and 45 minutes. But questions about the length of men’s matches – and whether or not they’re too long – have also risen. The night match between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic went until past 1 a.m. – long after public transportation had stopped running.

Meanwhile, the women’s bracket had Swiatek – who wasn’t awarded a night match – and her winning streak. Gauff and her incredible run. Some high-profile upsets – including Amanda Anisimova over Naomi Osaka in the first round.

No matter the length of the matches, the women seemed ready for prime time.

US swimming icon Katie Ledecky is back on top, earning her 22nd world title with a gold medal-winning 1,500-meter freestyle performance at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Tuesday.

Finishing with a time of 15:26.44, Ledecky now owns 25 of the top 26 times in the event's history and holds six World Aquatics Championships titles at that distance.

"Each one has meaning, and I love every race that I've had at Worlds over the years," the 28-year-old swimming star told broadcasters following her Tuesday victory.

That 22nd title brought Ledecky's combined Worlds total to an overall 28 medals, lifting the star to second on the all-time most decorated list where she trails only retired US men's star Michael Phelps's 33 podium finishes.

Earlier in the week, the Team USA standout took bronze in the 400-meter freestyle, coming in third behind China's silver-medalist Li Bingjie and Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh, who won the race with a time of 3:56.26.

Gold medals have been hard to come by for Team USA at this year's World Championships.

Other than Ledecky's win and the 100-meter butterfly title snagged by Gretchen Walsh on Monday, the US women have struggled to claim gold medals as they push to recover from the acute gastroenteritis that hit several team members at their pre-meet training camp in Thailand.

That stomach bug inhibited multiple US swimmers from traveling with the team to the Singapore meet, and saw contenders like 100-meter butterfly Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske pull out of initial heats.

"We're taking it a day at a time," said Team USA head coach Greg Meehan about the impact of the illness. "Obviously, this is not how we thought the first few days of this competition would go. But I'm really proud of our team."

How to watch Ledecky at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships

The 2025 World Aquatics Championships runs through Sunday, and US star Ledecky has two events left to swim at the meet.

On Thursday, she'll compete in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, before facing another showdown with rival McIntosh in the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday.

Preliminary heats kick off the night before at 10 PM ET, with finals seeing staggered starts beginning at 7 AM ET.

Live coverage of the meet airs on Peacock.

UEFA Women's Euro 2025 made a splash across the pond, drawing an average of 458,000 US viewers per match across FOX platforms to mark a 97% viewership increase over the 2022 edition — making this year's tournament the most-watched English-language Women's Euro on record.

Building off the 2025 competition's previously reported record-breaking numbers, Sunday's grand finale between defending champs England and 2023 World Cup winners Spain averaged 1.35 million US viewers — a 53% increase in viewership over the last Women's Euro championship match.

Even more, the broadcast ultimately peaked at 1.92 million fans tuning in, making it the most-watched English-language Women's Euro Final on record.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

The historic viewership is a major win for broadcaster FOX, who secured the women's tournament's first-ever US media deal back in May.

Initially committing to live coverage of 20 of the tournament's matches, record returns motivated the broadcast giant to quickly pivot and air all 31 matches live as part of its FOX Sports Summer of Soccer campaign.

"More and more people are tuning in to watch soccer in the US," FOX Sports commentator and UWSNT vet Carli Lloyd told The Athletic. "There's just been an incredible amount of soccer on display, which has been fantastic for the sport."

As the NWSL preps for this weekend's return from an extended summer break, No. 4 Washington Spirit star forward Trinity Rodman is also hoping to re-take the pitch for the first time since April.

Rodman is currently back training with the team, rejoining her club after undergoing extended treatment overseas for chronic back issues.

"I'd never really dealt with something like that," Rodman admitted after an open practice earlier this week. "So, for me, mentally, it was very difficult."

"[I was] trying to function through pain, and kind of gaslight myself to thinking it was fine every day, when it wasn't," she said. "I can now kind of openly say, I was in pain all the time."

Rodman also admits that stepping away was, though difficult, the right call to make for her healing.

"Obviously, it sucks being away from the team and being away from soccer in general," she added. "But I got to work on things that I wouldn't have gotten to work on if I was in the team environment all the time, so I think that was a positive."

Rodman's availability fluctuated after she earned an Olympic gold medal with the USWNT in Paris last summer, with the soccer superstar featuring in just four Spirit games this season — and none since stepping away in April.

Now functioning pain-free, Rodman's next on-pitch challenge is balancing her competitive intensity with her newly found health.

"It's really understanding my body and acknowledging [when] it's in pain," she explained. "And not pushing through things that I shouldn't."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Rodman eyes new contract amid NWSL return

On top of navigating her return to play, Rodman is also actively negotiating with the Washington Spirit for a contract renewal.

Her current deal expires at the end of 2025, and with interest in the US standout reportedly mounting from overseas clubs, the 23-year-old could eventually field multiple offers.

Considering her lack of minutes so far this season, the star called the assumed interest "a weird situation."

"I'm trying not to stress about it or put too much pressure on it," she said of the ongoing talks. "At the end of the day, I'm worried about health first.... Everything else can come next."

Wednesday's WNBA bill puts a heavyweight battle in the spotlight, as 2024 finalists and 2025 league leaders Minnesota will host reigning champion No. 2 New York in their first face-off of the season — with the Liberty hoping to rattle both the Lynx and the standings.

"I think common sense would say that those two teams probably should have played earlier in the season," Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve told media this week, referencing the apparent scheduling idiosyncrasies that delayed the championship rematch.

"It doesn't feel like a Finals rematch anymore, honestly," Lynx forward Napheesa Collier echoed. "It's a new year for us. And it's been so long, it's almost August, so it's just the two top teams going against each other."

Both squads enter the clash on uncharacteristic skids, as Minnesota and New York look to avenge recent losses while other WNBA teams jockey for positioning during the league's Wednesday night slate:

• No. 3 Phoenix Mercury vs. No. 6 Indiana Fever, 7 PM ET (ESPN3): The Fever must continue to contend without injured star guard Caitlin Clark, as Indiana faces a newly healthy Mercury side striving to steal back the No. 2 spot with a win.

• No. 5 Atlanta Dream vs. No. 11 Dallas Wings, 8 PM ET (ESPN3): After a disappointing Tuesday upset loss, the will Dream close out a back-to-back against a bolstered Dallas squad fresh off a big victory over New York.

• No. 2 New York Liberty vs. No. 1 Minnesota Lynx, 8 PM ET (ESPN): With a four-game lead in the standings, the Lynx aren't in danger of giving up their perch at the top, but a strong performance from the Liberty could provide a much-needed boost to the ailing title-holders.