PARIS | It has been a long time since women's tennis has had such an undisputed queen as Poland's Iga Swiatek, who comes to Roland-Garros with an incredible 28-game winning streak.

Qatar, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome: the 20-year-old hasn't lost since mid-February, when Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko beat her in the third set tiebreaker in Dubai.

Announcing her retirement at the end of March, Australian Ashleigh Barty bequeathed her world premiere throne to her. But, in light of this improbable streak, the Pole was going to find herself at the top of the charts sooner rather than later.

Her 28 straight wins are one more than American Serena Williams, the most dominant player of the 2000s, had seven years ago.

And during the fortnight, Swiatek could overtake Belgian Justine Henin, who had accumulated 32 straight wins in 2007, according to a count made by the sports magazine L'Équipe.

In her sights are also the 34 victories in a row of the youngest of the Williams, in 2013, and the 35 in a row of her eldest Venus, in 2000.

It will certainly take a lot more to equal the incredible streak of the legendary Martina Navratilova, who, between 1983 and 1984, was unbeaten in... 74 games.

Not heartbroken

But Swiatek does not seem too offended. Because at the dawn of her return to Paris – she will face the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, 121st in the world on Monday –, and despite these successes, the young player says she has not set herself a specific objective for the tournament.

"I'm aware that my winning streak could end and I don't want to be heartbroken when it does," she said at a press conference on Friday. I think being aware that it's going to stop one day is pretty healthy! »

However, it was in Paris, two years ago, that the planet discovered the talent of Swiatek, when she won, at 18, her first major title.

Then 54th in the world, Swiatek was another one of those unexpected Grand Slam champions who made headlines in women's tennis over the past decade.

Two years later, she became the most anticipated champion in a long time.

On Friday, Japanese Naomi Osaka, herself a former number 1, said she had nightmares about having to face him in the first round!

But despite this new status, despite his unbeaten streak and the pressure that comes with it, the young star claims to be in a very good frame of mind at the moment.

"I really have positive thoughts," she pointed out. At times during all of these tournaments, I was a little stressed about my winning streak, but I managed to do a really good job of focusing on the tennis. »