The world of many tennis professionals ends at the baseline.

They try day in and day out to hit the ball as precisely, hard and often as possible into the opposing field.

The rest is personal hygiene, video games, Instagram, boyfriend or girlfriend - done.

The two young women playing for the title at the French Open this Saturday (3 p.m. on Eurosport) are of a different breed.

Thomas Klemm

sports editor.

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Anyone who expects more from athletes than well-trained bodies and a focus on the competition can see it as a dream final: a meeting between two very young women who have a lot more on their minds than tennis.

If the two hadn't decided so early on to become tennis professionals, Iga Swiatek would probably be doing her bachelor's degree in literary sociology and Coco Gauff would be organizing protest events for Fridays for Future.

The 21-year-old Swiatek from Poland, who has been the best player in the world for months, devours books like other people eat Asian noodles and has new reading tips ready every week.

In line with her two-week stay in France, she is currently reading “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas.

Before that, she completed "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari.

She wants to broaden her horizons, said Swiatek.

"Harari thinks about things I would never have thought of myself."

“First human, then tennis player”

Coco Gauff, 18 years old and American, on the other hand, uses the stage of a Grand Slam tournament to spread political messages.

At the moment, shaken by the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, she is campaigning for peace in her homeland: "No gun violence!" Wrote Gauff after her semifinal victory on the lens of the television camera on the edge of the field, i.e. where other tennis professionals scribble their name or a heart .

"My father always told me that I could change the world with my racket.

He wasn't just relating this to tennis," Gauff said.

It is only natural for her that she uses her celebrity and the Paris podium and that she supports social issues as an athlete: "First I am a human being and then a tennis player."

It clicked at Swiatek

The roles before the Paris final are also clearly divided in terms of sport.

Iga Swiatek, the bookworm, is the undisputed favorite, against whom every opponent has more or less failed miserably for months.

The Pole won 34 matches and five tournaments in a row, she finished 16 sets 6-0, most of the others were no less clear.

If she also wins this Saturday, she would not only be Roland Garros champion for the second time after 2020, but would also have had the longest winning streak since Venus Williams in 2000.

"It clicked in every respect this season, physically, playfully and mentally," said Swiatek.

Week after week, the Pole confirms with self-evident sovereignty the leadership in the world rankings she took after Ashleigh Barty's sudden withdrawal into private life at the beginning of April.

"But it seems obvious to me that my series will soon come to an end," said Swiatek after her once again befitting 6:2, 6:1 semifinal victory over the Russian Darja Kassatkina.

Swiatek has won all of their last eight finals on the professional tour.

Will the winning streak break on this Pentecost Saturday in Paris?

Gauff's fine line

Coco Gauff, the do-gooder, is the confident challenger who won't settle for reaching her first Grand Slam final.

The fact that she made it into the final without losing a set and is even a bit better off than Swiatek, that at 18 she is the youngest finalist in one of the four most important tournaments since Maria Sharapova in Wimbledon in 2004 - all well and good, but not everything .

She feels ready to win a Grand Slam title, said Gauff, but at the same time doesn't want to put herself under pressure: "It's a fine line between having self-confidence and pushing yourself too high." She has learned the most important lessons from her young, but eventful career understood.

After Coco Gauff won the junior women's title at Roland Garros in 2018 and rose to number one in young talent, she was immediately hailed as the rising superstar and successor to Serena Williams.

Not because of their looks, but because of their talent and their power.

In 2019, when Gauff was just 15, she seemed to confirm the hype at Wimbledon.

She defeated Venus Williams and only lost to eventual tournament winner Simona Halep in the round of 16.

"By believing everything, I fell into a trap," said Gauff in Paris about the hype of the time.

Today she feels freer, which she also shows on the pitches of Roland Garros.

Her attitude: "It's just a tennis match.

come what may.”

"I have nothing to lose"

Iga Swiatek's hopes that her opponents will become more nervous by the day while she is undaunted in playing her sporting power seem to be unfulfilled with Gauff.

"I have nothing to lose," she said before the final.

The American has gained muscle and mentality, above all she has learned the patience necessary for long clay court matches and a few tactical finesse.

Iga Swiatek plays smarter and more complete.

She has a tremendous forehand and covers her half of the court better than anyone else.

She loves mathematics, and that's how she plays: there's a lot of logic in her tricks, like chess.

"It's hard to find gaps in your game," said Gauff's compatriot Jessica Pegula after her Paris quarter-final defeat against the Pole.

The women's final will also be an intellectual challenge: first for Gauff, then for everyone.

Either way.