Maja Chwalinska, a joy to watch reach the French Open final, swings into Wimbledon as an unqualified success

Maja Chwalinska had to scramble for funds earlier this month to cover the bill for her hotel room in Paris. She was flat out of dough and croissants. Now she’s in London with a bag of cash in the bank and a new level of emotional equity in her game on the eve of Wimbledon.

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Little known prior to reaching the French Open final on June 6, Chwalinska was ranked No. 114 in the world upon arriving at Roland Garros and had to play into the season’s second Grand Slam event as a qualifier. Today, she is ranked No. 21. She is 24, Polish, lefthanded, and an utter joy to watch — her game built on hustle and guile, spiced with shot-making craft, volley, and spin.

There’s a sense when watching Chwalinska that she’s making it all up as she goes along, constructing points, patching it together with bobby pins and paper clips, Apollo 13 in a pair of tennis shoes. Ultimately, she made a soft and lucrative splashdown at the end of her run in Paris, pocketing a runner-up check for $1.62 million after a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Mirra Andreeva.

Chwalinska’s career earnings prior to the French Open came to less than $900,000.

The setup of London’s 139th grass court classic, which begins Monday at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in recent days has been framed by the return of Serena Williams. Now 44 years old, Williams is back after retiring in 2022 as the women’s all-time money earner at approximately $95 million.

It no doubt will be, yet again, a Wimbledon dominated by Serena speak. The American power blaster last won in 2016, finished as the runner-up in 2018 and ’19, and ruled over the sport like no other woman before or since. She has signed up for singles and will pair in doubles with sister Venus.

Be prepared. The Sisters Sledgehammah are back in business, and if Serena gets on a tear with her serve and baseline bashes, all the oxygen could get sucked out of the august emerald venue before the first ounces of Devon cream pour out over those strawberries.

Against that backdrop, Chwalinska could end up nothing but a curious footnote at the end of this fortnight, joining the scores of other women over some 20 years who failed to escape Serena’s long, broad shadow. Granted, the challenge will be ever greater this time for Williams, because of age and her protracted time away from facing such elite competition, which will be against some who are the teenage ingenues she was in the late-’90s. Andreeva just turned 19 in April.

John McEnroe worked TSN’s broadcast of the French Open, offering his usual incisive commentary. No one reads momentum swings from the broadcast booth as deftly as McEnroe. He also ended up Chwalinska’s unintended straight man, asking her on air if she even knew who he was during an interview after her loss in the final.

“Are you kidding me?” offered the smiling, 5-foot-5-inch Chwalinska. “When I was younger I watched a lot of tennis. Like … the vintage tennis.”

McEnroe’s TSN cohorts relished the old man (67) getting so sincerely, subtly aced, particularly with no umpire seated to feel his vintage wrath.

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Williams and a few others aside, the young tend to age quickly in big-time tennis. Case in point: Chwalinska, her career path interrupted significantly in 2022 by a knee injury and subsequent surgery. Her best pal in Poland from junior days, Iga Swiatek, by then already was on to fame and fortune, while Chwalinska had yet to find a foothold anywhere in the elite pecking order.

Upon losing out to Andreeva, Chwalinska in her on-court comments offered congrats and noted, “You’re such an incredible player. You’re so young and talented. It’s so annoying.”

Well before her knee injury, it was a first-round loss at Wimbledon in 2019 as a 17-year-old qualifier that led Chwalinska to exit the game for a couple of years. It’s not that unusual in the sport of rapid aging.

Tennis, she said, made her think of pressure, stress, and crying, leading to the depressive state that forced her to the sidelines.

“I couldn’t get out of bed anymore,” recalled Chwalinska, as quoted in the Independent during the French Open. “I was just lifeless, to be honest.”

Her spirit and legs renewed, Chwalinska has ostensibly fashioned “annoying” as her brand. An unyielding dynamo, be it on forehand or backhand, her energy and shot-return acumen make it extremely difficult for opponents to close out points.

Playing in a major final for the first time, Chwalinska looked tense at Roland Garros, not quite on the level she displayed en route there. We’ll see if finally getting there helps her at Wimbledon.

It took the rescue aid of Oshee, a Polish beverage maker for which Swiatek is the brand ambassador, for Chwalinska to keep her hotel room in Paris. She arrived sponsor-free, which led to her playing in the same yellow top and black skirt combo that looked off the rack at Ocean State Job Lot.

Asked during a late news conference in Paris to clarify the story, she first said she had no story to tell.

“I’m not sponsored,” Chwalinska offered, with a slight smile. “So I guess that’s the story.”

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A story now that is both old and just beginning.