Francesca Schiavone On Winning Roland Garros, Friendship w/ Kim & More | Love All w/ Kim Clijsters

4-time Grand Slam Champion Kim Clijsters sits down with Roland Garros champion and Italian tennis icon Francesca Schiavone for a candid conversation about life on and off the tour. They revisit their years on the circuit: the intense training, the competitiveness, and the loneliness of tennis. Francesca also shares her 2019 cancer diagnosis, how her discipline as an athlete helped her through chemotherapy, and the role her family, wife, and close friend Flavia Pennetta played in her recovery. Today, Schiavone is fully active in the game, running her Schiavone Team Lab academy near Milan and coaching 18-year-old one-handed backhand talent Lilli Tagger, who she believes has Grand Slam potential. 

Kim also discusses her Roland Garros favorites for 2026, making a strong case for why Rybakina belongs in the conversation alongside Sabalenka and Coco Gauff. She breaks down Ben Shelton's serve variety and why it's becoming a weapon even on clay, and reacts to a 19-year-old qualifier stunning everyone at her very first WTA tour event. 

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⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 

0:00 Welcome to Love All 

1:50 Francesca Schiavone joins the show

3:23 Kim & Schiavone's Tour Friendship

8:19 Coaching Young Players: Social Media, Meditation & Building Identity 

11:41 16th Anniversary of Winning Roland Garros

13:14 Schiavone Team Lab Academy

16:01 The One-Handed Backhand: Will There Be Another WTA Slam Winner? 

16:39 Lilli Tagger: Schiavone's 18-Year-Old Prodigy 

22:04 Why More Female Grand Slam Champions Should Be Coaching 

23:41 Favorite Career Memory: The Insane 4-Day US Open Match vs. Sugiyama 

25:40 Longest Women's Grand Slam Match Ever: Schiavone vs. Kuznetsova 

27:13 Schiavone's Cancer Battle in 2019: How Tennis Discipline Saved Her 

30:03 Family, Flavia Pennetta & The Support System That Got Her Through 

32:01 Spotting Sinner at 15 & Predicting He'd Be World No. 1 

36:44 Rapid Fire: Italian Quotes, Favorite Shots & Pasta Orders 

37:41 Toughest Opponents: Venus, Kim, Sharapova & Russian Hard Hitters 

40:33 Closing thoughts

41:29 Henley's Headlines: First All-Ukrainian WTA Final & 19-Year-Old Qualifier 

44:03 Rybakina Wins Stuttgart

46:25 Muchova Beats Coco for the First Time in Seven Tries 

47:01 Ben Shelton Makes American Clay Court History in Munich 

49:11 Arthur Fils Wins Barcelona & French Open Excitement Builds 

51:23 Kim's Laureus Award Win in 2010 

52:15 Kim-Formation: Is Elena Rybakina a Roland Garros Favorite? 

55:06 Roland Garros Title Predictions: Sabalenka, Rybakina & Coco

56:49 Closing thoughts

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