Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech make mad dash to Paris Olympics with help of Polish billionaire

It's nice to have friends—or social media followers—in high places, as Polish tennis players Magda Linette and Magdalena Frech learned on the eve of the Paris Olympics.

After contesting the first-ever all-Polish WTA singles final in Open Era at the Livesport Prague Open on Friday (won by Linette, 6-2, 6-1), the two Olympic teammates almost found themselves with no place to go (and no way to get to Paris) as a consequence of the closure of French airspace within 150 kilometers of Paris for the security of the Opening Ceremony, which was set to kick off hours later.

The late start to their Prague final, and that decision, combined to put Linette's third Olympic appearance and Frech's debut in severe jeopardy.

But with an appeal to the public Thursday via Linette's official X (formerly Twitter) account, the pair eventually found their "angel" in their billionaire compatriot, Rafal Brzoska, the CEO and founder of Polish mail company InPost.

Replying to Linette's post, the mogul—who, as of 2021, had a net worth of $1.3 billion—asked the 2022 Australian Open semifinalist to "DM [direct message] him the details" and he would "try to help."

Around 16 hours later, it turned out that Brzoska had.

"I'm on my way to the Olympics," Linette wrote in an update to her channels a little more than two hours after she'd secured her third career WTA singles title and first since 2020.

Later posting a picture of herself seated in Brzoska's plane, she hailed him as "our life saver."

"If angels exist, they are all named Rafal," she added.

Linette expected to face Roland Garros semifinalist Mirra Andreeva in the first round of singles, and will team with Alicja Rosolska in doubles against No. 7 seeded Ukrainians Dayana Yastremska and Marta Kostyuk. Frech's first-round foe in singles is Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova.

Though they'll make it in time to compete, which begins in Paris on Saturday, Frech and Linette's Prague success (even pre-travel scare) already assured that they wouldn't be able to float down the Seine River with the Polish delegation at the official commencement of the Games.

This proved particularly disappointing for Linette when she learned that iconic recording artist Céline Dion would be performing as a part of the festivities.

"I almost started crying, because it's my absolute dream to see her live," she said after winning in Prague. "Four times I've had tickets, and four times the show has been cancelled. That's a fifth time. I think maybe it's just not meant to be!"

But after going 0-3 across singles and doubles in her first two Olympic appearances, is a first win for the 32-year-old in the cards instead?