Right so this is the last of my French Open posts in which I will look at the men's and ladies singles finals and how they turned out. So without further adooss let's have a look....
So ladies first which saw the final between Serena Williams the two time champion and maiden finalist Lucie Safarova face each other for a fight to nab the trophy. And the match itself turned out to be another very competitive match between the two players, which saw Serena make the stronger start as she broke Lucie to take the opening set. In the 2nd set Safarova looked sure to be beaten as Serena went up a double break, however Lucie then mounted a brave fightback which saw her level the scores and pushed play into a tiebreak which the Czeck player won to even the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set Safarova broke Serena to go ahead for the first time in the match however she was unable to hold onto her break as Serena broke back. And from here it was all Serena as the World No.1 motored her way past the Czeck player by winning six games in a row she claimed her 3rd title at Roland Garros and her 20th grand slam title overall winning in 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.
Well this was an excellent final for the ladies event and it ultimately saw once again that Serena is just too good for everyone and now she has 20 grand slam titles to her name she is just two away from equalling Stefi Graff's record of 22 and no doubt she will probably do it. Not only that Serena has an excellent chance of doing the calender slam this year with only Wimbledon and the US Open to go and it would be very hard to discount her chances at either of them. The only thing however that bugged me about Serena during this match and in her semi final was her behaviour as she seemed to undergo the usual on court drama that we tend to see from her. And in the final Serena clearly was in much better condition that she was in her semi final match but at certain periods in the match she resorted to swearing and berating at herself even when she was winning points well. And this sort of thing is what can really put me off Serena is the way that she makes everything a drama. And it reminded me even of her 2013 French open semi final with Sara Errani where she was annihilating Errani but she was getting herself so worked up regardless of how far ahead she was! And if Serena didn't resort to doing this then it would make her that bit more rootable but such as it is her behaviour on court can at times maker her difficult to like as a player. Despite this no one can take away from her achievements as a tennis player and with only four majors to go she can equal Margaret Court who holds the record for the most majors won (24) and go on to become the all time greatest player in the game.
As for Lucie Safarova well is hard not to feel for her given the effort she had put into reaching the final and she played an excellent match in the final herself coming from a set down to level the match she had it briefly in her hands in the 3rd set before Serena wrestled it away. But Lucie showed throughout the tournament she really is quite a player in her own right and having the reached the final she has now broken into the top ten for the first time in her career as she will now go up to No.7 in the world as a result of her reaching the final. And as a nice end to the tournament Lucie managed to go on and winning the doubles title there with her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands so it was far from all bad for her. Lucie also last year reached her maiden semi final at Wimbledon so this year maybe she could go on to go a bit further there as well so despite this loss things are looking pretty bright for her.
Now we get onto the men's final which for the first time since 2009 saw the opportunity for a new champion at Roland Garros as Rafa had been knocked out in the quarter finals. And the final as we all know was between Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka who were both looking to win the title for the first time but it was Novak who was the heavy favourite given he was looking to complete his career slam by winning the title. As for the match itself well it started the way you would probably expect with Novak serving very well and putting Stan ill at ease with her return game and solid serving and he went on to break Stan to take the opening set. In the 2nd set however Stan mounted a fightback as Novak was looking to serve to make it 5-5 was broken by Stan who levelled the match. In the 3rd set with the scores level Stan started to find his range and utilised his immense firepower to break Novak and seized the initiative and took the two sets to one lead. In the 4th set however Novak fought back and looked poised to level the match at two sets all as he went 3-0 up. But Stan was still not done as he broke back and went on to hold serve with the scores evenly poised until 4-4 when Stan did the near unthinkable and broke Djokovic's serve again to put himself in a position to serve for the match. And despite a few jitters Stan did just that as he ripped one of his signature backhand winners down the line he sealed the win and broke Novak's heart once again for another year with the Swiss player winning his second grand slam title and first title at Roland Garros with a stunning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Well this certainly wasn't the result that anyone would have predicted given that this appeared to be Djokovic's title for the taking this year but it stands as testament as to how good a player Stan Wawrinka really is that he managed to pull this win off. The match itself was a very entertaining one and filled with some high
quality play from both men as they traded some great rallies and Stan
himself produced some breathtaking winners throughout not to mention
that stunning backhand winner down the line he produced at championship
point. And I think no doubt Stan was helped by his previous grand slam win and also the fact that he had beaten Djokovic last year at the Australian open which no doubt gave him the belief to win here as well. Stan also is a seasoned clay court player himself and he even won the French open juniors event so in a way it would make sense that would have a crack at it some day but you would never had guessed it would have been against the World No.1, which at times he made Novak look quite ordinary in comparison! It also showed that Stan really has the muscle and firepower to challenge the big four and that by winning his second grand slam title that he is no one trick pony and by winning this title he can go on and win more so he deserves nothing but credit for this victory and the title.
As for Djokovic well unfortunately the wait goes on for that elusive career slam and I'm sure he's as surprised as anyone about this result as this title really for once looked to be in his hands. However Novak ultimately just wasn't able to cope with the raw firepower that Stan has and as the match went on his service games were under continual pressure from the Swiss player which eventually saw him crumble. And no doubt Novak would have felt the pressure of trying to achieve his life's dream of winning the French open and perhaps he did get that bit more nervous as a result of realising how close he finally was with his former nemesis Rafa out the way and in the end he didn't bank on Wawrinka. But perhaps Stan also owes a little bit of thanks to Andy Murray as well for softening up Novak for the final given that they played such a gruelling five setter it might have played a part in wearing down Novak on the day in the final although the Swiss player really deserves all the credit himself. But regardless of all that the fact remains that Novak will have to carry on waiting to win that elusive French open trophy and he might yet do it one day although you can't help buy wonder if this was his best ever chance and has blown it but given the player he is he might yet have his day in the sun at Roland Garros.
Right so that's it for the French Open which this year has been a great tournament with some great and dramatic matches which finished on a high with a very fine finale on both the ladies and mens sides of the net.
So next up is the start of the grass court which starts this week in Stuttgart and Nottingham and will carry on next week at Queens club, where Andy Murray will resume his bid to reclaim the title there and also go on to try and win the Wimbledon title for a second time. And given Andy's form this year he has a strong shout of winning both titles although it will be far from easy to do both. But one thing that Andy can take heart from his defeat by Djokovic is that he has never lost to him on grass and now that Djokovic has lost the French open it may have knocked the wind out of his sails a bit but if Novak had won the French then a calendar slam would have looked certain to be on the cards. So with that in mind I'm sure it will serve (no pun intended) as a little extra bit of motivation for Andy and he has already expressed his intent to try and win over Novak at Wimbledon should they meet and hopefully this time if they do he will finally get that much needed victory.
And that's it for now and I will be back soon with more tennis posts probably for Queens but defintely for Wimbledon and I will do a preview of my pick for the men's contenders for the title at SW19 as well at some point.
And with that I shall say bye for now!
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