And so it is over...
For some it ended in anguish, for others in victory...players both reached, surpassed and underachieved their goals. But in the end there was only one champion per draw standing.
On the women's side there were a lot of upsets, and a lot of people shifted around in their rankings following the conclusion of the event. For starters, the comeback kid was Maria Sharapova who by beating Nadia Petrova, the seed in her second round opened up her draw and reached the quarterfinals. It was clear she was far from playing her best tennis but as always, tough as nails she fought for every point in that Maria way. She succumbed to Dominika Cibulkova in the quarters. Dominika had the run of her life no doubt. A whole foot shorter than Maria, she proved herself to be very tough on clay by being the ultimate counter puncher. Dominika's run was then terminated by Dinara Safina in straight sets. The two Serbian stars Jankovic and defending champion Ivanovic were ousted early on, both losing a ton of points from last year. Another unlikely semifinalist was Austria Samantha Stosur seeded 30. She created this destiny by taking out Elena Dementieva earlier on in the tournament. A lot of the young girls did really well. The tournament favorite perhaps was Serena, she usually is and Serena was beaten by Kuznetsova. A lot of controversy throughout the tournament on Serena's fitness and focus, but we are all human after all and she really is the best in so many ways. In the end, it was down to two Russians. Safina vs. Kuznetsova with Kuznetsova taking the trophy and adding it to her existing Us Open trophy in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. Kuznetsova exhibited a sort of maturity and quiet confidence throughout the tournament, which was nice to see. The fact that the tournament had so many unexpected results only goes to show how tough red clay is and how it truly is survival of the fittest and perhaps the ones with the most patience, better serves and bigger spin. It is definitely exciting to see so many more competitive matches opposed to the predictable past few years in the women's slams.
To sum up the rankings. Safina remains No.1 even though she has yet to win a major. She is followed by Serena, Venus and Dementieva. Kuznetsova moved up two spots to No. 5. Jankovic is slipping down to No. 6, Zvonareva to No. 7 and last year's champion Ivanovic to No. 13. Youngsters Azarenka and Wozniacki now moved into the top 10 at No. 9 and 8. Closing off the 10 is Petrova. Cibulkova went up to No. 14 and Stosur to No. 18. Maria Sharapova also moved up to No. 78.
History was made on the men's side. There was so much anxiety going in to the tournament with whether it will be another Nadal-Federer final, whether Djockovic will pull it out or perhaps Murray get it together. Most best went to Nadal, who was going for his 6th consecutive French Open title. Few would discount Federer, seeing as his incentive was to be called the greatest player in history with a win at the only slam that has evaded him and a tie with Pete Sampras. However, the events took a turn to the more interesting side. Who would have guessed that Sweden's top player, Robin Soderling, would take out Nadal in straight sets and battle his way straight to the finals? Murray ended up losing in the Quarterfinals to Gonzales in 4 sets and looked not only off towards the end but almost expressing a lack of desire in being in that moment. Roddick, the only American left standing reached his goal of making it to the second week before losing to Frenchman Gael Monfils in straight sets. Monfils and Tsonga, made France proud by reaching the round of 16 and Quarters. Djockovic lost third round and Tommy Haas almost got a chance at Federer in the round of 16. But...in the end, it was Federer, the great, the king of tennis! Some may say his draw cleared out favorably, but Federer himself said that the French Open is not about getting lucky its really about being the best at the time of each match. This may be Federer's first French Open but it is his record-tying 14th singles Grand Slam title. When he was asked whether he would be happy if forced to retire tomorrow. He replied: "Yes, I would because I feel like I've put everything out there, you know. I fought for this moment and stayed positive and calm when things maybe weren't going so well, even though they were still going great.So yeah, I would. I always said it doesn't matter when I retire; I'll be at peace. I can walk away from this game tomorrow, but I don't choose to because I love this game too much. It hasn't appeared in my mind once yet that I want to retire. Tennis is not forever; I know that. But I'll try to definitely enjoy it as long as I can." Most critics, not just Nike, have to be convinced by now that this man is the Tiger Woods of tennis and he is only 27 years old. That means there is more to be seen and re-establishing himself as King at Wimbledon again probably means as much to him as it does to his fans and critics alike. Back to Roland Garros. Despite the finals being rather one way and lacking competitiveness, after imagining the grueling task of getting through 2 weeks of practices, 3/5 setters and emotional strains...both men should get a standing ovation.
In the men's doubles final, the duo of Lukas Dlouhy of Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India seeded three, beat Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In the women's doubles final, the duo of Spaniards A. Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual also seeded three defended their title and beat Victoria Azarenka (women's quarterfinalist) and Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-1. Azarenka has numerous accolades now in doubles and in mixed doubles.
Speaking of mixed doubles, Americans Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan beat American Vania King and Brazilian Marcelo Melo 5-7, 7-6, 1-0.
Equally important are the junior results of the future stars of tennis. In the boy's draw Sweden apparently shined not only with Soderling's run but also with Daniel Berta's as he took down Frenchman Gianni Mina 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. On the girl's side, Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic was victorious over yet another impressive Russian, Daria Gavrilova with the scores 6-3, 6-2.
For a detailed look at the draws, check out the offical website.
VIVE LA FRANCE!! ON TO ENGLAND!!
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