Maria Sharapova wins 2^nd French Open Title in 3 Years

The beginning of the French Open Women’s draw was highlighted by major upsets. 2^nd seed and 2014 Australian Open Winner Li Na was eliminated in the first round. 1^st seed and defending French Open Champion Serena Williams was defeated in the second round. 3^rd Seed Agnieszka Radwańska was eliminated in the third round. Maria Sharapova did not fall victim to an early exit but this tournament was not easy for her. From the 4^th round through winning the finals, she won in 3 sets. In the 3 rounds from the 4^th round to the semi-finals, she lost the first set and had to rally to win the next two sets in order to advance and eventually capture her second career French Open title. Including the finals against 4^th seed Simona Halep, she definitely did not play her best tennis throughout the matches and had a lot of unforced errors in those last four rounds. However, she was able to make shots and outplay her opponents when she needed to win. Nevertheless, this tournament was more about her competitiveness and perseverance than her dominance.

Sharapova has had a wonderful career. She has the career Grand Slam winning at least each major once. Ironically, the only Grand Slam she has won twice is the French Open. Early in her career, clay courts were her weakest surface. However, her competitiveness and hard work has allowed her to win the French Open multiple times. I vividly remember Sharapova beating Serena Williams as a 17 year old to win the Wimbledon Championship in 2004. During the subsequent attention from the media, she made it crystal clear that she is playing tennis to be a great player and win Grand Slams. She was not just a pretty face trying to get attention. At the time, I was taken aback by the snarky attitude. However, she was a 17 year old still trying to deal with puberty and her hormones. She has grown immensely as a player and person since then. When she beat Serena Williams at Wimbledon, the talk was whether Sharapova could emerge as a dominating player who could rival Serena. While Serena has dominated the matchup since then, Serena is in another league and in the conversation for the greatest women players of All-Time. Physically, there has never been a woman as built as she is. Sharapova does not measure up but it is not really fair to compare her to Serena. Sharapova is definitely among the best players in her era and is probably the second best woman’s player during that time.

By winning 5 Majors and having the career slam, she has already cemented her place in history as a great player. She is in a good part of her career. She will never be able to catch Serena or the other women players at the very top of the All-Time list so she will not have that pressure. She can simply compete and try to win more Major Championships to add on to her legacy. Over the years, I have respected the class and dignity she has conducted herself. Whether she wins or loses, she is always gracious and humble afterwards. On the court, she is always competitive. There have been times when she is being completely dominated, especially in some matchups with Serena. Nevertheless, she continues to battle to the end and compete. She never gives up. Despite the fiery competitiveness, she is always gracious in victory or defeat and gives her opponent credit for winning. Serena Williams is my favorite women tennis player. However, handling defeat professionally is one area where Sharapova has Serena completely outclassed. When Sharapova first started, she said that she would be out of tennis by age 25 because she would want a family and to move on with her life. I am happy to see that she is 27 and the fire still burns inside of her to play and win. She is an excellent player and it will be a joy to watch her continue to play. She is definitely not just known for her beauty. While she has definitely capitalized on her looks and personality in sponsorship deals, she also has her place for her on the court excellence in tennis history.

Transition Period for Women’s Tennis

The early exits from the top players have become the norm in recent Grand Slam tournaments. In my opinion, it is a sign of a transition period in Women’s tennis. Serena Williams is at the end of her career. While she still won the French Open last year and is formidable, she has hinted that next year will be her final season. Maria Sharapova is an older veteran in terms of tennis at this point of her career too and could also retire within the next two or three years. As such, we are seeing the next wave of potential female stars enter the tennis stage. Sloane Stephens has emerged as an American who can be the next Serena Williams. She has showed some signs but it should be interesting to see if she can put it together. Sharapova’s opponent in the French Open Final, Simona Halep, has been relatively new to scene as she joined in 2012 but is clearly another player to watch since she will be the third ranked female tennis player after this tournament. One of the budding stars is Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. She continues to gain attention and popularity. She is only 20 years old. She gets the attention of the boys because she is a stunningly attractive young, woman. However, she has a promising tennis game too. She reached the Semi-Finals of the Australian Open to Li Na and followed it up with a loss to Sharapova in the Semi-Finals of the French Open. Both opponents went on to win the tournament. Bouchard won the first set in the Semi-Finals of the French Open before Sharapova won a tough 2^nd set 7-5 and ran away in the third set. Bouchard has stated that grass is her best surface. With Wimbledon approaching, her progress in the tournament will be watched closely. Regardless, it will be interesting to see if one of these young women or another young lady can emerge as the next great or dominant female player.

Rafael Nadal Wins an Unprecedented 9^th French Open

Nadal is ridiculous on clay. I have not seen this kind of dominance from anyone or any team in any sport. He is practically unbeatable on clay. Robin Soderling is the only man to beat Nadal in the French Open in 2009. However, Nadal was clearly injured as he had to withdraw from Wimbledon shortly after he was beaten by Soderling at the French Open. When he is healthy, he is unbeatable. I have seen Roger Federer try fruitlessly to get over the hurdle against Nadal. In 2006, Federer took the first set of the French Open Final 6-1. Nevertheless, Nadal dominated the rest of the match and won the next three sets handily. Federer has never been closer to beating Nadal at the French Open and it only got worse. Nadal has beaten Federer in each of the 3 subsequent French Open Finals that they have met in. Federer was completely overmatched and simply just gave up in the 2008 Final. Nadal is 4-0 in French Open Finals against Federer and 5-0 against him in the French Open (the other match was in the Semi-Finals). His complete dominance of Federer, who is the most prolific winner in the history of the sport, is very telling. The next best player in this era after Federer and Nadal has been Novak Djokovic. Djokovic has arguably emerged as the best player in tennis. He has reached 11 of the last 16 Grand Slam Finals. He has also given Nadal a lot of trouble in other tournaments besides the French Open. Nevertheless, Djokovic has not been able to get past Nadal in the French Open either. The closest he came was an epic 5 set match in the Semi-Finals of last year’s French Open. Djokovic was in a great position to win in the 5^th set but painfully touched the net on a key point to give Nadal the opening he needed to rally and win the match to advance to and win the French Open Final. After beating Djokovic again in this year’s Final, Nadal is now 6-0 against Djokovic in this tournament. Nadal has 9 French Open titles. It is more titles than any other player has in a single Grand Slam Tournament. The fact that he has done it against the top players in the sport makes it even more impressive. There is no doubt that he is the greatest clay player of All-Time.

Nadal was never really challenged in this year’s French Open. Before the Final, he only dropped one set. It was against his fellow countryman, David Ferrer, in the Quarterfinals. However, Nadal was never in trouble as he cruised in the following three sets. In the Finals, the heat was intense. Both players looked affected by it and did not start their match with their best games. Djokovic took advantage of Nadal’s poor play in the first set and won it 6-3. Nadal also did not look great in the second set. Accordingly, the second set was Djokovic’s best chance to win if he could put Nadal down 2 sets in the match. It was a competitive second set but Nadal pulled it out 7-5. By the end of the second set, you could get a sense that it was too late for Djokovic. Nadal got in a groove and you had a feeling he would steamroll through the rest of the match like he always does at the French Open. He won the third set easily 6-2. In the fourth set, he broke Djokovic and appeared to be ready to cruise to another title. However, Djokovic was able to break Nadal’s serve too. It also looked like Nadal was leaning over on the sidelines afterwards. He lost the Australian Open this year because of back problems surfacing during the Finals. As such, it gave Djokovic hope and emboldened him. While it appeared that Djokovic could make a run to win the set and potentially steamroll a compromised opponent, Nadal was able to close out the match before any real injuries could occur. The match was definitely not the classic, epic 5 set match in the Semi-Finals between the two men from last year. Accordingly, it was a disappointment and anti-climatic. Moreover, Djokovic was definitely more affected by the heat than Nadal as he was throwing up during the match on the court. Regardless, it is a testament to how impressive Nadal’s 9 French Open Titles are because many things can go wrong and some of them, like weather, are not always in one’s control. After a decade of watching Nadal dominate, I do have an answer to who will beat Nadal at the French Open. It will be age. Nadal has an unbelievable record at the French Open with only one loss. However, Father Time is undefeated.

With the Grand Slam win, Nadal also has 14 career Grand Slam titles. It ties Pete Sampras for second all-time. Nadal’s place as one of the handful of greatest tennis players and the best clay court player is set. Now, he is chasing more history and Federer’s record of 17 Grand Slam titles. If he catches Federer, he will be regarded as the greatest tennis player by most since he has also dominated Federer. During the telecast, it was noted that mathematicians calculated the probability of Nadal winning 17 Grand Slams at approximately 22%. In my opinion, it is good estimate. If he is healthy and is on top of his game, his chances improve. However, durability has been his only weakness in his legendary career. Due to the physicality he plays with in matches, his body usually breaks down by the end of the season. It is the primary reason he has only won one US Open title. In addition, age will be an issue. Federer started declining at this age and Nadal will regress at some point. With age, the lack of durability will only get worse. As such, Nadal definitely has a legitimate chance but it will not be easy.