French Open Recap

For any of the finalists this year at the French Open, it was long, hard slog just to get there. For virtually the entire fortnight, there was rain or the threat of rain and a number of days were rained out entirely.  The New York Times appropriately called it the "Drench Open".  And the wet weather made the red clay slow and the over 60,000 tennis balls used quite heavy pretty quickly. This made for some pretty long matches, especially in the early rounds.

On the men's side, with Roger Federer out nursing his back for Wimbledon and Rafa Nadal's withdrawal in the first week with what sounds like a pretty serious wrist injury, this was Novak Djokovic's best opportunity to win the French and the highest seeded player he had to face before the final was #7 Thomas Berdych whom he demolished in three quick sets.  After the first week, it looked like the only two players in the draw that were a threat to Novak were Andy Murray, who struggled in 5 setters in his first two rounds, and Stan Wawrinka, who just did not seem to be in top form either. Fortunately for Djokovic, those two met each other in the semifinals with Murray coming out on top. Djokovic breezed through the final which I covered yesterday. In doing so, he made history by becoming the first man to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time since Rod Laver won the calendar Grand Slam in 1969. And he could make even more history if he wins Wimbledon and the US Open, both of which he will be an odds-on favorite to win, and completes the calendar Grand Slam as Laver did twice.

On the women's side, Serena breezed straight through to the finals, losing only one set. But she still didn't seem quite as dominant as she usually is. The first round eliminated two of Serena's contenders as Victoria Azarenka was forced to retire with a leg injury and Angelique Kerber, who defeated Serena in the finals at Australia, went down to an ignominious defeat. Then, in the fourth round, second-seed Agnieszka Radwanska and sixth seed Simona Halep both lost on a day where play lasted for just over the 2 hour minimum that would avoid customer refunds before being called for rain. Both players complained bitterly about being forced to play in the rain for a time during their matches, saying conditions were almost unplayable. That only left Garbine Muguruza, the fourth seed, to take on Serena in the finals. In what was a pretty scruffy match, Muguruza seemed to determined to not get in long rallies with Serena and both of them seemed to want to end the points early with winners. But Serena just made too many unforced errors and seemed just a half step slower than usual, while Muguruza, who lost to Serena in last year's Wimbledon final, held her nerve when it counted and won a 7-5,6-4 victory.

In doubles, the French had a team of their own to cheer on as the French pair of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic won the women's doubles. In men's doubles, the Bryan brothers lost the final in the deciding set to another pair with the same last name (but not related), Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez. And there was more history made in the mixed doubles as the age-defying team of Martina Hingis and Leander Paes both reached a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles with their win in Paris. Hingis, at age 35, and Paes, at age 42, both play the game with the joyful enthusiasm of children, laughing and smiling as they run through the competition, but have all the craftiness of the wily, old veterans they really are. They are just a pleasure to watch - so deserved congratulations to them both.

After a few grass court tournaments for warm-up, we'll see you at Wimbledon.