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Thursday, June 6, 2019

Decade's Best: 2017 Roland Garros

Roland Garros had seen all sorts of first-time champions through the years, including quite a few in the 2010's. But no one had ever seen anything quite like "Latvian Thunder" in 2017.




==NEWS & NOTES==
Alona Ostapenko, who turned 20 in the closing days of the tournament, roared into the slam record books in '17. The world #47 became the first Latvian to win a major, the youngest RG winner since Iva Majoli in 1997, the youngest slam champ since Maria Sharapova in 2006, and the youngest first-timer since Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2004. The first unseeded RG women's champ in the Open era, she was also the first woman to make her maiden tour-level title a major since Barbara Jordan won the Australia Open in 1979. The last *man* to do the same? Guga Kuerten in Paris in June 8, 1997... the day Ostapenko was born.

Perhaps, her fate was written in the stars.


A virtual force of nature during her historic run, "Latvian Thunder" rode her big-time groundstrokes to wins over a former slam champion (Sam Stosur) and a former #1 (Caroline Wozniacki), then knocked off Simona Halep in the final as the Romanian was trying to become both. Against Halep, Ostapenko trailed 6-4/3-0, and faced three BP for 4-0, before turning the tables on the two-time RG finalist by unleashing a string of winners (she had 54W/54UE in the match) from a racket that produced 299 over the course of seven matches in Paris as she fearlessly and without conscious authored one of the more miraculous and unexpected paths to a major title in memory.

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After several years of disappointments and near-misses, Halep added another one in the RG final in 2017. She'd been seeking her maiden slam title and the #1 ranking in her second career final in Paris, and had had to stage a miraculous comeback in the QF against Elina Svitolina just to get the chance.

A relentless force, Svitolina had opened the match firing huge and clean forehand blasts whenever and wherever she so desired. Flashing big, accurate groundstrokes that served to pull Halep from side to side as if on a string, she expertly constructed well thought out points while also displaying an urgency that naturally brought her forward to succinctly end rallies whenever she knew the time was right. She led 5-0 just twenty-four minutes into the action, and soon was on the cusp her first slam semi at 6-3/5-1.

In the past, before her brief split with coach Darren Cahill after he'd gotten fed up with her on-court negativity after a loss in Miami in March, Halep might have looked for an escape hatch and as quick an exit from the match as possible. But after touting her transformation into a "2.0" version of herself since she righted her personal ship, coaxed Cahill to return, and immediately attacked the clay season with positivity, confidence and, ultimately, sustained success, Halep didn't do such a thing here. While she admitted later that she *did* indeed feel that the match was lost, she nonetheless kept on trying. Eventually, it worked.

Of course, it helped that Svitolina's own nerves came into play. Having never been so close to a slam semi before, the Ukrainian's level of play dipped at the worst possible time. She served for the match at 5-2 and 5-4, coming within two points of the win, but failed to put it away either time. Halep eventually took the lead and held four SP, but Svitolina pushed things to a TB. Svitolina led the TB 4-2, and eventually had her first MP. But after failing to convert it, she saw the house come down on her head. On Halep's fifth SP at 7-6, the Romanian's forehand smacked into the net cord, popped up and dribbled over onto Svitolina's side of the court to give the Romanian the TB.

The match was going three, but it was already over. While Svitolina couldn't let go of the chance that had slipped from her grasp, a fully confident Halep cruised. She broke Svitolina to open the final set and soon found herself holding serve at love to end a 6-0 set that had lasted just twenty minutes.



As the decade comes to an end, Halep has since gone on to win her maiden slam in Paris ('18) and finish at #1 in back-to-back seasons. Svitolina, though, is *still* seeking the maiden slam semifinal that slipped through her grasp here, and stands as the only player in WTA history with 13+ singles titles to have never advanced to that stage in a major.
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The previous December, Petra Kvitova was already looking at a splintered offseason. She was breaking in a new coach (Jiri Vanek), and a stress fracture in her foot had delayed her training regimen. She was still wearing a boot on that foot when she was the victim of a knife-wielding intruder during a home invasion on December 20, 2016. What came next was disbelief and fear from all corners of the tennis world, while Kvitova was safe, she would soon undergo four hours of emergency surgery on her racket hand to repair tendon and nerve injuries that jeopardized her career. Guarded optimism pronounced the surgery a success, but with a six-month recuperation period.

Come May, though still not 100% healed nor yet with total feeling back in all the fingers, and unable to fully close her left hand, Kvitova was back on court in Paris, just two weeks after having again picked up a racket, announcing that she was going to return earlier than expected and play Roland Garros. The sound of the rejoicing from all corners of the tennis world was deafening, and often accompanied by tears. This time the good kind.

On the opening Sunday at Roland Garros, with her team in the stands sporting t-shirts emblazoned with "Courage. Belief. Pojd!," the Czech opened play on Chatrier and in quick order became the first player to advance to the 2nd Round, defeating Julia Boserup 6-3/6-2.



There were more tears from all corners... but Kvitova held it together better than anyone.

Who says good things don't happen to good people?
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The quarterfinal match-up between defending champ Garbine Muguruza and France's own Kristina Mladenovic allowed the Pastry to steal some headlines on Day 8. But not all of them for the right reasons.

The Pastry won the match, 6–1/3–6/6–3, despite committing sixteen DF.

But, what with Mladenovic at the center of the match, the discussion couldn't just be about her beautiful game, or engagingly emotional, energetic, athletic and entertaining brand of tennis. Over the preceding year or so, there had grown a cringe-worthy aspect to her tour success, both on and off court. And that continued during the match, as *the* story of the day quickly became how Mladenovic would rile the always rile-able French crowd. She'd often let loose with shouts after Muguruza errors (usually in the Spaniard's native language, which had been part of the Kiki psychological arsenal for a while, it should be noted) and otherwise do all the sorts of things she'd rail against if an opponent did it while *she* was on the other side of the net.



When the French crowd, actively cheering against her (more than just *for* Mladenovic) all day, was invited to applaud her as she walked off the court in defeat, Muguruza wagged a disapproving finger in the air, essentially saying, "No-no-no, you're not going to play that game now." Naturally, it only brought her a chorus of more boos. In her post match press conference, Muguruza needed a moment to collect herself when asked about the whole shouting-and-applauding errors situation. After returning to the microphone, she noted how she's heard that Mladenovic can supposedly "speak 25 languages," so she can "do what she wants to do."

(The comment was a sly reference to one of the personal aspects about herself that Mladenovic had touted earlier in the year when attempting to compare herself favorably in every way to Caroline Garcia.)

Afterward, Mladenovic found no problem with her actions, then defended her public petty and immature castigation of former doubles partner Garcia by framing things in a way that made it appear as if Mladenovic had been the victim in the situation, seeing that she lived a "values"-based life.
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The 2017 Roland Garros was missing Serena Williams *and* Maria Sharapova (as well as Vika Azarenka, who'd joined with them to form something of a ruling "triumvirate" atop the women's game in the early years of the decade), making it the first major with neither in the main draw since the 2002 Australian Open.

Sharapova's absence wasn't because of her recently-ended suspension. Well, at least not technically. The Russian returned in April after serving fifteen months, playing in three events. While a controversy swirled about whether Sharapova should be "rewarded" with a spot in the MD or qualifying, French Federation president Bernard Giudicelli announced that Sharapova would not be receiving a wild card in either. As it turned out, all the talk proved to be pointless, as an injury kept Sharapova off court until late in the summer hard court season. After just one tune-up match in Stanford, she played in the U.S. Open, her first slam since January '17. Sharapova upset #1 Simona Halep in primetime in the 1st Round and reached the Round of 16.
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Angelique Kerber's decade in Paris ultimately produced fewer overall match wins (17) than her output in the other three majors (20) in her career year of 2016 alone. As the #1 RG seed in '17, the German suffered her second straight 1st Round defeat in the event, falling to Ekaterina Makarova 6-2/6-2. With the loss, Kerber became the first #1 seed to lose in the 1st Round in Paris in the Open era, and the first at any slam to do so since Martina Hingis at Wimbledon in 2001 (to Virginia Ruano Pascual).


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The women's singles draw again had it's share of notable accomplishments. A few...

* - Timea Bacsinszky reached her second RG semifinal in three years, traversing a route that included her second Round of 16 win in Paris over Venus Williams in two years

* - 2016 semifinalist Kiki Bertens was upset in the 2nd Round by 18-year old CiCi Bellis. Before posting another slam MD win (she lost in the RG 3rd Round, then went 0-3 in the next three slams), the promising Bannerette would soon see her career derailed by injuries. The tour's Newcomer of the Year award winner in '17, Bellis would leave the tour with wrist and elbow injuries in '18, leading to four surgeries over the course of a year and several aborted comeback attempts. As of this post, she hasn't played a match since March '18.


* - Naomi Osaka lost in the 1st Round to Alison Van Uytvanck, the Japanese star's only 1st Round exit in her first thirteen slam MD appearances

* - Caroline Wozniacki posted a Round of 16 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach her first QF at Roland Garros since 2010. Kuznetsova's 4th Round result was the twelfth (a run that includes one title, another final, a SF and four QF) of her RG career, all coming over a 14-year stretch dating back to 2004. As is her wont, Sveta survived a 3-hour contest along the way -- a 7-6(5)/4-6/7-5 affair over Zhang Shuai in the 3rd Rd.

* - Karolina Pliskova, already a former slam finalist (U.S. '16), reached her first Roland Garros semifinal. The Czech would rise to #1 in July.

* - Qualifier Petra Martic, playing with a protected ranking (back injury) and having not recorded a MD slam win since the 2013 Wimbledon, reached the 4th Round after getting wins over the likes of #12 Madison Keys and #17 Anastasija Sevastova. Against #5 Elina Svitolina, the Croat led 5-2 and was up love/30 on the Ukrainian's serve... then dropped 20 of 23 points to end the match, losing after having served for the match at 5-4.

* - Jelena Jankovic, a three-time RG semifinalist (2007-08/10) played what very well could be her final match in Paris, falling in the 1st Round (her third straight such exit in Paris) to Richel Hogenkamp. The Serb's last match was at the '17 U.S. Open, but she's yet to *officially* announce her decision to retire.

* - Sam Stosur reached another Round of 16, her fifth of the decade (sixth since '09) at RG. Her loss to Alona Ostapenko was the third time in the 2010's (w/ a fourth time coming in '09) the champion's path to the title at some point went through her.

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What was left of Italy's once strong and powerful contingent of Roland Garros contenders won just one 1st Round match in '16, with former champ Francesca Schiaovone, Robert Vinci and Camila Giorgi all losing in the 1st Round, while former finaliast Sara Errani was sent out in the 2nd.

Meanwhile, France put three players -- Kristina Mladenovic, Caroline Garcia and Alize Cornet -- into the Round of 16, the most since 1994. Mladenovic and Garcia reached the QF. Garcia's 4th Rounder was her first match against Cornet since she'd joined with Fed Cup teammate Mladenovic in mocking Garcia's claims of a back injury (she missed several weeks) in her attempt to turn down a nomination from the French Federation to play in a spring FC tie. The group tweet of "LOL" by Cornet and Pauline Parmentier in response to Mladenovic's attacks made it appear as if the rest of the team was falling in line with Kiki's bullying tactics.

At the end of the match, Cornet appeared to "kiss and make up" with Garcia, whispering something into her ear that elicited a smile.


It would be two more years before Mladenovic and Garcia would amicably exist together again during a Fed Cup tie (they won a deciding doubles match in the '19 semifinals) or greet each other at the net following their first head-to-head match since 2016 (soon after that Fc weekend).
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Ons Jabeur was a two-time RG girls finalist, losing to Elina Svitolina in 2010 and defeating Monica Puig to take the crown in '11. Come 2017, the 22-year old lost in the qualifying rounds, but made her MD debut in Paris as a lucky loser.

Posting wins over qualifier Ana Bogdan and #6-seed Dominika Cibulkova, Jabeur became the first Arab woman to reach the 3rd Round of a major.


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2016 girls runner-up Amanda Anisimova, 15, made her slam MD debut as a wild card. The first slam MD participant born in 2001 (and the youngest in the RG draw since '05), Anisimova led Kurumi Nara by a set and a break, and served for the match in the 2nd set before falling in three.

Marketa Vondrousova made her slam MD debut as a qualifier after giving up just six total games in three rounds of qualifying. The Czech posted a 1st Round win, then lost to Dasha Kasatkina in the 2nd Round. She'd also lost to the Russian in the junior girls singles semis in 2014, then saw Kasatkina take the title a round later.

In 2019, Vondrousova reached the women's final, while Anisimova advanced to the semifinals at Roland Garros.
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2015 RG champs Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Lucie Safarova ("Team Bucie") picked up their second title in Paris in three years, winning their third straight major title with a victory in the final over Aussies Ash Barty & Casey Dellacqua (the duo's first slam final, after playing in three in '13, since Barty's return from an early-career sabbatical of approximately sixteen months between late '14 and early 16).



The pair headed to Wimbledon seeking a non-calendar year Grand Slam, but ultimately were forced to withdraw in the 2nd Round following BMS' knee injury in the 2nd Round of singles. Due to injuries and/or illness, the two would play only eight more matches together before Safarova retired at the '19 RG (where another Mattek-Sands injury prevented a final doubles pairing of the two).

With the defending champion duo of Garcia & Mladenovic broken up, the former skipped the WD competition entirely, while the latter reached the 3rd Round with Svetlana Kuznetsova. Meanwhile, the young Czech duo of Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova, former junior RG champs and women's semifinalists in '16, didn't play together. Siniakova teamed with Lucie Hradecka (a title, three SF and a QF w/ Andrea Hlavackova in the decade) to reach the semis, while Krejcikova & Chan Hao-ching (#12 seed) fell in the 3rd to Hradecka/Siniakova.


Martina Hingis, 36, made her final RG appearance in what was the *third* phase of her Hall of Fame career, losing in the WD semis with Latisha Chan, and falling in the 1st Round in the mixed with Leander Paes (they'd completed a Career Mixed Slam in Paris the year before). Hingis never won the singles at Roland Garros in the maiden phase of her career (finalist in '97 and '99), but she won a pair of titles in doubles (1998 & '00) and the one MX with Paes in '16.
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In the first all-Bannerette girls final in Paris in thirty-seven years (1980), #7-seed Whitney Osuigwe, 15, became the first U.S. winner of the RG junior title since 1989 (Jennifer Capriati) with a 6-4/6-7(5)/6-3 victory over #6 Claire Liu. She joined Kayla Day (U.S. '16) as a reigning junior slam champ, the first time Bannerettes had won multiple major girls titles over the span of a single year since 2012.



After seeing none occur since 1992, the RG final was the first of three straight girls slam finals to feature a pair of U.S. players -- '17 Wimbledon (Liu/Ann Li) and '17 U.S. (Amanda Anisimova/Coco Gauff) -- and the first of two straight in Paris ('18 RG: Gauff/Caty McNally).

Canadians Bianca Andreescu & Carson Branstine (the latter had changed from representing the U.S. since January) backed up their AO girls doubles crown with a second in Paris. The #1-seeded duo defeated the Russian #2-seeds Olesya Pervushina & Anastasia Potapova, 6-1/6-3. The most recent duo to win the opening two junior slam doubles titles had been Czechs Miriam Kolodziejova & Marketa Vondrousova in 2015. Before that it was Canada's own Sharon Fichman & Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2006.



The top seeded juniors at the '17 RG turned into a particularly fast-starting lot on the WTA tour:

#1 Anastasia Potapova, RUS: in 2018, she reached two tour finals and then in '19 upset Angelique Kerber at RG at age 18
#2 Amanda Anisimova, USA: in 2019, won her first WTA title at 17, became first player born in the 2000s to reach a slam Round of 16 (AO), then reached the SF at RG
#3 Bianca Andreescu, CAN: in 2019, won Indian Wells at age 18 and reached the Top 25
#4 Marta Kostyuk, UKR: in 2018, at 15, was youngest to qualify for a slam since '05, then the youngest to win a MD match at a major since Martina Hingis in 1996. She reached the AO 3rd Round.
#5 Iga Swiatek, POL: in 2019, she reached her first tour final at age 17, as well as the RG 4th Round the week she celebrated her 18th birthday
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#2 seed Yui Kamiji picked up her fourth career slam wheelchair singles crown (second at RG) with a win in the final over former Paris champ Sabine Ellerbrock, 7-5/6-4. The German lost in the previous year's RG final, as well.



Kamiji had defeated '16 champ Marjolein Buis in the semis, and joined forces with her to take the doubles with a win over the #1-seeded Dutch duo of Jiske Griffioen & Aniek van Koot. It was Kamiji's third RG doubles title, with the previous two coming alongside Jordanne Whiley (who'd missed the first four months of the year after suffering a wrist injury the previous December, and only played her first event of the season in Paris). It gave the Japanese woman a share of ten of the last thirteen slam doubles crowns.

Whiley teamed with new Dutch star Diede de Groot, losing in the 1st Round to Buis/Kamiji.

De Groot, 20, was making her RG debut in just her second career major appearance. As she had at the Australian Open, she lost her opening match (to Buis). She went on to reach the final as the next seven majors (heading into the '19 RG), winning five and claiming seven of the eight wheelchair WS/WD titles at least once in the span.
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FASHION REPORT: the green-and-white adidas outfits (with or without accompanying headband).


Perfectly simple, crisp, classic and such a nice match to the colors of the environs of the tournament's show courts that it wasn't the least bit irritating that *both* finalists were wearing the same thing. My personal favorite of the entire decade.



Karolina Pliskova's sleeveless Fila offering...


Bethanie Mattek-Sands' cherries jubilee...


Wearing their Petra-fied hearts on their chests... "Courage. Belief. Pojd!"


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[from "The Latvian Thunder Rolls" - June 10, 2017]

Consider us thunderstruck. Latvian Thunderstruck.


Though this year's Roland Garros kicked off without numerous big names in the draw, leaving open the possibility -- and maybe likelihood -- that a maiden slam champ would be crowned on the final weekend, the end result *still* turned out to be a surprise. A bevy of established veterans, former #1's, and previous as well as future major title winners all failed to seize control of the Paris stage over the course of the tournament's two-week run. But Jelena Ostapenko did. In fact, the 19- 20-year old and her monster (though hardly flawless, not that it mattered in the end) forehand were never anything short of a constant source of wonder throughout. A Force of Nature out of Riga, world #47 Ostapenko grabbed the moment by the throat, then proceeded to strangle the life out of it until it slumped to her feet on the terre battue surface of Chatrier Court.

In the final, with a sly smile and her heart on her sleeve, Ostapenko closed out this Roland Garros the same way she'd played it from Day 1... without an ounce of fear, nor any desire to agonize about or overthink any lost opportunities. For the unseeded Latvian, redemption was always and forever just one thunderous groundstroke away.

Her opponent in the women's final, 2014 RG runner-up Simona Halep, has spent the spring clay court season trying to ingrain the sort of positive vibes and ability to "move on" from mistakes that Ostapenko seems to have come by naturally. For the Romanian, though, it's been a trial by fire -- including a brief split with coach Darren Cahill when he became fed up with her defeatist attitude -- to replace her own natural on-court negativity and perfectionist tendencies with something that propped her up in times of strife in the middle of a match rather than hasten a bitter end to the proceedings. Up until Saturday, it seemed to have worked. She'd been arguably *the* in-form player of the spring, had coaxed Cahill back into the fold, and at times appeared to reach her full height in Paris.

** ** **

Early in the 2nd ... (Halep) was weathering Ostapenko's power, waiting for and getting the errors that helped her maintain a scoreboard lead. But Ostapenko never stopped firing those big shots, even as a flash of brilliance would soon be offset by a momentum-thwarting error. Eventually, though, her I'm-not-going-to-stop-so-try-and-stop-me mentality would start to pay off. ... In game #3, a hint of the change to follow would be seen. Halep nearly held at love, as an Ostapenko error sent both headed to the changeover area with the Romanian up 3-0. The call was then changed by the chair umpire. Halep still held for 3-0, but the game went to deuce. In retrospect, one might wonder if the game produced a tickle in the back of Halep's perfectionist's mind.

She needed to squash it. But she didn't.

A game later, Ostapenko reached GP and Halep tossed her racket as she walked to the backcourt. After not having a perfect hold in the previous game, it was clear that she wouldn't get one here, either... and it bothered her, just like it used to. Ostapenko's error (30-3 UE's) one point later was followed by Halep getting three chances to break for a double-break lead at 4-0 in the 2nd, but the Latvian held for 3-1. Though she still had the lead, Halep seemed to blink in the face of her final rush to a championship. Suddenly, her shots were no longer landing quite as deep, allowing Ostapenko to better impose her power upon her.

** ** **

Halep recovered from the dropped set to hold from 15/40 down in the opening game of the 3rd, but she didn't change her tactics down the stretch, meaning that the course of what was to come would continue to be on Ostapenko's racket. With the lethal aspects of the Latvian's shot gradually increasing as the match had gone on, it was just a matter of time. As long as she could keep her nerve, that is.

Ostapenko admitted to being nervous after the match. But, on the outside, the youngster seemed to practically laugh at the thought.

** ** **



"At some point I was like a spectator on court," Halep admitted after the loss, acknowledging Ostapenko's ability to fire the ball out of range of her opponent (or, you know, into the net or past the baseline). And, to be sure, the thunder and lightning coming off the Latvian Force of Nature's racket didn't let up against the Romanian in the final. Her 54 UE's were equaled by her 54 winners (Halep was 8/10), meaning she accumulated 299 total winners in the event. An average of 42.7 per match. On red clay, no less.

One has to feel bad for Halep, and hope that this defeat won't be a setback for long in her efforts to become a "new Simona." She started Roland Garros with questions about her health, but answered them all, as well as most lingering wonders about the true nature of her attitude adjustment. She'll rise to #2 in the rankings, but will remember that her second opportunity to win a title in Paris ended just as her first did three years ago, with a loss in the final.

With a downbeat tone to her voice, Halep tried to be positive in the post-match ceremony. Calling it "a tough day," she nonetheless implored her team to "keep working. And let's believe." "I've been sick in my stomach with emotions for playing this final," she said, "So maybe I was not ready to win it." Saying she hoped to play another final in the future, only to finally *win* it. "It's my dream."

So, she's *still* not finished. But it'll only make the moment more amazing when she finally gets there. If she can remain positive, she will, too.

The Romanian, knowing how hard it is to have the honor of such a moment bestowed upon her, told Ostapenko to "enjoy it, be happy and keep it going because you're, like, a kid."

And she is. Technically.

But Ostapenko is also now a grand slam champion, and maybe one of the more unexpected -- and exciting -- ones in quite some time.




==QUOTES==
* - "I felt a bit disrespected because I'm big on human values." - Kristina Mladenovic, on her reaction to Caroline Garcia not going out of her way to satisfy her preference to personally discuss face-to-face the decision to end their doubles partnership (after Mladenovic had spent the first half of the year publicly disparaging Garcia's integrity, patriotism and intelligence, leading her Fed Cup teammates to gang up against their previous teammate on social media when she sought to skip a Fed Cup tie due to a back injury, huddling with tour playing BFF's to tweet criticism regarding the etiquette of other players she wasn't friendly with, showing contempt for the suspended Maria Sharapova and, in the 1st Round of RG, leading the charge in urging the French crowd to boo defending champ Garbine Muguruza and cheer her errors during their 4th Round match)

* - "Is she nervous or does she feel pressure? Maybe she drinks pressure." - Timea Bacsinszky, after losing to Alona Ostapenko in the semifinals

* - "I always had the possibility I could hit the ball really hard. If I have a chance to go for a shot, I'm trying." ... "Nobody taught me, it's just the way I play. And also I think my character is like that. I want to really hit the ball." - Ostapenko, on her game style

* - "At some points, I was like a spectator on the court." - Simona Halep, after losing to Ostapenko in the women's final

* - "I've been sick in my stomach with emotions for playing this final. So maybe I was not ready to win it." - Simona Halep

* - "It's my dream." - Halep, 0-2 in RG finals, on hoping to play in another in the future, only finally winning it

* - "I mean, I think I cannot believe I am Roland Garros champion, and I am only 20 years old." - newly-crowned RG champ Ostapenko


















All for now.
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