HOT AND BOTHERED ON A SUNNY/STORMY DAY IN PARIS @ THE FRENCH OPEN TENNIS BY GLOBAL CHICK

Hot and bothered on a sunny/stormy day in Paris

And thus in came to pass, dear readers, that the end was nigh in Paris. OK that might sound a little dramatic, but on a day that was predicted to be stormy, steamy day in Paris we had two very different semi-finals. Two years ago, having watched every ebb and flow of the semi-final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, France’s own Jo-Wilfried Tsonga struggled with the flatness of the crowd against David Ferrer.

 

So imagine how disconcerting it must have been to have walked out onto a flat Court Philippe Chatrier while luncheon was being partaken, after Tsonga was scheduled first this time, as the French sought to put a man in the final since Henri Leconte in 1988.

 

Stan Wawrinka showed us all once more just how dangerous he can be when he is on his mark as he pushed through the first set while Tsonga looked as though he was … well still in the locker room. The doom permeated into what little of the crowd were returning from le déjeuner as Tsonga continued to struggle to get going, until some truly careless play by Wawrinka gave him a chink of daylight.

 

Suddenly the crowd were chanting his name and he started to pick up, hustling the second set to a tie-break and dominating that as Wawrinka’s concentration obviously thought it was Spanish and went for a siesta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But hey – we had a match on our hands now and a tight third set to push us to another tie-break with Wawrinka this time pushing the buttons. That momentum stayed with he of the picnic-tablecloth shorts as he broke Tsonga at the start of the fourth set, and it was all he needed to do to keep his nose in front. It took just the one match point to book a place in his second Grand Slam final of his career, after almost four hours in some pretty gruelling conditions.

 

The organisers must have been having a fit, with the potential for another long match coming up if Murray could keep his form against a supreme Djokovic. It was a pleasingly aggressive start by Murray in the first couple of points before we were treated to a 22 shot rally that would most likely set the scene for many Deuce-Ad games we would see today, with the first one taking seven minutes. We would need many more drinks. And we were not talking coffee now.

 

It was the Brit who blinked first, broken to love for Djokovic serve out the first set with a somewhat distracted Murray grumbling about something. Now people will start reminding anyone in earshot that Murray has never beaten Djokovic after losing the first set.

 

As we thought when Djokovic powered through Nadal, and it took another rash game from a frustrated Murray to hand over another break to Djokovic, and a terrible attempt at a smash on Djokovic’s set point made it a very long way back for the Brit.

 

With the wind swirling and ominous clouds gathering, and inviting their mates along too, Murray was running out of time to pull off a miracle comeback yet from somewhere he dredged up the fighting spirit we had wanted to see from the start of the match. Playing with more tenacity, he started to rattle Djokovic, getting the crowd pumped up prompting a sardonic “I hear you but I don’t care” nod of the head from Djokovic, as the Murray-coaster picked up pace, dragging us all along for the ride.

 

Oh it got better (or more terrifying, depending on which side of the fence you fall) as Murray got the break habit, breaking a tired looking Djokovic before the first change of ends, but now a different race was on – storm clouds were gathering once more, and the light was fading fast. As were hopes of a comeback as Djokovic took advantage of a sloppy game for Murray to break back.

 

If you remember, the high winds caused part of the hoardings to fly into the crowd, and mindful of that there had been a communication that if there was a storm brewing, the crowd would be evacuated for their safety? Paying attention at the back? Well they were not kidding. With the score 3-3 they called it. At this stage it’s hard to say who benefits. Murray expended a lot of energy to get back into the match, and now it will be a real test of nerves for the Brit.

 

Meanwhile – we wonder whether Serena Williams will have recovered from the cold that really took hold in her semi-final against Timea Bacsinszky. Then again, if she managed to reel off 10 games in a row when she felt at her worst, we can only hope that we have a good competitive final to see out two weeks of competition.

 

Play will start at 1pm CET.

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp World Tour, French Open Tennis, global chick, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic, Paris, Roland Garros, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis News

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