CHERYL JONES’ STORY: GIGGLING WOMEN AND A WIN FOR A SWISS AT ROLAND GARROS

Written by: Staff on 7th June 2015

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

CHERYL JONES' STORY: GIGGLING WOMEN AND A WIN FOR A SWISS AT ROLAND GARROS

epa04787729 Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA (R) and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic pose with their trophy after winning the women's doubles final of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 07 June 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT |

The Final Day At The French Open 2015 From Roland Garros in Paris, Wawrinka Wins In Four Sets, The Women’s Doubles Was Another Thriller Bethanie Mattek Sands Giggles Thru Match And Championships

As an opening act, before the Men’s Final that took place on Court Philippe Chatrier this last Sunday of Roland Garros, the Women’s Doubles Final played out in the breezy but brilliant midday sun. The stadium was sparsely populated, but that didn’t matter to any of the women in the competition. As with all the doubles matches at a major tournament, sixty-four teams began the journey that they hoped would lead them to this perfect Sunday afternoon contest. As team after team fell by the wayside, four women withstood the rigors of the cold, the rain, the wind and the heat to arrive at a day that had none of that. It has been temperate and comfortable this final Sunday in Paris.

One of the women who shared the prize as a Mixed Doubles champion on Friday has garnered a match for that coupe for that one. Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova joined forces to take that prized reward in the prelude to the Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka match up for the men’s title.

Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland poses with the winner’s trophy after beating Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the men’s final match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 07 June 2015. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

(In a surprise to nearly everyone, especially Novak Djokovic, Wawrinka took four sets, but he defeated the world’s number one male player, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in 3 hours and 12 minutes. The hours flew by in a blur. Once the first set was complete, even though Djokovic is a phenomenal competitor, today it always seemed as if Wawrinka had the upper hand. He played wonderfully well and even though he wasn’t the Swiss player that some expected to take it all in Paris, he stepped up his game and did. He was tearful and happy to win the Coupe de Mousquetaires. He can add that to the Australian Open title from 2014. Playing in the shadow of Roger Federer all these years must be frustrating. Today, there is no frustration – only joy at winning a grand prize at a grand tournament.)

The women’s contest turned out to be a three setter that ended at 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Doubles is exciting to watch, and it is the kind of tennis that most folks play in public parks and backyard courts. Even though doubles play has been relegated to what I would call a dreaded tagalong role in the tennis world, no one can deny it isn’t a fun way to pass a Sunday afternoon. Casey Dellacqua (Australia) and Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) tried their best to oust the duo that spends more time giggling and enjoying the game than most. Mattek-Sands and Safarova won the Australian Open title and with another team-up and another win at Wimbledon will have just one championship at the US Open to go to have a slam.

When asked about planning for the other major wins, both of them giggled and insisted that they believe in working on tennis one match at a time. Both of them looked elated after winning the grand prize this afternoon. The two aren’t teenagers. Mattek-Sands is 30 and Lucie Safarova is 28. They’ve each been on the tour long enough to know what is important at the end of playing for a really long two weeks – staying in the present.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the USA (L) and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic react after winning the women’s doubles final of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 07 June 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Mattek-Sands said after the match that she was healthy and felt wonderful after winning the Mixed Doubles title with American Mike Bryan. She praised his competitive effort and revealed that he had shared some double’s magic tricks with her. (As if no one in the room was aware of it, she pointed out that Mike and his brother Bob Bryan are the doubles team who has won the most titles in the history of Open Era tennis. The Bryans are identical twins who are 37 and yesterday the brothers lost to Ivan Dodig [Croatia] and Marcelo Melo [Brazil] in a Men’s Double final match that went three sets as well, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5.)

The two women competed nearly every day in either singles or doubles and said that they are friends on and off the court. That was easy to see with their repartee while sitting side-by-side in the interview after that match that brought them the prize they had been hoping for since their repeat pairing began at Roland Garros. It was genuinely a pleasure to see them smiling on court and then showered and rested with grins from ear to ear. Fun is what tennis is supposed to be. Even the interview was fun.

Safarova beamed as she praised her partner’s thoughtfulness before her matchup with Serena Williams yesterday. She said, “I am a little bit nervous before my singles match, and she appears there like all smiling. I’m like, Okay day is good. (sic) Everything is fine.” It wasn’t a win for her, because Williams was on a march to the final that spared no one. But, Lucie Safarova showed why she has moved up in the singles rankings and should be number seven when the new slate of women’s standings is released.

Today was a very good day for tennis in Paris. With the youngsters climbing the ladder toward success and the older crowd playing better than ever before, in a year’s time it will be tennis business as usual for Roland Garros in 2016.

Topics: BETHANIE Mattek-Sands, Cheryl Jones, French Open final, Lucie Safarova, Novak Djokovic, Paris, RG15, Roland Garros, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis News, Women's doubles

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June 7, 2015 at 1:58 pm

CHERYL JONES’ STORY: GIGGLING WOMEN AND A WIN FOR A SWISS AT @rolandgarros http://t.co/ZuHqW79wtm #FrenchOpenFinal #tennisdoubles #RG15Final