Archive: cheryl-jones
Watching the progression of play at a tennis tournament is rather like opening a present that reveals yet another mystery package and yet another, until the final match is at hand. The time finally arrives where it is a surety that the last ribbon will be untied, and the unknown becomes a statistic in the record books.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal must feel as if they had slipped back in time, but only partially. It is Thursday at the Gerry Weber Open and both men contested their first match of the tournament, that could move them up the ladder in giant steps, without so much as having to strike a ball during actual play until this afternoon.
“Not before 2:00 p.m.”, could have been the sound of the opening bell for a really disappointing afternoon for many guests who were on site, looking forward to exciting tennis, at the Gerry Weber Open. Then, as if by magic, it became a mammoth get-together for Ladies Day.
The first time I saw Stevie Johnson play tennis, he was 12 years old, with a crew cut and a mullet. He was with other young players and their coaches who were part of a junior clinic. Just by chance, his mother was sitting next to me and we spoke about children, as mothers are wont to do.
It was Maria Sharapova holding the trophy at the finish of the women’s singles at Roland Garros. It was the second longest women’s final in the history of the tournament. Sharapova and her opponent Simona Halep traded the lead throughout the long sets. It was an extraordinarily exciting final after last year’s romp by Serena Williams.
Trading shots is what Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic do when they have a business meeting. They’ve been at it for more than a few years and including today’s match, they have met 42 times, which is the most head-to-head encounters in tour level play in the Open Era.
The final Friday of Roland Garros is like a day of reckoning for the men competing in the singles. For the duration of the tournament, up until then, it is like a winnowing process.
Jean-Julien Rojer might not be a familiar name to many tennis fans, but Thursday, he and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who had come together as a team here in Paris, took away the Mixed Doubles Title at Roland Garros.
Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep have a date on Saturday. They will meet in the women’s singles final.
Rain began in the wee hours of Wednesday morning and it continued most of the day, putting quite a hitch in the plans for quarterfinal play at Roland Garros. An umbrella was the most popular accessory.
For someone who swears she felt like a cow on ice each time she was competing on red clay only a few years ago, Maria Sharapova has made herself right at home on the surface, having won six of her last eight titles on terre battue. It has become her friend and a good friend indeed.
Is it the end of an era? The signs are becoming more evident, but only time will tell just how the “Age of Roger Federer” will fit into the scheme of things that are always in flux within the professional tennis world.
There is one American woman still standing in the singles competition in Paris. (Actually, she is probably sitting, since it is evening and she played hard earlier today.) No surprise – it’s Sloane Stephens.
The only sure thing about Roland Garros is the terre battue. The dust leaves its mark on anyone who passes through the gates, whether they are a contender, a world number one or a spectator.
Court Phillippe Chatrier was the scene of another victory for Rafael Nadal Thursday afternoon in Paris. It wasn’t a final match-up, but merely another step up the ladder that is leading to the final Sunday at Roland Garros. June is good for Nadal, as he has celebrated every birthday here since he had his 18th.
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