Roland Garros 2008 (May 25 - June 8)

The New Queen & The Old King

"I feel so happy. I have no words to describe that. But Grand Slam, winning Grand Slam is something I dreamt since I was a little kid, so achieving that goal, it's very thrilling. You know, you work so hard and you're, off the court, on the court, and you put so much effort into it. I loved the game and I enjoy playing, so this is the best reward I can get", said Ana Ivanovic after final match


By MARKO ANDREJIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA


This year's French Open in Roland Garros will be noted by the new queen - the winner and the new world No.1 Serbian Ana Ivanovic, and by the old invincible king - "king of clay" Spaniard Rafael Nadal who won fourth title in a row and made men's singles competition become boring. Rainy and unpredictable weather through all two weeks of the tournament will probably make the organizers think faster about roof on some of the courts to avoid rescheduling and troubles with timing. Alltogether, the second Grand Slam of the season brought to Paris very good and quality tennis, some new faces and some changes in ATP and WTA rankings.

First few days didn't bring some sensational results. Surprisingly were loses of some seeded players, like Virginie Razzano and Alona Bondarenko in women's and Carlos Moya and Janko Tipsarevic in men's competition. Already on the second day of the tournament (Monday, May 26) it was raining in Paris, so almost half of the planned matches had to be cancelled or delayed and then re-scheduled for tomorrow! On Tuesday it was almost the same and many people were worried about weather forecast.

And when the sun came back it wasn't so bright for the best French player among women, Marion Bartoli. She was defeated by Australian surprise from Melbourne, Casey Dellacqua. It seems Bartoli was right when she was thinking of withdrawing before Roland Garros because of injury. After Amelie Mauresmo was out soon after that, France was not so successful in women's singles this year. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina were easy through and Maria Sharapova (WTA No.1 before Paris, after Justine Henin's retirement) had much more work to do but it was successful.

In men's competition Tomas Berdych was kicked out by French Michael Llodra whose compatriot Paul-Henrie Matthieu won in five sets. The first retirement was seen by Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero against Daniel. One of the biggest surprises this year was Latvian Ernests Gulbis who made a turnover against favorite David Nalbandian and won in 5 sets. American James Blake proved the clay is not his type of court and lost by one more French player Chardy.

And then it became hot on the courts although rain was threatening from time to time. One of the favorites and the last year's winner Serena Williams was defeated by Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik 6-4 6-4. This result opened the semifinal door to Ana Ivanovic who was in the same part of the draw. Maria Sharapova still playing hard but wins in three sets again and Agnieszka Radwanska, Nadia Petrova and Vera Zvonareva do their job. Julian Benneteau and Chardy goes through but Andy Murray and Mikhail Youzhny were kicked out by Spanish Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco.

Great matches happened: David Ferrer - Leyton Hewitt 6-2 3-6 3-6 6-3 6-4, Fernando Gonzalez-Stanislas Wawrinka 5-7 2-6 6-4 6-4 6-4. Radek Stepanek reached the quarter final first after beating Tommy Robredo in three sets. Gael Monfils started his great tour in Paris and Croatian Ivan Ljubicic won against one of the favorites Nikolay Davydenko. Ana Ivanovic was superb, Jelena Jankovic was passing through quite easily in spite of her right hand injury and troubles with "heavy balls", Petty Schnyder reached the quarter finals after a long time without impressive results.

And then it was time for favorites to present their skills. Roger Federer was going easy through the rounds, Rafael Nadal was impressive, especially after destroying his compatriot and the best player on the clay this season Nicolas Almagro 6-1 6-1 6-1, Novak Djokovic stopped Gulbis in three "7" sets: 7-5 7-6 7-5. Kaia Kanepi from Estonia made a great result with reaching quarter final and Dinara Safina confirmed she's in her life's form after beating the No.1 Maria Sharapova in three sets (6-7 7-6 6-2) in 1/8 final. It was a hard match, Sharapova had a match point but Safina made a turnover. Just like in quarter final against Elena Dementieva. Safina won Berlin tournament this year and she keeps doing well, so he won against Kuznetsova easier than expected, to reach her first Grand Slam final. These results and loses of Sharapova and Kuznetsova meant that WTA ranking will be changed after French Open and it was the only question if the No.1 will be Ana Ivanovic or Jelena Jankovic. They had to decide on that face-to-face in their semifinal. This was maybe the best match in women's singles. Big fight, great points, running around and some psychology... Ana won the first set although she was losing 3-0 and 4-2. Jelena was better in the second and the third one was the atomic tennis! However, Ivanovic was better and luckier to reach her second final in Paris (last year she lost to Justine Henin) and her second Grand Slam final this year (lost to Sharapova in Australian Open).

The only positive surprise among men was French Gael Monfils who reached his first semifinal after beating Ivan Ljubicic and David Ferrer in four sets. But France has much more success here then among women: even 5 players reached the final 16! However, Monfils gave his best but it was enough only to take one set against "Fedex" in semifinal. The second semi was expected Nadal vs. Djokovic. Fans of Novak Djokovic expected he will finally take the crown of Spaniard's head but he was too strong - easy win on the road to fourth title.

Finally, Ana Ivanovic was strong enough, physically and mentally to win her first Grand Slam title against new Russian star (or "Marat Safin's little sister"). The result was 6-4 6-3 but it wasn't so easy. "I feel so happy. I have no words to describe that. But Grand Slam, winning Grand Slam is something I dreamt since I was a little kid, so achieving that goal, it's very thrilling. You know, you work so hard and you're, off the court, on the court, and you put so much effort into it. I loved the game and I enjoy playing, so this is the best reward I can get", said Ana Ivanovic after finals.

Totally opposite, Rafael Nadal send one more "thunder" and broken down Roger Federer with 6-1 6-3 6-0 in final, to disappoint the spectators on Phillip Chatrieux who expected a hard battle. It was his fourth title in a row and now the main question is - who and when will be able to win against Nadal on his favorite clay court?

After Roland Garros the WTA ranking is changed and the tennis world has its new queen - that's the queen of Paris Ana Ivanovic! The kings are old - Federer is first on the ATP but Nadal is first on the clay!

And we won't forget to mention doubles champions, although it's always in a shadow: Bob Bryan & Victoria Azarenka won the mixed doubles against Nenad Zimonjic & Katarina Srebotnik 6-2 7-6. Luis Horna & Pablo Cuevas won the men's doubles against Nenad Zimonjic & Daniel Nestor and Virginia Ruano Pascual & Anabel Medina Garrigues won the women's doubles. It seems Nenad Zimonjic had the worst luck this year with reaching two finals and losing both of them.


(Published: 10.06.2008.)