Weapons: Great movement, always confident, mentally strong as a rock
Weaknesses: Can be over powered by big hitters due to small stature on fast surfaces such as grass

While grass is not the ideal surface for Franny, it’s safe to say that she gets up for the big tournaments, and has had success at Wimbledon before, reaching the quarterfinals two years ago. She might not win the tournament, but you can’t count her out of going deep in the draw.

When I went to bed early in the third, I had a feeling that the match drag on for bonus time, much like Fran had with Rebecca, winning 9-7 in the third. But mostly, I thought Kuz had the momentum and would be on her way.

Boy was I wrong.

The longest match in women’s history, 4 hours and 44 minutes. In contrast, the 5 set men’s 2009 Wimbledon final took 4 hours and 17 minutes and the fifth set only lasted 95 minutes. This third set took 3 hours.

Though I didn’t see the end, I can say that from the start both were up for a fight; Fran equipped with her badass snarl and Kuzonator with her laser stare. Even when trading breaks early, it hardly mattered. If the tennis is awesome, who gives a damn? Kuz took the second set relatively easily but clearly Fran was not prepared to just hand the match to her.

The hug at the net says it all. Amazing tennis and an amazing effort by both where either could have been the winner. The fact that Fran came off a 9-7 battle in the previous round just shows the true fighting spirit that she possesses, one that few ladies on the tour can claim to have.

WTA haters to the left, please. Well done, ladies. Go tennis.

How’s that for some weirdness? For a first day of a slam, the dudes were filled with more drama than people knew what to do with… and the ladies pretty well showed up, took care of business, and went home. That’s some scary stuff.

No, L-Rob didn’t win, but since this will be her only match, I figured she deserves some respect to get a pic in here somewhere. Hell, nothing else fun happened. She lost 6-3, 7-6(5) to the former world number 1. Not an embarrassing scoreline whatsoever. Sucks that she can’t get just one main draw win under her belt, but hell. Plenty of time for that.

The one major upset (notice how I didn’t use the word “surprise”) comes from Ms. French Open, Franny, who lost to big hitting Dushevina in three sets. This… really doesn’t surprise me. Or probably any die hard fan. I mean, it’s Franny. On grass. Yeah.

The only other seed to lose was the 34th seed, K-Bond, to Hungary’s Greta Arn (wut?). All others won, most in straight sets, including Kim, Venus, Nads, Justine, Shahar and Kiri. Oh, and CanWoz won too, which is a yay.

Q. I think we could tell by your emotions afterwards that it was a really, really special day for you. How special was it?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah. Very important victory for me. I think one of the most important victories in my career, I think.
Yeah, I told you 100 times, but was a difficult year for me the last year. So after this tournament last year was a difficult year, and I worked a lot to be here. I was very nervous during all the tournament, because I know before that that I was ready to try to win another time, and I saw the chances there.

Q. You got Roland Garros title again and return to No. 1 ranking. So right now, which is more important for you right now?
RAFAEL NADAL: For me, I told you too, no, yesterday and a lot of times, I think that for me it’s Roland Garros. This is the most important thing for me, no? (Pointing to trophy.)
After the No. 1 is there, yes. But I was No. 1, and believe me, I am very happy. When I was crying after the match, the last thing I was thinking was on the No. 1.

Q. No party?
RAFAEL NADAL: I gonna have time, eh? At the summer at home after Wimbledon, Mallorca is unbelievable celebration to do. (Laughter.)

Q. What kind of objectives do you have for Wimbledon?
RAFAEL NADAL: I think I’ll be top seed in Wimbledon, because that’s a tournament I am very comfortable with. But please let me enjoy this day before I start talking about Wimbledon. Please give me that time to savor the moment, because it’s really a special moment for me.
Tomorrow when I start practicing in Queen’s, then we can start talking about Wimbledon. But first, let me appreciate the day. I was very fortunate my friend Marc accepted to play the doubles with me. So I’ll prepare to get ready for the tournament in Queens.

Q. Well, the crowd cheering for you.
FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE: Ah, si, si, si, si. They’re all my family or the person that work with me, and/or my friends from when I was two, three years old.
So I’m so, so happy. When I saw them now, I say, What are you doing here? Oh, we took a car. We came 10 hours. I said, You’re crazy. You didn’t pay us the flight, so we had to take the car. Yes, was fantastic.
And to go to the net, yes, was my tactic to keep going, to press her on the backhand, and when I had the chance to go on the forehand, because she’s very strong. My goal was to do that one and to be aggressive and to go inside.

Q. The second question: Somebody has given you your cellphone and you were on the cellphone. Can you tell us who was calling?
FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE: Presidente de la Repubblica. (Through translation.) Come se dice? Si.

Q. What did he say to you?
FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE: Ah, Congratulations. Enjoy this moment. It was an honor for Italy.

Q. I know you feel no matter where you play you are going to win the match, but was there something inside you when you came to Paris that told you you were going to do this?
FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE: The true, in the true, maybe not. But inside, yes. I really always dreamed this tournament. It’s strange to say it, but when I call my daddy, he say to me, I remember you that you always dream this one. Every morning that you wake up, you work to do something like this.
So maybe it was far away in the reality, but here never far away.

Q. You said yesterday that the most intelligent will win the final, so you are. (Laughter.)
FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE: Yes, I am. (Laughter.)
Read the rest of this entry »

There’s something special about winning their first ever slam. Unless it’s Satan himself, it’s damn near impossible to not be totally pumped for them for achieving what was likely a childhood dream. However, there’s something seriously special about a 29 year old pulling it off.

It may not be old in other sports, but 29 is near ancient in tennis (she turns 30 this month). Experience is possibly one of the most underrated things in tennis, however. So many people (myself included) thought that the only way Franny would win would be a total mental breakdown from Sam. Sure, Superhero’s forehand wasn’t magic, but Franny beat her. Straight up. And to see her bouncing around like a little kid in that second set tiebreak was just fantastic.

And can we just tip our hats to the quality of that match? It wasn’t three sets, no, but it was one of the best women’s slam finals in a long, long time. Most people are calling it the best women’s RG final in a decade. It would have been easy for people to tear down this final as some sort of “crisis” in the women’s game. No Justine, no Sisters, and no one willing to step up to the plate. Sam and Franny took down those ideas at the door. It was high quality and super entertaining.

Lastly, something has to be said about what this means for Italian tennis. Every player seems to have a hero growing up. This was the first Italian woman to make the semis of a slam in the Open era, forget actually winning it. Italy, you have yourself a new national hero.

This match will go down in history as one of the biggest retirements in recent memory, but screw that. Something needs to be said about Franny first.

Maybe it’s the experience finally paying off, but Fran has been playing some of the most consistent and error free tennis I’ve ever seen come off of her racquet, and it’s paying off big time. She’s using the big forehand and especially the huge backhand to push her opponent back first, and then using the angles to finish points. The risks are calculated, not just an unnecessary flail. And bloody hell, it’s been fun to watch. She deserves this final entirely.

Poor, poor Elena (and her fans) though. Franny was a beatable opponent, and then who knew for the final. It really looked like it might be Elena’s turn. However, there were questions over health before this match even started, going back to the match against CanWoz, and it ended up costing her the match. I’m not even sure she would have continued even if she somehow pulled that tiebreak out. She’s now doubtful for Wimbledon, where of course she had that insanely epic match against Serena in the semis last year. Sad face.

Y’all know I’m a Caro fan, so let me get this out of my system. Caro needs to work on her movement. Badly. It’s fine to pull that crap on the hard courts, but Caro just doesn’t have the foot work right now, and while the volley skills aren’t great, she’s not putting herself in the proper position to come in. It’s awkward. Maybe it’s the reason her game is the way it is, but jeebus girl. If she could actually move in well, and finish points that way, she’d be playing with the big girls.

Regardless, I’m so happy for Franny. The first female Italian to make the semis of a slam in the open era (sorry Flavs) and she was clearly so happy and so pumped afterwards. She played with great variety, the huge backhand, and wasn’t as wild as I’m used to seeing her, which was really key. She actually kind of reminds me of me while playing (ping pong) a bit, really. Silently confident, competitive… and then she let’s the crazy out after big points, regardless. Love it. (Seriously people, ping… “table tennis” is intense in this house.) Franny actually has a solid chance at the final. Crazy stuff.

This was just too goofy to not post. Nads is obviously the best, and obviously rules all. CanWoz is a total cutie too, dayum. Not a bad juggler either. There is absolutely no bias in that statement. And I’m a little sad that Franny wasn’t very good, I was expecting her to light 10 balls on fire and then juggle them 20 feet high, in accordance to her badassery, but ah well, can’t win em all.

Mad props mst be awarded to the two Italians who, yesterday, went out and kicked some serious ass.

Vika/Franny was one of the highest quality women’s matches I’ve seen all tournament, for sure. Vika came out hitting with some serious authority, and Franny was having backhand troubles and just couldn’t figure out how to deal with Vika’s serve. At one point she tried a strong backhand return which went wide, and just a couple points later tried a backhand slice return, which fell short and was pounced upon by Vika for a big winner on her end. Franny yelled out and looked at her coach as if to say “no matter what I do, it doesn’t work”.

The second set was a completely different story. Franny seemed to come out with just that little 2% more, Vika started making more UEs because of it, getting frustrated, and Franny ran to a comfortable second set win. The third set was more of the same, and Franny was SERIOUSLY pumped up. One of the most exciting and important points was when Franny hit an insane drop shot that Vika got to. Franny then lobbed the ball perfectly over her head, and despite Vika getting there, it just turned into an overhead smash winner for the Italian. By the end of the match, Vika just looked flat, perhaps the season is wearing on her, and the extra spring to Franny’s experienced step made all the difference in the end. Overall a really fun and high quality match though.

In the meantime, Flavs demolished my poor Canadian CanWoz in about 7 seconds 61 61 and continues to prove herself as a serious contender. She’s lost a whopping 2 games in the last two matches. If you haven’t started paying attention to her yet, I would recommend doing so.

You can wake me up, Flavs won. Happy times in the all Italian final in Italy, but this was obviously Flavs’ title to win from the beginning being the top seed, and gotta be happy for her. Also, nice to see the Italians know what a trophy is. Flavs is kinda like the Batman of the WTA, a sort of quiet enigma, sort of sweet, sort of goofy, but can be a total badass when called for.

I rest my case.

In other news, Sybille dropped top seed Franny in the final to take the Prague title. However, we all win, for the sole sake of this being taken. Franny is apparently sucking the soul of Sybille’s daughter, Tina.