By Cheryl Jones
Simona Halep is number one in the WTA rankings, at least today. Roland Garros is her favorite tournament, and that’s as it should be. She must have begun her love for Paris’ Grand Slam in 2008 when she took home the Simple Juniors Filles (Girls’) title. She turned pro in 2006 when she was a mere 14 years old and even though it took her a bit of time to make her way to the top of the women’s rankings heap, she’s finished each year since 2014 inside the top 10. In October of 2017, she first claimed the top ranking and has teetered there off and on since then.
There is something winsome about the young woman from Romania. She has a real love for the game and even though she is tiny by today’s women’s tennis standards she can move around the court quite swiftly and has the statistics to back that up. She’s 5’6” tall. (An average woman is 5’4” tall, but looking realistically at women tennis players whose height often exceeds six feet, her stature is definitely petit.) Her opponent today was Garbine Muguruza, a Spaniard, who was the champ here in 2016. Up until today, Muguruza hadn’t dropped a set at this Roland Garros. This afternoon she dropped two – 6-1, 6-4. (By the way, Muguruza is six feet tall.)
On Saturday, June 9th, Halep will appear once again in a spotlight in Paris. She will face American, Sloane Stephens in the championship. Stephens defeated fellow American, Madison Keyes 6-4, 6-4, in the other Semifinal.
It’s not the first time Halep’s been in a Final here since her victory in the juniors. Actually, it’s not the second time, either. In 2014, she was defeated by Maria Sharapova, in three sets. Last year she lost to Jalena Ostapenko in three sets. She might be ready to claim the best prize of her career when the dust settles on Court Philippe Chatrier after that match, but it might take three sets.
In her after-match interview, Halep was candid about her chances to win a major title. When asked about an earlier statement, where she said that she may not win a slam at all before her career is completed, she said, “So, I lost three times until now and no one died, so it will be okay.” Clearly, she is right. (In passé banter, that’s what is known as a first world problem.)
When a journalist pointed out that tennis in general is now a world of hard hitters and she wasn’t one of them, she quickly responded, “I’m fast, though, no?” And quick she is. It has served her well in the twelve years since she has been on the professional circuit. She has been working to improve her game’s good things and she seems happy with where she is today. She spoke at length about her focus, which has wavered now and then, but of late, it seems clear to her that she needs to focus on “her” game. “If I’m able to play my game every match I play, then I have a better chance to win. If I focus on the opponent, then I lose my game. So, I try just to keep it simple.”
She is going to have to bring her “A” game on Saturday. Stephens has come back from foot surgery – that kept her out of the game for eleven months – with the most tennis consistency she has exhibited – ever. After Stephens’ win at the US Open last year, she has found ways to go deep into tournaments.
Stephens and Halep have met seven times, with Halep leading 5-2. They met in the round of 16 in 2013, on clay, and not surprisingly Halep was the victor 6-1, 6-1. Clay is Halep’s best surface. Clay is seldom a favorite surface for players who were trained in the United States. (I’ve been told that the clay – green, gritty stuff – that is used in most of the US’s clay tournaments feels like playing on gravel.)
The courts won’t be covered with gravel on Saturday. It won’t be clay, either. The terre battue isn’t clay, but the courts are constructed of a rather complex mixture. The surface is carefully prepared with a limestone base, covered with layers of ground red brick (Terre Battue) that is smoothed to perfection on all the courts at Roland Garros. The gliding players make it seem easy as they move from side to side and it may be akin to ice skating; once the process is learned, then it’s like riding a bicycle – no matter how long it’s been, the movement comes back because it’s locked somewhere in one’s brain.
Halep has been practicing on terre battue her whole life, that’s a given. Stephens said, “I think once I get going in a tournament, I’m pretty consistent, which is good. I just try to keep that going through the final and just compete to the very last match.”
That will happen on Saturday afternoon on a day that calls for clouds and humidity. Halep and Stephens will meet one more time and each of them will play their own game. That’s what they do best. There will be a new name in the Roland Garros history books. Whose name will it be?
