TENNIS FRENCH OPEN – In less an hour, both the defending French Open champion, Serena Williams and her older sister, Venus Williams were dismissed from the 2014 French Open in dramatic fashion. Venus was sent packing first by Anna Schmeidlova and soon after, her lil sister Serena was joining her in the locker room after being thrashed by Spain’s Garbine Muguruza. Cordell Hackshaw
Interviews, Results, OOP, Draws from the Roland Garros
In less an hour, both the defending French Open champion, Serena Williams (1) and her older sister, Venus Williams (29) were dismissed from the 2014 French Open in dramatic fashion. Venus was sent packing first by Anna Schmeidlova 2-6 6-3 6-4 and soon after, her lil sister Serena was joining her in the locker room after being thrashed by Spain’s Garbine Muguruza 2-6 2-6. That Venus lost to Schmeidlova was no surprise considering her current condition (Sjogren Syndrome) but Serena being thoroughly dismantled by Muguruza is the real shocker. Serena had this to say on the matter, “Well, I don’t think anything worked for me today, which is just nothing really worked. I don’t know anything that actually worked.” This crazy happenstance of the sisters losing on the same day in a major has occurred twice before; 3rd round 2008 French Open and 4th round 2011 Wimbledon. As it was then as it is now, the tennis world is struggling to grapple with this result. Needless to say, Maria Sharapova is now the odds on favourite to collect her 2nd French Open title and 5th overall major.
Venus looked comfortable in the opening set of her match. She broke Schmeidlova in the 5th game and 7th game to serve for the set 5-2. The conditions were heavy but both players seemed unaffected. With three set points in hand, Venus could afford to waste two of them before converting on the 3rd. She took the set 6-2 in just 35 minutes. This was looking like another routine victory for the 7-time major champion over the Slovakian who she beat earlier this year in Miami. The prospect of this greatly improved as Venus broke early in the 2nd set to serve for a 3-1 lead. However, Venus remained content to stay behind the baseline for much of the match and this gave Schmeidlova the courage to come forward be the aggressor on court. The Slovak reeled off four straight games before Venus realized the urgency of the situation and held serve. Schmeidlova remained steadfast and picked off another four games which saw her taking the 2nd set 6-3 and breaking Venus twice to lead 3-0 in the 3rd set.
Whereas in the first set Venus was winning 93% of her first serve, she slipped to 60% for the rest of the match. She had 16 winners and 10 errors in the 1st set but only mustered 23 winners to 37 errors in the next two. To say she became erratic would be an understatement as Venus herself admitted as much “You know, in the second and third,… I think I made too many errors. And I think she just played so well and just kept getting so many balls in the court.” Schmeidlova did not waste any time capitalizing on Venus’ sloppy pattern of play. Though she was broken in the decisive set, the double insurance break proved useful as she kept her nose out in front. It looked as though Schmeidlova might not be able to serve for the match as Venus got things to 30-30. However, she kept her nerves in check and closed it out with a backhand crosscourt winner 2-6 6-3 6-4.
If anyone bet on Schmeidlova facing Muguruza in the 3rd round of this year’s French Open, that person is likely cashing in a windfall right now for Muguruza was absolutely brilliant against Serena in their match up. Serena herself conceded defeat to the young Spaniard, “Honestly, I think Garbine played really well and she played really smart. I didn’t adapt. It was what it was.” However, considering Serena’s 1st round encounter with wildcard Lim where she committed 37 errors and Lim won 51 points but only 3 games, this out of sorts Serena is not unexpected. Muguruza was the aggressive player from the beginning of the match and it became clear that Serena’s head was not in the game. She was up 40-15 in the 3rd game of the 1st set, failed to keep a ball in play which had hit the net. The error was to be expected. However, Serena was screaming wildly at herself for this “mistake”. She went on to lose that game and in essence, the match at that point. Muguruza took the next five games before Serena won another game in the set but it was too late. Muguruza closed it out 6-2 in 32 minutes.
There was no mistaking Muguruza’s intentions on court at all. “Today I had everything really clear. I was really focused, and I knew what I had to do on court…I have to be aggressive. I have to hit hard before she do it to me, because then I’m going to run so much” Muguruza stated. The Spaniard kept Serena at bay never allowing a break point in the 1st set and saved 4/5 such points in the 2nd set. Serena won only 55% of her 1st serve point and a dismal 27% on her second serve with only 8 winners and a whopping 29 errors. All this combined for her worst effort ever in a major match. Muguruza was far more tidy winning 62% of her 1st serve and 68% on her 2nd serve and had a winner/error ratio of 12/18. Hence it is no surprise that after the match Muguruza’s reaction mainly consisted of her saying that she was “[v]ery happy. Very excited. It’s my biggest win so far, so amazing.” This more than likely will be the same sentiment for Schmeidlova regarding her win over Venus. Serena on the other hand had this to say about this result, “I’m never wearing green in Paris again. Ever…You know, it’s great, because I’m going to go home and work five times as hard to make sure I never lose again.”
