Five Reasons To Watch the French Open Women's Final

(Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

If you told tennis fans two weeks ago that Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer wouldn’t meet in this year’s French Open final, they would have looked at you like you were crazy, stupid or both. They may even have huffed and puffed and turned as pink as Nadal’s lovely shirt telling you so.

If you told the same fans that the top two contenders on the women’s side would meet in the final, they would have laughed at you. They would have told you that the top of women’s tennis has been in disarray since the abrupt departure of Justine Henin, who left tennis while still ranked No. 1.

The joke would have been on them, because it’s the women’s final that’s turning out mostly as planned. The two women who’ve performed the best during the clay court season—the two women many picked to win the French Open—are the same two women who’ll face off in the final this Saturday.

When No. 1 Dinara Safina and No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova, both 23-year-old Russians, walk onto the clay courts of the French Open for that final, you should watch. If you want to know why and one reason won’t do, you’re in luck. Here’s why.

To see great tennis

At the start of the tournament most considered Safina and Kuznetsova the top two contenders for the title for a reason: They had the best clay court season, meeting in two of the last three clay court tournament finals. Tennis commentator Mary Carillo went so far as to say they played “some of the best clay court tennis of any season.”

Since taking over the No. 1 ranking on April 20, Dinara Safina has achieved an impressive 20-1 record. The only player to beat her? That would be Kuznetsova. Of the last three big clay court tournaments, Safina won two (beating Kuznetsova in one final) and Kuznetsova won one (beating Safina in the final).

This time around Safina is considered the favorite, as Kuznetsova knows: “She's going to be favorite to win. She's No. 1. She played an unbelievable season. She beat me last time we played.”

So far Safina has met expectations, exceeded them even. She started off by serving up the dreaded double bagel (6-0, 6-0) to Anne Keothavong, who had the misfortune of playing Safina in the first round. To top it off, neither Safina nor her coach was fully satisfied with the match. “I’m going to go and hit some balls,” Safina said. “There's always things to improve on.”

The overall head-to-head record is 8-5 in Safina’s favor, but their head-to-head record on clay is 4-4. Not that it matters to Kuznetsova. “I think it's a new match,” she said. “Doesn't even matter if I won 15 times before or she won 15 times before. It's a completely new day. Everything could be different.” 

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