French Open 2015: Winners and Losers from Roland Garros
Well, the 2015 French Open has come to a close, and it's safe to say that it was not a fortnight that will be easily forgotten.
Serena Williams captured the title for the women, beating Lucie Safarova in the final for her third French Open title, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2. Stan Wawrinka shocked the world by upsetting Novak Djokovic in the men's final, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, for his second major title in the past two years.
In doubles, Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the women's title, beating Yaroslava Shvedova and Casey Dellacqua in the final, and Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo upset the Bryan brothers to take the men's doubles title. Mattek-Sands partnered with Mike Bryan to win in mixed doubles.
Those are the men and women who are taking away the trophies. Keep reading to see the rest of the winners and losers from Roland Garros.
Winner: Calendar Slam Hopes for Women's Tennis
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Prior to this tournament, no women's tennis player had won the Australian Open and French Open back-to-back since Jennifer Capriati in 2002. More than that, no player has won the calendar Slam since Steffi Graf did so back in 1988.
With her French Open title, the 20th major victory of her illustrious career, Serena Williams has a chance to change that if she can manage to win both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Fittingly, if she is able to do that, she would win her 22nd Slam in New York, tying Graf's total.
Serena got through this tournament battling the flu, a terribly difficult schedule and an in-form Lucie Safarova in the final for what she called her most "dramatic" Grand Slam victory ever during her post-match interview with NBC's Mary Carillo.
Safarova kept her own hopes of a calendar Slam alive—in doubles, that is. Along with her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Safarova captured the women's doubles title, adding to their Australian Open victory.
Loser: Defending Champions
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Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal started the tournament in style, participating in the draw ceremony like all former champions are invited to do. Unfortunately for them, the draws this year didn't work out in their favor.
Sharapova never looked herself in this tournament, battling a cold and poor form throughout the first week. In the fourth round, the five-time Slam champion and two-time French Open champion succumbed to the power and aggression of eventual finalist Lucie Safarova, 7-6, 6-4.
Nadal didn't fare much better. The nine-time champion, who had only one career loss at Roland Garros coming into this tournament, faced off against Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. They brought their respective 2015 forms into the match, and Nadal had no answer to Djokovic's game, falling 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.
Considering that Nadal and Sharapova are two of the most resilient players in tennis, don't expect them to be held down for too long.
Winner: Lucie Safarova
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If you enjoy watching the ebullience of Lucie Safarova (and who doesn't?), then this was the tournament for you. The Czech lefty had the best tournament of her career, making it to the final in singles and winning the doubles crown with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Safarova's run in singles was a thing of wonder. The 28-year-old ran through her half of the draw, taking down former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki, defending champion Maria Sharapova, 2014's Serena-slayer Garbine Muguruza and 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic in succession to advance to her first singles Grand Slam final.
There, she fell to Serena Williams, but only after pulling off a spectacular escape at the end of the second set to force the legend to raise her level in the third.
Then, of course, Safarova overcame her singles disappointment by winning the doubles title with Mattek-Sands on Sunday. It was their second Grand Slam victory in a row.
Safarova has an aggressive game and the ability to take control of rallies with her serve, forehand and return. She now makes her top-10 debut at No. 7 in the WTA rankings.
Loser: Novak Djokovic
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What a heartbreaker for Novak Djokovic. All tournament long, this had looked like his destiny. He has been close to the French Open title many times, but he has always been thwarted, usually by Rafael Nadal.
This year, however, Djokovic was by far the best player in the world, and Nadal was struggling coming into Paris. They played each other in the quarterfinals, and Djokovic was finally able to take out Nadal at Roland Garros. The path looked clear.
However, he ran into a peaking Stan Wawrinka in the final and was rattled. He didn't play poorly, but he didn't have the answers he needed and lost in four tight sets. Djokovic's career Slam remains incomplete, and he'll have to wait yet another year to try again.
"To finish, I would like to say, I will continue to work to win this trophy," Djokovic said (in French, as translated by NBC) on the court in his runner-up speech. That is something that nobody doubts.
Winner: Swiss Tennis
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So this is a bit weird, but work with me here: Roger Federer had a fairly disappointing French Open, falling in the quarterfinals despite being the No. 2 seed and being on the opposite side of the draw from the rest of the Big Four.
However, it was still a great two weeks for Swiss tennis.
Of course, Federer fell to his compatriot Stan Wawrinka, and the 30-year-old followed that up by taking out hometown boy Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and making it to the French Open final, his second major final in the last two years.
In the final, Wawrinka played the best tennis of his life to upset the best player of the year, Novak Djokovic, and win his second major title. He was aggressive, creative and overpowering, and he simply took the trophy away from the Serb.
Timea Bacsinszky also impressed for the Swiss. The 25-year-old, who was working in a restaurant a couple of years ago and close to quitting tennis, continued her run of great form in 2015 by making it all the way to the semifinals and even taking a set off Serena Williams once she got there.
Bacsinszky is ranked 24th and looks poised to continue to take the WTA by storm.
Loser: Simona Halep
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Last year, Simona Halep burst onto the international stage at the French Open, making it all the way to the final and pushing Maria Sharapova to the brink in one of the best tennis matches of the year.
This year, the Romanian did not have the encore performance that she was hoping for. Halep lost in the second round at Roland Garros, falling to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni for the second time in the last three Slams. (Halep also lost to Lucic-Baroni in the third round of the U.S. Open.)
If you're a Halep fan, the concern isn't just the fact that she lost; it's how she lost—7-5, 6-1—without even putting up a fight. This is now a pattern for Halep, who crashed out in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open to Ekaterina Makarova in similarly lackluster fashion.
Halep is hugely talented, and when she brings it on the biggest stages, the results are often spectacular. But in order to remain an elite player in the WTA, the 23-year-old will have to learn how to fight through her off days and survive.
Winner: Jack Sock
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It was a fantastic tournament for 22-year-old American Jack Sock, who made it to the fourth round with an upset over No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov in the first, a tight four-set victory over Pablo Carreno Busta in the second and a slaughtering of precocious teen Borna Coric in the third.
Sock, who won his first ATP title earlier this year on clay in Houston, went on to take a set off Nadal in the fourth round and impressed a lot of people along the way with his improved physicality and lethal forehand.
"When Jack Sock leans into a forehand, it makes a formidable popping noise off the racket and almost buzzes over the net," Greg Garber of ESPN.com wrote. "Then, just when it appears to be headed long, it usually ducks down sharply inside the baseline."
Sock will be at a career-high ranking of No. 31 on Monday and should be seeded for Wimbledon. This talented youngster, whose work ethic has been questioned in the past, seems to finally be putting it all together.
Loser: Grigor Dimitrov
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Sock's first-round opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, however, is trending in the opposite direction. For the second year in a row, the 24-year-old Bulgarian failed to make it past the first round of the French Open, and he didn't put on much of a fight.
Dimitrov has been struggling all year long, failing to keep any momentum from last year going and stalling out around No. 11 in the rankings. He is 18-10 on the season, with zero appearances in any finals and only two semifinals, both at small tournaments.
It's true that grass is where Dimitrov shines, but it's still concerning to see him look so mediocre on such a big stage, particularly knowing the talent that he has.
Winner: Andy Murray
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Here's a sentence that I would have found crazy even just a month ago: Andy Murray gave Novak Djokovic far more of a scare at Roland Garros than Rafael Nadal did.
In the last month, Murray has turned into a clay-court expert, winning two titles, beating Nadal in the Madrid final and then making a run to the Roland Garros semifinals. In Paris this fortnight, he got his first victory over David Ferrer on clay in the quarters and then pushed Djokovic to five sets in their two-day-long semifinal.
But he's also a winner for the statement he made off the court. It's now been a full year since Murray made the buzzed-about decision to appoint Amelie Mauresmo as his coach, and he addressed that controversy in an op-ed, where he declared himself a feminist.
"It’s a crying shame there aren’t more female coaches," he wrote in a column for L'Equipe (via AndyMurray.com). "I hope this changes even if [sic] I this isn’t the reason I chose Amelie."
In a sport where men and women share a stage and prize money, there is still an overwhelming amount of misogyny and sexism in the tennis community. Murray's appointment of Mauresmo and ability to address this culture of sexism is a big step in the right direction.
Loser: Gilbert Ysern, Tournament Director of Roland Garros
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As a tournament director, you typically want to stay behind the scenes when the action is underway. Therefore, you know it was a rough tournament for Gilbert Ysern because he was brought out for not one but two press conferences to address safety issues.
The opening came on the first Sunday of the tournament, when a fan was inexplicably able to climb onto the Philippe Chatrier court after Roger Federer finished his first-round match, waltz up to the 17-time Slam champion, put his arm around Federer and ask for a selfie. Federer was not amused and voiced his frustration with Roland Garros security.
“What happened today does not show that the risk level is high,” Ysern told the media, as reported by Christopher Clarey of the New York Times. “We’re talking about an error in judgment. The guards are well prepared. If a guy went running on the court with an aggressive attitude, he would not have made it to the player.”
But that wasn't the last of it. In the quarterfinal match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Kei Nishikori, a chunk of the scoreboard fell off and caused minor injuries to three spectators, resulting in a lengthy stop of play. Once again, Ysern had to answer, claiming there was an open investigation to find out what happened.
Overall, it's not a good thing when players feel unsafe and spectators get injured. Ysern has some work to do before the 2016 tournament.
Winner: French Men
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OK, so the drought continues—no French man has won the French Open since Yannick Noah did so back in 1983.
But this year, the French men did manage to create some fireworks, which was unexpected, considering there was no French man ranked in the top 12 headed into this tournament.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the star, dazzling the French fans with his run to the semis, a stretch that included upsets over No. 4 Tomas Berdych and No. 5 Kei Nishikori. After his win over Nishikori, Tsonga scribbled "ROLAND JE _'AIME" in the clay, then fell down on the clay and made himself the "T" in the message.
Tsonga wasn't the only one with theatrics this fortnight, though. The always entertaining Gael Monfils had two comebacks from down 2-1 during the first week and then took a set from Federer in the fourth round. Gilles Simon also had a good run, making it to the fourth round, where he fell to Stan Wawrinka, as did Richard Gasquet, who fell in the fourth to Novak Djokovic.
The French players are frustrating, yes, and they often seem to be wasting their considerable talent. But there's no doubt that things are more exciting when they stick around for a while, especially in Paris.
Loser: Kader Nouni
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Another Grand Slam, another umpire controversy. Stop me if this is starting to sound familiar.
This time, veteran Kader Nouni was at the center of the drama, with a call in the Victoria Azarenka-Serena Williams third-round match that was so bad that it led Azarenka to call for an instant-replay system in tennis.
Here's what happened, according to Nick McCarvel of USA Today:
"Down 4-5 and a set point in the second set, Azarenka hit a ball that fell on Williams' baseline and was called out by the lines person. Kader Nouni, the chair umpire for the match, came onto his court and overruled the call after checking the mark.
Azarenka believed she should have been awarded the point because Williams' shot off the baseline was into the net. But Nouni thought the lines person's call had hindered Williams, therefore he asked the point to be replayed.
TV replays showed Williams striking the ball before the lines person's audible "out" call.
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All umpires are bound to make bad decisions if they're around long enough; it's part of the job. But I echo Azarenka's sentiments—tennis needs a way to challenge a call from time to time. The technology is there. Why not use it to make the sport better?
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