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by Pete Bodo*
PARIS—Svetlana Kuznetsova called it her "worst dream" and quickly amended it to "worse than the worst dream." There she was, multiple Grand Slam event champion and a recent French Open singles titlist (2009) on these same red-clay courts, a former world No. 2 and a player recently in resurgence, staring at a wide, wide open draw with the defending champion (Francesca Schiavone) waiting in the semifinal—if only Kuznetsova could get by the lowly No. 11 seed, Marion Bartoli.
And you know how almost all of those French players get a little rubbery-legged and mentally paralyzed when the French Open rolls around.
But Bartoli has always been a sort of bête noir among the French, which might have been a good thing when it came to the task of staying in touch with her mojo here at Roland Garros. And Kuznetsova has never exactly been a stock that paid consistent dividends. As a result, Kuznetsova got bushwacked in a premature celebration of Bastille Day masquerading as a tennis match today on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Bartoli cleaned the lines—and Sveta's clock—7-6 (4), 6-4.
Kuznetsova had a bitter taste in her mouth afterwards, and she trotted out a one-two punch rationale that's a distant cousin to the Twinkie Defense; let's call it the Sour Grapes Defense. She said, "I think she had all the luck possible. She hit so many lines. My balls were going three millimeters, four millimeters out."
Oh. And here i thought that you were supposed to hit the lines, and keep the ball in play.
Cue that old pop chestnut, Another One Bites the Dust in this, the year of the wide-open women's French Open, in which many of the most promising contenders have been so spooked by the magnitude of that the opportunity that they've pulled the trigger too early, too late—or sometimes not at all.
Remember the not-so-long longshot, Petra Kvitova? Gone. Remember the nominal favorite, No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki? Long gone. Remember 2010 finalist Sam Stosur? Pffffft. How about No. 2 seed Kim Clijsters? Same story. Throw in No. 3 seed Vera Zvonareva, former champ Ana Ivanovic, and former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic. Adios, leading ladies of the WTA! Earlier today, defending champ Francesca Schiavone was down a set and 4-1 to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (she did manage to pull it out, but barely). How's going to win this thing, anyway, RuPaul? Or that other slave to fashion, Maria Sharapova?
Well, one thing we know: None of the above, except possibly Sharapova and Schiavone. And she gets Bartoli next. It will be a head-on collision between two women who have built up a good head of steam—Schiavone, because her comeback win today, is probably psyched out of her gourd and feeling like, when it comes to Roland Garros, she can do no wrong. Bartoli? Because this is a dream come true, and this girl is just wacky enough not to cave to the pressure that has laid so many of her opportunistic rivals so low.
Perhaps being French, and therefore almost always tied up in knots at this tournament, has made it seem like the anxieties induced by the wide-open nature of the event were more manageable. Bartoli was ecstatic when she won the match, and spoke openly about her joy—and her past, problematic relationship with her native tournament—after she wrapped up her berth in the semis:
"The past years I really felt the pressure here. I've been in a bad way. I was really going to the court without any confidence, to be honest. I was feeling. . . I was not feeling well on the court, I was not feeling well outside the court. I was scared about what the press would say when I'm gonna lose the match, or whatever.
"I really thought that this year I should try to take some pleasure, even though it's difficult, because, of course, we are French and we want to do well. I really tell myself, If you use that crowd, if you use that to put some pressure on the other one, maybe you can do well."
Still, it isn't as if Bartoli has rolled through her matches. In the first round, she played a young lady barely ranked in the Top 100 (Anna Tatishvili), and lost the first set, 6-1, in all of 30 minutes. She went on to win that one, and had two other three-set adventures on her way to the quarterfinals. The up side? "I really felt like I was growing in confidence. Really today it showed."
But if Bartoli were going to succumb to a heart attack, it would have happened after she closed out Kuznetsova, to cap a day in which she heard her name cascading down from the steep walls of Lenglen, and watched her countrymen do the wave—which is the ultimate thumbs-up a crowd bestows upon any match here.
"Even if I played the final of Wimbledon (2007), I never felt that excited after a match, to be honest," Bartoli said. "It was just so many feelings the same time. . . the crowd. . .the wave. . . the crowd. They were supporting me and when she (Kuznetsova) missed that forehand (on match point), I was just like, My God, I'm in the semifinal of my home Grand Slam! Finally I can play well here."
But that threat of a heart attack was minimal. She told us, "My heartbeat is extremely low, so for me to have a heart attack it really takes a lot."
Don't push your luck. For French player of either sex to win the title at Roland Garros takes a lot, too.