Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur will meet for the women’s title Saturday at Roland Garros. Reporting from Paris, Peter Bodo answered some questions about this surprising French Open final.
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What do you think each player needs to do to win the match?
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Well, job No. 1 for Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur will be to keep their heads from exploding in the hours immediately before the match and during the early stages of play. Both women know this, but it’s easier said than done. In her pre-final press conference, Schiavone said, “For sure I will be nervous with tension. I think is one of the best feeling that I can personally feeling. I want to just live and enjoy my moment, my life.” Stosur echoed those same sentiments: “Just enjoy it, don’t tie yourself up in knots in the best moment of your career, savor it.” But there’s a danger doing that, too: Neither woman can afford to become a tourist on her wonderful career vacation. Both of them need to enjoy the moments leading up to the start of the match, then slam a mental door and tell themselves, This is real. This could be tough. This is the chance of a lifetime. Just make sure you leave it all out there.
Beyond that, Schiavone is going to have to solve Stosur’s kick serve. She can help herself—especially with that one-handed backhand—if she mixes up the pace against Stosur, who’s a pretty studied, “created” (rather than “creative”) player. Schiavone also needs to use her topspin; if the conditions are hot and dry, she can do some damage, especially on that forehand side. Stosur has a somewhat complicated forehand motion, with a little cock, or hitch, of the wrist. If Schiavone can get enough mustard on the ball and make it jump, she could work the forehand for errors. But Stosur has been hitting that shot well.
Stosur needs to be aggressive with her returns, and Schiavone's serve can be attacked. That would be a good way to take control and dictate the nature of the rallies, which Stosur has been very good at this week. Stosur can also benefit from an extra application of topspin when she goes to Schiavone's backhand side. Schiavone is no better at rolling that one-handed backhand from shoulder height than Roger Federer is when he plays Rafael Nadal on clay. And Stosur has to serve well to keep Schiavone back on her heels. Schiavone will attack when she gets the chance, and let’s face it, most women are unaccustomed to having to hit passing shots under pressure—especially the unique pressure of a big final.
How do you rate Stosur mentally? She's been the underdog a few matches in a row and now she’s the favorite. Can she handle the pressure?
I saw Stosur in the player’s lounge, sitting quietly in the sort of hallway-lobby leading to the locker room, with her mother, father and brother. She had a cup of coffee in her lap and was looking relaxed. A woman with Stosur (I think it was her physio) started chatting with a couple of kids and soon she came over with some papers for Sam to autograph with the kids. She did it, and the kids were emboldened to approach. When they did, Stosur was really friendly and chatted with the kids amiably for a few minutes. She was utterly relaxed, and in a placid way. That’s a good sign. But then, she’s had that aura here all week.
I don’t think the pressure will get to her, even though there’s inevitably a lot of pressure before any final, for any player. Her back-to-back wins over Justine Henin and Serena Williams represented her biggest obstacles; from here on in, it’s all gravy. I'll bet she’s happy to be playing Schiavone in the final, when it could be, say, a Williams, Henin, or some other player who’s won majors. All these issues have a flip side, of course. But Stosur’s job is to tell herself that it could be a better version of the Williams that she beat the other day across the net, so she ought to count her blessings and just go out and hit the danged ball. All in all, she’s been in a kind of “zone,” and I’d be surprised if the magic evaporated overnight.
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Believe it, Francesca: You're the first Italian woman in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final. (Getty Images)Who do you think will get the most crowd support?
**Who do you think the French are going to support, when one of the women has repeatedly fallen to the ground to kiss (and inadvertently munch on) the clay? Schiavone’s crafted a remarkable feel-good story here, and communicated it well because she’s so emotionally expressive and frank. Besides, the French female players all get along with Schiavone, and have praised her to high heaven. That counts, because there’s an awful lot of media interest in this story. As Schiavone explained, “We [the French and Italians] are Latin. We know each other good…. I come back to the locker room and the girls, the players say to me, ‘Congrats. I am very happy for you. You deserve it. Good luck for the next round. Maybe they do also with Sam. I don't know. But I think about me, and I am happy.” That kind of thing rubs off on the public. So far, this tournament has been a public relations triumph for Schiavone, more so than for Stosur (although she’s done nothing to discredit herself).
The French are easily flattered; speak a few words in their tongue and they embrace you. But they’re also fans of inventive, different tennis, and Stosur plays differently from most of the other women. She’s more well-rounded and versatile. She’ll get plenty of support for that. But at the end of the day, this isn't one of those Good Guy vs. Bad Guy, or favorite vs. determined underdog matches that can really skew the support. I say the crowd goes 60-40 for Schiavone, but if either woman stutters and looks like she may get hammered, they’ll swing back over to her.
Is this the most surprising matchup you've seen in a French Open final? If not, which was?
Yes, it is, simply because these same women met in the first round of this tournament last year (Stosur won, and made it to the semis). We’ve seen plenty of surprise finalists at the French Open, but rarely a pair of surprise finalists—especially since these two are veterans, not up-and-coming players. Yet each of them has earned her way to the championship match. This wasn’t one of those bizarre tournaments where, for unusual reasons, some or all of the top players didn’t punch through. But I mean, who would have penciled in Schiavone vs. Stosur for the Roland Garros title?
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Is this the one shot for these women? Do you think either could go on to win multiple Slams?
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Stosur is a better candidate for winning another Slam, even if she doesn’t get this one. She’s just as good on a hard court, and with a Grand Slam title under her belt, she would be a serious contender at the U.S. Open and her native Australian championships. Less so at Wimbledon, but even there, I like her chances better than I do Schiavone’s. Let’s remember that as wonderful as Schiavone’s run has been, Stosur has had more quality wins. It would be insulting to characterize Schiavone’s run as a fluke; she won the matches, she’s there, end of story. But Stosur’s run seems to fit into a bigger picture as far as her career and potential go. Remember, for a long time she was considered a talented head case.
I expect that Stosur will win. As delightful as Schiavone has been here, there’s just so much emotion and sentiment involved. And that’s always a tricky proposition. Stosur has been much more business-like and even-keeled and less subject to extremes of emotion. But if Schiavone can pull off the difficult trick of channeling all those emotions and feelings into her game, and Stosur hesitates or gets the heebie-jeebies, the first female Italian Grand Slam singles champion could be crowned on Saturday.