For a multitude of reasons, this year's French Open women's tournament is one of the most wide open in years. Throughout this week, the editors of TENNIS.com will each write about three possible contenders—un, deux, trois—for the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.
Wozniacki may not have a better opportunity to win her first Slam than at this year's French Open. (AP Photo)Un: Caroline Wozniacki
There have been a variety of winners and hopefuls on the women’s tour so far this season: Victoria Azarenka, Julia Goerges and Petra Kvitova have all had their 15 minutes in the sun, and, since making her title in Rome this weekend, Maria Sharapova is currently enjoying hers. There has also been a woman who has won big this year, even if you might have forgotten what she looks like: Kim Clijsters, champ at the Aussie Open. But despite these notable events, 2011 has been the year of the Wozniacki, of the world No. 1’s struggle to have it all: credibility on the court, likeability in the pressroom, popularity and sex appeal everywhere else, as well as a famous athlete boyfriend for good measure.
That’s an ambitious set of goals, but for the most part, she has reached them. Wozniacki has won three tournaments, reached the finals of two others, and was one point from making the final in Melbourne. Not bad, considering that with no Williamses or Clijsters in sight, she has been left to carry the WTA’s load of press questions and fan expectations alone.
But the credibility question remains (we’ll leave the athlete-boyfriend issue for another time): Can Wozniacki win a major and shut us all up? She has been to a final and a few semis now, but she’s never been that far the French Open, where she’ll get her next chance at a breakthrough. On the one hand, with Serena and Venus possibly returning for Wimbledon, and Clijsters shaking off the rust in Paris, this may be Wozniacki’s best shot for a little while. Her retrieving game is vulnerable to a big hitter having a big day, and these are three of the biggest around. On the other hand, as the clay season has progressed, Wozniacki has shown a vulnerability to a slightly smaller hitter like Goerges, who beat her twice, and to a woman she had handled easily in their last couple of match-ups, Sharapova, who straight-setted her in the Rome semis.
While she’s a grinder’s grinder, Wozniacki’s worst surface may be clay. Paradoxically, its slowness requires a higher level of power and, more important, heaviness from a player’s strokes, neither of which her shots have. That’s the downside—matches on the dirt will often be out of her control. But there’s an upside to her chances here, and it’s her simple consistency. Wozniacki remains, despite her recent slight struggles, the top player who is the least likely to beat herself.
She’s been trying to add power and weapons and aggression to her game this season, and to a certain degree she’s succeeded in integrating them without losing her bedrock consistency. But she’ll live and die with that consistency and defense in Paris, and she’ll need some help to get her through. With the unpredictability of the WTA right now, though, would you be surprised if she got it?
Deux: Vera Zvonareva
For the better part of a year, Zvonareva, a legendary head case in the past, set about making herself into someone you could count on at the majors. She reached the Wimbledon final. She reached the U.S. Open final. She reached the Aussie Open semis. Now how about the French? Two issues hold the Russian back. She’s not a natural clay-courter; she made the quarters in Paris way back in 2003 but has just a 15-7 career record at Roland Garros. More troubling, in the last few weeks on dirt, she’s set about undermining some of the credibility that she had built since last summer—Zvonareva lost in the quarters in Stuttgart and the round of 16 in Madrid, where she was beaten convincingly, 6-1, 6-4, by Petra Kvitova.
Still, Zvonareva remains ranked third in the world, and she now has a solid belief in herself at the majors. If she isn’t going to be completely reliable from one week to the next, maybe she’ll make herself into a woman who can rise to the occasion.
Trois: Julia Goerges
This German nice girl with the coordinated nail and headband colors seemed a mile from becoming a Slam contender a few weeks ago. Then she beat Caroline Wozniacki twice, won a big title in Stuttgart, and proved that she can move on clay for defense and has the weight of shot to go on the offensive.
Steve Tignor is a senior writer for TENNIS.com and is the author of Concrete Elbow.