With Serena on maternity break, the competition is wide open in women’s tennis
By Ben Rothenberg
Asked if she believed, as the odds-makers do, that she is the French Open favourite, Simona Halep dissented.
“No, no,” she said. “In this moment, no.” Who is, then? “About 15 players,” she said, smiling.
Sixth-seeded Halep, of Romania, had just lost the Italian Open final to eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 6-4, 5-7, 1-6, the latest in a series of results in women’s tennis this year that have sown uncertainty about who can be relied upon to contend for the biggest titles.
Halep, who won earlier this month in Madrid and reached the Stuttgart semifinals, has been the most common answer in recent weeks, even if said with minimal confidence. Though Halep is a light, graceful mover on clay, where her counter-punching game is at its most effective, her mental toughness is sometimes questioned.
Halep is often sullen and frustrated on court, and her coach, Darren Cahill, stopped working with her for five weeks after a particularly uninspiring midmatch coaching visit in Miami, in which Halep repeatedly appeared to throw in the towel before a third set.
Cahill left the door open for his return, and Halep won him back with impressive play at Fed Cup and Stuttgart. The two reunited in Madrid, where Halep successfully defended her title with a renewed commitment to positivity on court. “I’m really motivated to not disappoint him again,” she said. “I just want to do this also for myself, because I don’t lose as much energy and I feel fresh after I finish a match. It’s a big difference.”
Halep’s momentum continued this week in Rome until she rolled her right ankle in the eighth game of the first set against Svitolina. Though she was able to compete well through the second set, she played cautiously in the final set, which went quickly.
Though she figures to be back at full strength in Paris, Halep has been far from bankable at major tournaments. After reaching the final of the French Open in 2014, Halep has suffered early losses in her subsequent two appearances in Paris, falling in the second round in 2015 and the fourth round last year. In most recent Grand Slam, she lost in the first round of the Australian Open.
Even with that stained resume, tennis analyst Pam Shriver said, Halep still sits atop the pile of current candidates for the position of French Open favourite.
“There’s no pattern — it’s a free-for-all,” Shriver said. “This isn’t just going to be the French Open — this appears to be what it’s going to feel like the rest of the year.”
Several top players are not competing in Paris. Second-ranked Serena Williams, who won the first major title of the year at the Australian Open in January, is pregnant and will miss the rest of this season. Former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus is also still out on maternity leave, planning to return to the tour this summer.
Even with her eligibility to play in the event uncertain, Maria Sharapova of Russia had a brief stint last month as the oddsmakers’ favourite to win the French Open after she won the first three matches of her comeback from a 15-month ban for testing positive for meldonium (she was ultimately not granted the wild card she needed to enter the tournament).
The most obvious options still competing also cause hesitation. Top-ranked Angelique Kerber of Germany has struggled to back up her breakout performance last season and has yet to beat a top-20 opponent this year.
Svitolina also won a tournament in Dubai in February and is the leader in the year-todate rankings. But she has made the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam only once, and she has lost before that stage at this year’s four biggest tournaments (the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid).
Current players agree with Shriver’s sentiment that there is no use predicting women’s tennis right now. Garbine Muguruza, last year’s French Open champion, expressed relief after winning her third-round match in Rome against Julia Gorges of Germany, who was ranked 45th at the time. Muguruza was ranked seventh. “All these girls are kind of in a similar level,” Muguruza said. “There is nobody that I feel right now that is much better than the other ones.”
Muguruza cited Williams’ departure as the origin of the uncertainty. “You were thinking, ‘I have to beat Serena to win a Grand Slam,’” Muguruza said. “But now it’s more like, ‘I don’t know.’ Surprise after surprise.”
Asked if she believed, as the odds-makers do, that she is the French Open favourite, Simona Halep dissented.
“No, no,” she said. “In this moment, no.” Who is, then? “About 15 players,” she said, smiling.
Sixth-seeded Halep, of Romania, had just lost the Italian Open final to eighth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, 6-4, 5-7, 1-6, the latest in a series of results in women’s tennis this year that have sown uncertainty about who can be relied upon to contend for the biggest titles.
Halep, who won earlier this month in Madrid and reached the Stuttgart semifinals, has been the most common answer in recent weeks, even if said with minimal confidence. Though Halep is a light, graceful mover on clay, where her counter-punching game is at its most effective, her mental toughness is sometimes questioned.
Halep is often sullen and frustrated on court, and her coach, Darren Cahill, stopped working with her for five weeks after a particularly uninspiring midmatch coaching visit in Miami, in which Halep repeatedly appeared to throw in the towel before a third set.
Cahill left the door open for his return, and Halep won him back with impressive play at Fed Cup and Stuttgart. The two reunited in Madrid, where Halep successfully defended her title with a renewed commitment to positivity on court. “I’m really motivated to not disappoint him again,” she said. “I just want to do this also for myself, because I don’t lose as much energy and I feel fresh after I finish a match. It’s a big difference.”
Halep’s momentum continued this week in Rome until she rolled her right ankle in the eighth game of the first set against Svitolina. Though she was able to compete well through the second set, she played cautiously in the final set, which went quickly.
Though she figures to be back at full strength in Paris, Halep has been far from bankable at major tournaments. After reaching the final of the French Open in 2014, Halep has suffered early losses in her subsequent two appearances in Paris, falling in the second round in 2015 and the fourth round last year. In most recent Grand Slam, she lost in the first round of the Australian Open.
Even with that stained resume, tennis analyst Pam Shriver said, Halep still sits atop the pile of current candidates for the position of French Open favourite.
“There’s no pattern — it’s a free-for-all,” Shriver said. “This isn’t just going to be the French Open — this appears to be what it’s going to feel like the rest of the year.”
Several top players are not competing in Paris. Second-ranked Serena Williams, who won the first major title of the year at the Australian Open in January, is pregnant and will miss the rest of this season. Former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus is also still out on maternity leave, planning to return to the tour this summer.
Even with her eligibility to play in the event uncertain, Maria Sharapova of Russia had a brief stint last month as the oddsmakers’ favourite to win the French Open after she won the first three matches of her comeback from a 15-month ban for testing positive for meldonium (she was ultimately not granted the wild card she needed to enter the tournament).
The most obvious options still competing also cause hesitation. Top-ranked Angelique Kerber of Germany has struggled to back up her breakout performance last season and has yet to beat a top-20 opponent this year.
Svitolina also won a tournament in Dubai in February and is the leader in the year-todate rankings. But she has made the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam only once, and she has lost before that stage at this year’s four biggest tournaments (the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid).
Current players agree with Shriver’s sentiment that there is no use predicting women’s tennis right now. Garbine Muguruza, last year’s French Open champion, expressed relief after winning her third-round match in Rome against Julia Gorges of Germany, who was ranked 45th at the time. Muguruza was ranked seventh. “All these girls are kind of in a similar level,” Muguruza said. “There is nobody that I feel right now that is much better than the other ones.”
Muguruza cited Williams’ departure as the origin of the uncertainty. “You were thinking, ‘I have to beat Serena to win a Grand Slam,’” Muguruza said. “But now it’s more like, ‘I don’t know.’ Surprise after surprise.”