This Week In Tennis
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PRESS
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Q. Can you try and describe your feelings on the match point that you did win, that lob? Took you a second to realize you won. Can you tell us what went through your mind?
GARBINE MUGURUZA: It was really weird. Serena was in front of the ball so I didn't know if it was in or out. I looked at the chair umpire and chair umpire doesn't want to say anything. Line judge doesn't want to say anything. I was like, Did I win Roland Garros? What happened? When he said, Game, set, and match, I was like, No way. I won. It was like amazing. Q. I saw you got a tweet from Rafa. When you watched him winning all those titles did you think that one day it would be you? GARBINE MUGURUZA: You know what I thought? Like how can he win nine times? Right away I'm like, That's impossible to do it again. (Smiling.) But, you know, reading that tweet about Rafa, it's great for us. For Spanish people this is the tournament. When you're a kid and you practice on clay you always, Oh, I wish I could win Roland Garros. Today is a great day. Q. You have had an incredible record in Grand Slam finals before this year and now you have lost these two. Wondering if these moments feel different to you, the pressure, sort of stakes of 22 this year feels somehow different on court in these moments? SERENA WILLIAMS: No. You know, I ran up against two players that -- you know, I think in Australia, Ann Kerber made 16 errors in three sets, you know, so what do you do in that situation? Today Garbiñe played unbelievable. The only thing I can do is just keep trying. Full French Open transcripts HERE |
Q. Congrats. The young players in France don't play doubles enough. Can you tell us why it's really good to play doubles? What are the types of things you would tell young kids so that they would do the same?
CAROLINE GARCIA: Well, you know, doubles is something that's not very famous, that's well known. So it's good to see that many people watched our match and supported us. You learn things when you play doubles. You work more on your serves, your returns, your volleys. It's different from singles. We have our own individual objectives, of course. They remain. You know, these emotions, nothing can replace these emotions. You hope you will live the same emotions in singles. You're not sure you can you do this, but if you can live those emotions in doubles, well, make the most of it. When I started playing doubles I never thought I would win Roland Garros. I was so bad when I was at the net; and today, you know, today they were shooting at me. I managed to overcome these difficulties. Anybody can improve their games. Even at the beginning if you're really bad in doubles, continue, work hard, and look at what we have done. It's so great to have lived this together. KRISTINA MLADENOVIC: I'm about to cry. Q. How much, if at all, was the adductor a problem for you out there on court? Was there any physical issues out there for you today? SERENA WILLIAMS: It was okay. I'm not one to ever make excuses and say, like, Oh, my adductor was hurting or whatever. I think at the end of the day I didn't play the game I needed to play to win and she did. Adductor or not, she played to win. You know, that's what she did. |
RANKINGS WATCH
- RISING: Muguruza (+2 to #2), Williams (+2 to #9), Stosur (+10 to #14), Bertens (+31 to #27), Putintseva (+25 to #35), Larsson (+7 to #55), Rogers (+48 to #60), Pironkova (+31 to #71), Osaka (+14 to #87), Knapp (+25 to #93), Maria (+11 to #100), Townsend (+18 to #154)
- FALLING: Errani (-4 to #22), Ivanovic (-9 to #25), Safarova (-16 to #29), Makarova (-7 to #36), Cornet (-9 to #59), Lisicki (-12 to #63), Goerges (-21 to #78), Allertova (-10 to #80), Rybarikova (-13 to #90), Kontaveit (-15 to #97), Schiavone (-15 to #110), Van Uytvanck (-59 to #132)
ON THE WEB
A Spanish Star is Born
Serena Williams Defeated by Garbiñe Muguruza for French Open Title
Hometown Glory for Garcia/Mladenovic
Adversity Doesn’t Extinguish the Fiery Yulia Putintseva
Game, Set, Match: Wimbledon Inks a Three-Year Deal with Snapchat
Muguruza on the March
Another Great Serena Escape
Don't Blame it on the Rain
How an Indecent Outfit Revolutionized Women's Tennis
Kiki Bertens and Notable French Open First Round Matches
Mauresmo Receives Hall of Fame Ring
ATP
RUNDOWN
- Novak Djokovic finally conquered his Paris bugaboo en route to completing his personal career Grand Slam. The #1 ranked Serb now holds the last four Grand Slams trophies and further cements his stranglehold atop the men's game. He sits a whopping 8,035 points clear of Andy Murray at #2.
- Murray reached the 10th Grand Slam final of his career and first at the French Open. Unfortunately for Murray, his opponent was the impregnable Djokovic. Of the 10 Slam finals he's contested, Murray has lost five to the world #1. Incidentally, the two Slam titles Murray owns came against Djokovic too.
- Dominic Thiem made good on his stellar form in 2016 with a run to the semifinals. His straight sets loss to Djokovic revealed great room for improvement before he can lay claim to being a truly elite player. Still, the forward trajectory of his career was corroborated by an eight spot leap in the rankings, cracking the top 10 at #7 at tournament's end.
- Stan Wawrinka was on course for a rematch of last year's final before running into an aggressive and game Murray in the semifinals. The loss of ranking points means he swaps places with Nadal at #4, ensuring an official return of "The Big Four" to the top of the ATP rankings.
- Richard Gasquet took out Nick Kyrgios and Kei Nishikori en route to the quarterfinals. Gasquet's inability to advance past the fourth round in Slams has defined his career to date; 16 times he has made the round of 16 but failed to go a round further. Only five times has he reached the quarterfinals of a Slam (making the semifinals on three of those occasions). The good news for the Frenchman is that three of those five have come in his last three Slam appearances.
- Nick Kyrgios created headlines when he announced his withdrawal from consideration for Australia's Olympic tennis team. It was later revealed that Kyrgios received a 16-page letter from Kitty Chiller asking him to explaining his past transgressions if he wished to be picked for the Australian team.
- The Lopez/Lopez doubles team of Feliciano and Marc captured their first ever Slam title, defeating the Bryan Brothers in the Roland Garros final.
- Nicolas Mahut is your new world #1 men's doubles player.
- Tommy Haas has been named the new Tournament Director at Indian Wells, replacing Raymond Moore.
- David Goffin narrowly misses entry into the ATP top 10 (#11) after reaching his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal. As it turned out, his loss to good friend Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinal was a battle within a battle, with the winner gaining his first entry into the top 10.
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PRESS
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Building on what you said, that you felt that everything was different this year, would you say that it started exactly at last year's ceremony? Because you told me in London that you never felt anything like that before.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Yes, yes. I really felt something very strong with French crowd, you know, with Wawrinka. It was just particular moment that I had never felt before on the court last year in the final. I fell short. You know, I didn't win that match. You know, I lost to a better player. But, you know, what happened afterwards, the appreciation and respect I got from the crowd and that standing ovation really touched me deep inside. You know, I was so looking forward and so eager to come back and, you know, be part of this event again. I think you're right, you know. That's where it actually got to another level of connection. Q. When you think about today's match, is it a match that you think you could have done anything differently to change what was happening, or did Novak just start playing too well? ANDY MURRAY: I could have served better, for sure. I didn't served particularly well. On this surface obviously, you know, it's harder to sort of get free points on your second serve. Maybe on the quicker surfaces, you know, you can do that. You know, you serve 100 miles an hour second serve on the grass is a little bit different to doing it on a slow, heavy clay court. It's going to come back more often. Yeah, that's something I would have liked to have done better today. In the first set I was serving better. I was able to dictate a few more of the points; whereas when you're hitting second serve you're more often on the back foot and spend more time defending. Full French Open transcripts HERE |
Q. Walking off the court, how far did you feel from Novak's level? Is it big? Is it smaller than you thought? How did you feel about the gap?
DOMINIC THIEM: Well, I think he played really well today, but I also think that sometimes - or mostly throughout the match - I made it maybe a little bit too easy for him, too many mistakes. But, yeah, it's tough against him. He doesn't give you any presents. Return is unbelievable. It was already the problem yesterday that I didn't get any free points with the serve. Yeah, then if you have to play basically every game without serve, without the advantage of serve, it's going to be unbelievably tough against him. Q. What about your feelings then? I have the feeling it was difficult for you to move on the court compared to what you did before during the first two weeks. Would you say the same or not? STAN WAWRINKA: Well, no. I think that Andy played really so well today. He was the strongest on the court. It's as simple as that. He knew what to do against me. When you play this player at such a level, well, you know what? If I start hesitating with my game and what I intend to do, this is something that you can see more easily compared to other players; therefore, I started hesitating and didn't exactly know which choices to make. Afterwards you might have the thought that I was not moving well on the court. All in all, even though I have a few things I would reproach myself with, things I wanted to do differently, et cetera. Well, if I were to use too many "ifs," well, with an "if" you can change a game, as we say. He was so solid in what he was doing and he knew how to be very aggressive from the very first shots to put pressure on me when I thought I had opportunities to seize, and voila. He was stronger as I was today. It's as simple as that. |
RANKINGS WATCH
- RISING: Nadal (+1 to #4), Thiem (+8 to #7), Gasquet (+2 to #10), Goffin (+2 to #11), Ramos Vinolas (+23 to #32), Granollers (+11 to #45), Bedene (+8 to #58), Gulbis (+21 to #59), Kukushkin (+22 to #61), Jaziri (+9 to #63), Brown (+30 to #86)
- FALLING: Tsonga (-5 to #12), Cilic (-3 to #13), Ferrer (-3 to #14), Johnson (-5 to #39), Mahut (-5 to #49), Klizan (-6 to #51), Schwartzman (-6 to #69), Rosol (-12 to #71), Mayer (-17 to #85), Dzumhur (-14 to #87)
ON THE WEB
The French Open, Novak Djokovic, and the end of the Machine Age in Tennis
Now He Has Paris
Novak Djokovic Beats Andy Murray to Claim Elusive French Open Title
Lopez/Lopez Down Bryan/Bryan For Maiden Slam Title
Stan Wawrinka’s Unique Niche: the Unsung Star who Thrives at Grand Slams
Novak Djokovic’s Latest Opponent in His French Open Quest? His Temper
Players Focus on Grand Slams with Payouts Outpacing Tour Events
For Jim Courier, Remembering When America's Big 4 Ruled the Men's Game
Brown: 'Grass Court Season Is My Season'
The Nomadic Life of Tennis Players
Tennis Integrity Unit Is Finding Doubters
Andy Murray’s Misfortune: He’s the Same Age as Novak Djokovic
PODCASTS
The Tennis Podcast - Week 2 Starts With Washout; John McEnroe - Super Coach; What Now For Nadal? Djokovic, Murray
The Main Draw - Le Champion Que Nous Attend?
Beyond The Baseline - Jon Wertheim from Roland Garros on Djokovic, Serena, more
The Tennis Podcast - Serena vs. Muguruza; Djokovic vs. Murray
Tennis Connected - Reviewing the 2016 French Open
RealzTenisFanz - The French Open is CLOSED!!
The Tennis Podcast - Djokovic Makes History, How Many More Will He Win? Muguruza Comes Of Age; Serena - Still On For The Record?
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