It was a terrific weekend at the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris France. How could it get any better. My favorite female player Simona Halep and my favorite male player both won the championships. Simona Halep the number one female player for quite some time has now added her first Major Grand Slam title at the French Open. Halep defeated Sloan Stevens 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Stevens came out like a jet fighter slamming the ball hard and making winners, it was looking worrisome for Halep. In the second set Halep was down 2-1 when Stevens began to look a bit tired and started to miss shots. Simona took her game to a higher level and turned the tide. Halep dominated the 3rd set while Sloan looked disheartened. A great way to watch Tennis Channel is with a Roku 4 Ultra.
Rafael Nadal beat Dominic Thiem in 3 strait sets to win his 11th grand slam French Open title setting yet another record. The score was 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. The first two sets were much closer than the score would lead you to believe. In the third set Nadal ran to his bench to remove tape from his wrist that he says was cutting off circulation to his hand creating cramps. Nadal retained his number one ranking with the win at least until the grass court season starts.
Simona Halep secures a deal a deal for the clothing line that she will wear in tennis tournaments. Adidas would not raise the amount they would give her. Simona was without a clothing sponsor for the Australian Open in Melbourne. So after becoming number one in the WTA again, Nike gave her a sweet deal. While scrolling on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8, I came across the rumor that they came up with about 2 million per year vs the 1.2 million that Adidas would not improve upon. Halep was a finalist in Melbourne for the Australian Open, losing a tight match to Caroline Wozniacki 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-4.
Congratulations to Simona Halep making her year end ranking as Number One in the World! Apparently that was not enough for Adidas to up her value for their product. People may say shame on you Adidas, however as I have written before the media manages to downplay Simona's accomplishments and avoid showing much of her matches compared to the media darling's such as..... sorry not going to mention names but if you follow tennis you know the answers.
Simona Halep defeated the very strong hitter Madison Keys in Montreal with some difficulty 7-6 (7/2), 6-3. Fortunately Simona Halep was able to move Keys around enough to make her have errors forced and mostly unforced. It could have been a lot different but Keys hit so many into the net and out of bounds, certainly not looking her best. In the second set Halep brought up her game to claim the victory. So for Simona Halep my favorite female player best of luck for a great year and maybe a Major title.
Okay so most of you don't know that quote. It's from the old film Little Caesar starring Edward G. Robinson where at the end of the movie he is shot and dying "maybe". Well people ask how many more grand slam tournaments will Serena Williams win? Good question because is this a slump or a slide? Williams has not won a tournaments since her August 2015 win in Cincinnati. Still an exceptional player but her serve when it's on is awesome just it's not on so much these days. Her movement maybe half a step slower putting her in some awkward positions. Injuries are finding Serena a little more often and she is losing to a greater variety of players usually those with excellent return games and net skills. We have seen this with other players and sometimes they make a come back better than ever at least for a season. We will know the answer to this eventually, just keep watching Tennis Channel and enjoy the suspense or if you are too busy stop by here tennisplayer.co for an update now and then. I am not affiliated with Tennis Channel, just watch it often for lots of tennis coverage and commentary.
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