Just FYI.— Patrick McEnroe (@PatrickMcEnroe) May 30, 2018
Sloane Stephens is winning this tournament
— AndyRoddicksNetGame (@TWA_tennis_blog) May 30, 2018
but I just wasn't sure. He tweeted this while there was a Williams sister, a Pliskova, a Kerber, a Muguruza and a Kvitova for good measure still active in the tournament. And Sloane is not always hitting monster groundies. She has just been steady throughout, playing out points and waiting for her opportunity. When her opportunity comes, she rarely squandered it. (Totally looking at you, Garbine Muguruza. Like, totally.) Stephens' performance here is a good reminder of something I've been thinking about lately -- there's no one way to win a tennis match. You don't have to look a certain way, or be a good server -- it helps to be fit these days -- but there's always room for strategy and steadiness.
The one person who might know that better than Stephens, is, unfortunately for her, Simona Halep. Halep has played two Slam finals and lost them both -- one in spectacular fashion this time last year. I've been watching her matches, including against Muguruza in the semis and wondered how she is doing it. And it is that thing that I've always admired about Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. I've never seen two people who could win a match with sheer will (vintage, of course), even when their game wasn't there for them. This tournament, Halep has sprinted all over the court to run down wannabe winners, from side to side, front to back -- and then lost the point. And the next point, she resets and starts all over again. I throw a LOT of shade her way for on-court coaching, because she's better than needing a crutch. She can do it herself.
The women's final holds much more intrigue to me than the men's final. I know it shouldn't. I know in my head that Dominic Thiem is going to be a big problem for Rafael Nadal. Nadal said today that his body feels like it's 40. (Anytime he's ready, I can tell him what it looks like.) Logically, yes, Thiem can win his first French Open on Sunday, and he might. However, it is difficult to ignore history here. Something happens to Nadal in Paris. And this year, that thing can need a set to get kicked into year. Maybe a set and a break, but then he's stalking the baseline, doing that engine thing, slapping forehands down the line, both feet airborne. If you create a Thiem and Nadal column, there's a lot in Thiem's column: youth, fire, steadiness, patience, point construction. Almost all of those things are in the Nadal column as well, and then you'd add that thing. I don't know what you call it, but it's worth about 50 items on the Nadal column.
I got another thing to get off my chest and it's about Serena Williams. Apparently, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou doesn't think Serena should be playing doubles with her sister. Like Venus is the problem. He's had this beef apparently for a while. He probably wasn't wrong in this case -- it's her first major back and it did end in a retirement from injury. BUT. Let the record show that Serena could use some doubles lessons from her coach. Standing like a stone in the middle of no-man's land so that her sister must cover three-quarters of a court. The volleys. Doubles is not a stationary game, hon!
That's it. I just feel like it needed to be said.
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