Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open (Roland-Garros) - Paris, France (clay) - main draw

junior · Intermediate Club Player

Weeks 22 & 23 - French Open (Roland-Garros) - Paris, France (clay) - main draw

indiana · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
Krejcikova has beaten Alexandrova, Svitolina, Stephens, Gauff and Sakkari. Not a bad run!!

I see Krejcikova won the Strasbourg 250 in the week before RG so is on a 12 natch winning run though the only top 50 player she beat there was Alexandrova (again).

And yes junior, I had heard of her before but frankly that was it, whereas I was certainly well aware of Pav and some of her history and had over the years wondered if she would ever really break through.

It's not a final to attract in many viewers beyond a core audience. I really hope though that they can produce a good match.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I thought the Sakkari Krejcikova semi was high tension but pretty low quality. Painful really. Sakkari could barely hit the ball at times.

Absolutely agree, Indy, that the FFT will be besides themselves with the final they've got.

flamingowings · All-time great

Coup Droit wrote:
I thought the Sakkari Krejcikova semi was high tension but pretty low quality. Painful really. Sakkari could barely hit the ball at times.

Absolutely agree, Indy, that the FFT will be besides themselves with the final they've got.

It's what the FFT deserve though.

How many watched the all Italian US Open win I wonder?

christ · Futures qualifying

indiana wrote:
It's not a final to attract in many viewers beyond a core audience.

The press conferences afterwards doubtless will drag in the punters though.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

christ wrote:
indiana wrote:
It's not a final to attract in many viewers beyond a core audience.
The press conferences afterwards doubtless will drag in the punters though.

biggrin

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

I wonder if I was the only one to watch the final - I just caught up on video with it after the football.

Krejcikova won a seesaw of a match - the dominance went in waves, but she was the better player in the end and the win was thoroughly deserved.

When you think that she is in the doubles final with Siniakova tomorrow (they are the number 2 seeds), it has been an amazing tournament for her. I have seen her play several times over the years on TV and online in doubles, but it has been a huge surprise to see her win in singles here. it will be interesting to see if it is a total one off or if she now improves as a singles player. I wonder whether she will still mostly concentrate on doubles or will now re-assess her priorities.

She even got a touch of the Novotnas at the end - took her several match point attempts before she deservedly got over the line.

HarryGem · Club Coach

Andy Parker wrote:
I wonder if I was the only one to watch the final - I just caught up on video with it after the football.

Krejcikova won a seesaw of a match - the dominance went in waves, but she was the better player in the end and the win was thoroughly deserved.

When you think that she is in the doubles final with Siniakova tomorrow (they are the number 2 seeds), it has been an amazing tournament for her. I have seen her play several times over the years on TV and online in doubles, but it has been a huge surprise to see her win in singles here. it will be interesting to see if it is a total one off or if she now improves as a singles player. I wonder whether she will still mostly concentrate on doubles or will now re-assess her priorities.

She even got a touch of the Novotnas at the end - took her several match point attempts before she deservedly got over the line.

I thought it was a decent but not great final but the better player won. Krejcikova has a very decent game. Her style is almost languid at times and yet she's able to create great angles with her shots. She seems an intelligent player and it was nice to see this type of player triumph rather than some who just try to hit the ball harder and grunt and scream louder when they aren't winning the points.

I also find her story quite inspirational and should give hope and encouragement to all aspiring players that with hard work, dedication and a good dose of skill there is a chance to succeed.

She's now a 6 times Grand Slam winner and it will be interesting to see how she does at Wimbledon where according to Wikipedia she's never played in the singles. Not sure if this is correct.

indiana · Tennis legend

Krejcikova has never previously been ranked high enough for a direct singles Wimbledon MD entry. She played qualies in 2015/16/17. Her one win was in 2017 when she reached Q2 after beating Maia Lumsden 10-8 in the final set.

In Wimbledon doubles she was champion in 2018 and runner-up in 2019.

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

Interesting comments from Indiana and Harry Gem. I had not realised that Krejcikova had never been high enough ranked to have had a direct entry to Wimbledon in the singles. It is easy to see her in the doubles, where she has been a fairly big name for quite a while and therefore assume that her singles career has been better than it actually is.

I must admit I thought she was probably older, because she has been a decent doubles player for quite a while, and it tends to be that a lot of players who aren't quite good enough at singles then make the transition to become specialist doubles players when they are in their late twenties.

I also think HarryGem's comments about her finding great angles is perceptive, and again I would put that down to her doubles background, where finding angles against 2 opponents the other side of the net is an absolutely vital skill. When you watch Elena Vesnina play singles, that is the first thing you pick up about her game; not a great deal of power, but the ability to move an opponent round and create great angles - 2 of my favourite all time players , 'the flying Dutchman' Tom Okker and Larisa Savchenko (later Neiland) were stupendously good at that in doubles and were then decent singles players too, despite lacking height and power.

Anyway with Krejcikova taking the women's doubles title today in straight sets, it has been her hour, and I know others will be sad that all the big name players went out, however I think it is lovely to see an underdog doing so well. Shame the player and coach who rescued her from obscurity never got to see it - it sounded like Jana Novotna's coaching after Krejcikova knocked on the door of her house at Brno, was pivotal to her becoming successful. Novotna, who was a great singles and doubles Grand Slam winner, would have been so proud of her magnificent performance this last fortnight.