French Open--what they said

So today I just tried to do exactly that: make it about the tennis and playing the points. I think if I can do that, then it becomes a bit easier out there and you don't get wound up in any situation. But it's not easy to do that all the time, and you can go in and out of it. But today it was just next point, give me the balls, and we'll go again. So, I mean, that's the goal every time, but it doesn't always happen.

Sam Stosur

...I'm not going to Eastbourne because of this injury. I have to withdraw, because I really need some time. But I'm not sure if I will be able to play Wimbledon.

Elena Dementieva

I just felt flat. So every time, you know, I felt late. I felt like too far from the ball. I never hit a clean ball.

Jelena Jankovic

I was still getting my ankle taped as Elena was walking off the court. So quickly finished that and got organized.

Sam Stosur

...So was happy to catch that set. Then when I see I was ready to take towel, I did like this, and I saw her too close. I say, Maybe something happen. And for ten seconds, I don't know how many seconds, but I couldn't realize. Then I know when you shake the hands, it's finish. So then my mind came where I was.

Francesca Schiavone

I had medication; I had a painkiller; I had an antiinflammation and all the tape that I could try. But, I mean, nothing has been working at that point. So I don't think I could have something extra to make it, you know, magic move.

Elena Dementieva

In the previous round when you played Serena and she had match point, that match point just barely went out, you know, like maybe a couple inches. How did you watch that ball, and what did you feel in that moment?It kind of felt like it was in slow motion. It was kind of just floating through. I heard the linesman call, Out. It was like it didn't really happen. I had to watch him put his arm out, and then I realized that I was still in the match. Definitely held my breath for a second there.

Sam Stosur

I don't even know who that was on the court.

Jelena Jankovic

Is why is that success coming so late for you?
Why late? I think everybody are different. Could be late for you, could be good for you. I think it's my time now. Maybe before I wasn't ready. Maybe before I had the chance I didn't catch, so I think now I have just to live and to keep going to work like I did for many years.

Francesca Schiavone

...I think Samantha has a very big chance. She played so well this tournament, and she has beaten, you know, I think the favorites of this tournament. So I think she has a good chance. You know, she's playing very, very well. I think she'll do it.

Jelena Jankovic, on Stosur's chances to win the championship

Have you ever been so shocked in a tennis match?

Yeah, there are many things that the woman do that can shock you. Whoo!

Francesca Schiavone

Srebotnik and Zimonjic win French Open mixed doubles title

Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjic, match point down in both the semifinals and the final, won the French Open mixed doubles championship today. The 6th seeds defeated Yaroslava Shvedova and Julian Knowle 4-6, 7-6, 11-9.

Srebotnik and Zimonjic won the title in 2006, and were finalists in 2007 and 2008. In 1999, Srebotnik won the title with Piet Norval.

Srebotnik, with partner Kveta Peschke, will now play in the women's doubles final against Serena and Venus Williams.

Worst semifinals ever

It isn't unusual, in the WTA, for semifinals to be more exciting than finals. But just about anything that happens on Saturday will be better than what happened in Paris today. Elena Dementieva, who has been dealing with a calf injury all week, retired today after she lost a first set tiebreak to Francesca Schiavone. Though her pain wasn't obvious during the first set, Dementieva was choking back tears during the tiebreak, and when it was over, she shook hands with the umpire and with an obviously confused Schiavone.

Dementieva said that she tore a calf muscle in the second round, and could have retired in the third, but she kept on playing. But today, the 5th seed reported, the pain was so intense, she could not go on. Disappointing as this is to fans--especially Dementieva fans--it has to be devastating to the Russian. So many time, she has been so close to winning a major, and her chances at Roland Garros were as good as anyone's. To watch her walk away was just too sad.

The other semifinal was sad in another way. A determined team of Sam Stosur and Jelena Jankovic easily defeated Jankovic 6-1, 6-2. Picked by many to beat the Australian, Jankovic did little more than stand on the court and make forehand errors. Her movement--usually world-class--was sluggish, she had trouble keeping the ball in the court, and she was, in every way, flat. This should have been a highly competitive match--maybe the most competitive of the tournament. Instead, it fizzled into an hour's worth of beat-down.

Quel dommage.

Miscellaneous

Chelsey Gullickson, sister of Carly, has won the 2010 NCAA women's singles championship. Gullickson, a sophomore at the University of Georgia, is the third woman from her school to win the title.

Martina Navratilova, with partner Jana Novotna, is into the second round of the French Open's Women's Legends doubles competition. Navratilova and Novotna defeated Mary Joe Fernandez and Conchita Martinez. Navratilova is also working as a commentator for Tennis Channel, and--in her spare time--receiving breast cancer radiation treatment in Paris. Also winning their first round were Iva Majoli and and Nathalie Tauziet, who defeated Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva.

Anna-Lena Groenefeld says that her goal is to be able to play at Wimbledon.

Saying that women who manage homes and take care of children "don't work" is a common insult made to thousands of women; it's a shame that it's repeated by Chris Evert in the June issue of Tennis. Evert is at least "fair" in her put-downs, though. In the same article in which she says that a lot of women in the 70s "didn't work," she goes on to take a sideways swipe at women who do work outside the home and utilize the tennis club as "something to occupy a child's time." Fathers, of course, get a pass. I have complained in the past about this magazine's ongoing (sometimes really nasty) sexist content, as well as content that has been both homophobic and ageist (the latter in an issue "dedicated" to older people). Publisher Evert needs to do some clean-up, starting with herself, and outgoing editor-in-chief James Martin also bears some of the responsibility. (For those who may be wondering: The magazine arrives in our mailbox because of a USTA membership; I would not otherwise spend my money on it.)

When the new rankings come out, Serena and Venus Williams will be ranked number 1 in doubles.

Top junior girls seed Monica Puig is out of the French Open in the quarterfinals. Puig was defeated 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 by Silvia Njiric.

Slipping on clay

Yaroslava Shvedova said today that after the second set, she put on a different pair of shoes and was better able to handle the slippery Court Suzanne Lenglen. These days, whenever I think about tennis shoes, I can't help but recall the U.S. Open saga of Melanie Oudin--and I so I wonder: Did Serena Williams fail to go to the locker room and slip on her Believe shoes after the second round?

Bundled out of the French Open in the quarterfinals over and over is likely to have (at least) an unconscious effect on a player, even a champion who has almost magically gotten herself out of trouble in big matches so many times that her mental toughness is legendary. I don't mean to take any credit away from Sam Stosur, whose own mental toughness arrived quite dramatically today when she needed it most. But is it possible that we witnessed not only Stosur's steely will to win, but also Williams' creeping doubt?

Williams won the French Open in 2002, defeating her sister Venus in the final. In 2003, she lost to Justine Henin in the semifinals. For the past several years that she played, however, she has gone out in the quarterfinals to Jennifer Capriati (twice), Henin (twice), and Svetlana Kuznetsova. It is widely agreed that clay is Williams' most vulnerable surface because it is the surface on which her power can be diffused. Of course, there is much more to Williams' game than power, and perhaps the confidence factor has also been diffused.

Today, after the first set, Williams appeared to have figured out the problem that was Sam Stosur. She won the tiebreak decisively, and in the third set, she held a match point. But it wasn't enough. Stosur came charging back in a big way, fueled by her own belief that she could beat the world number 1. For Williams, the court was indeed slippery, though the sun shone, and not a drop of moisture fell.

In the past, Serena Williams has referred to her losses at majors as her "going crazy," i.e., suddenly making a lot of unforced errors and letting the win slip away. In today's press conference, however, there was no talk of lost sanity; indeed, one has to wonder, was it something else that Williams misplaced?

Fed Cup draw announced

The 2011 Fed Cup first round draw took place today at Roland Garros. Here are the results, including venues:

WORLD GROUP
Italy vs. Australia (Australia)
Russia vs. France (Russia)
Slovak Republic vs. Czech Republic (Slovak Republic)
Belgium vs. USA (Belgium)

WORLD GROUP II
Estonia vs. Spain (Estonia)
Slovenia vs. Germany (Slovenia)
Serbiia vs. Canada (Serbia)

The first round will be played on February 5 and 6.
Sweden vs. Ukraine (Sweden)

French Open--what they said

Had I played better for two minutes, maybe the result could have been different. But it didn't work out....

Serena Williams

How does your body cope now after those two physically and mentally difficult matches?
I actually feel good. No problems. I mean, I'll take it easy tonight, but so far, feeling pretty good. Nothing hurts when you win, I guess.

Sam Stosur

She's a good athlete, and she been getting most of my balls. I was trying to attack, but still she was getting and I was getting tired. And she's also playing hard. Suzanne Lenglen Stadium is very slippery, and in the first set it was very tough for me. After I change my shoes, it was a little bit easier to run.

Yaroslava Shvedova

She played really well in the beginning, especially in the beginning of the first set. She was really loose; she was going after her shots; she did really no mistake; she served very well, had a lot of first serves in. But then I just tried to stay positive, and I waited for my chances. I started to get, you know, a look at her second serve. That's where I tried to be aggressive, and I tried to attack and put pressure on her. That was the key, especially in that first set. Because then she backed up, and I could, you know, play more offensively and take that first set. It was tough. I mean, she played really well.

Jelena Jankovic

I never think I lost until I'm shaking hands. Sometimes I don't believe it after that, either.

Serena Williams