French Open Review

Another year, another title for Rafael Nadal. This years French Open was very entertaining. To be honest, I was not surprised at all that Nadal won another title. It just seemed too easy for him once again. Stan did play a tough match against Murray the day before so it would

of been such a struggle to beat Nadal either way. I wonder if Federer would of played, the tournament would of been different? This is my first review of a Grand Slam tournament since starting this blog so I will try to cover as much of the tournament as I can.

Women's Draw

My first question I want to ask about the women's tour is, can anyone in the Top 5 this year win a major? Simona had her second opportunity in the French Open finals and lost once again but to recently turned 20 year old. I give a lot of credit to Ostapenko for winning her first major, especially at such a young age.

There are three people I wanted to highlight during the tournament; Kiki Mlandenovic, Elina Svitolina and Angelique Kerber. Lets start with Kiki. The French native has had one of the best years of her young career so far. Battling a back injury during the French Open, she was able to overcome multiple bumps in the road which included unbelievable comeback wins against Jennifer Brady and Shelby Rogers. But looks past the French Open, she is only 24 years old and has a bright future. She has made 4 finals this year and took 1 title in St. Petersburg. She is currently ranked in the top 15 and is looking to make a great run at Wimbledon.

Elina Svitolina is only 22. That is only one year older than I am and already she has accomplished so much for someone who is so young. She just reached her career high at number 5 in the world. Her overall record this year is 35 Wins and 7 Losses. She has already claimed 5 titles this year, including Rome and Istanbul, while reaching the quarter finals of the French Open. The Ukrainian has an unreal groundstroke game that can match up well against any powerhouse on tour.

So, Angelique Kerber. The number 1 player in the world has yet to win a title this year and has only made one final. She has a 19 and 13 record which is not that impressive for being considered the most dominant player on tour. Losing in early rounds of majors, barely making the quarterfinals of a lower level tournaments is not something to be proud of. She must know this because everyone is talking about this situation. The "shock therapy" that Djokovic did might be necessary.

Men's Draw

Well, well, well... Nadal won La Decima. Was it really that surprising? He absolutely creamed Wawrinka. Wawrinka did have a tough fight against Murray two days before but still, did he really have a chance? Two events that happened during the tournament were interesting; Thiem winning straight sets against Djokovic and Uncle Tony getting a trophy with Rafa.

After Nole added Agassi to his team, we thought we would see some improvement on his game. While he did have a good run in the French Open, he stalled against Thiem who is having a great year. Thiem bageled him the third and final set. One, you shouldn't be getting bageled as a top 5 player. And two, if you are going to lose straight sets make it close the entire match, not just for the first two sets. Let us not forget that Djokovic won last year and was "King of Clay". Just like Kerber, he is not having the year he wanted to have. But he is trying to fix it, Kerber seems lost.

The second event I would like to talk about is Uncle Tony getting a French Open trophy. I thought he parted with him at the beginning of the tournament? He did but it was not until after the French Open. I like how the French Open had a replica trophy ready for Tony as soon as Nadal won. You know there is some nepotism there. No tournament has ever done that for a coach but because it's Nadal it was a special moment.

Overall, another historic and memorable Grand Slam in the books.