Roger Federer finally won his first Roland Garros title today against Robin Soderling and here are my thoughts on the final…

Roger Federer Wins His First French Open title Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images

Today’s final showed the difference in experience in Grand Slam finals even before the first ball was struck.

When Roger Federer and Robin Soderling chose the sides and who was going to serve first, they had to pose for a few seconds for photographers on both sides of the court and Roger had to remind Robin to do that.

Robin namely just wanted to start playing and had not done this procedure in a Grand Slam final before. Maybe that was already the first mental battle won for Federer who immediately established himself as a more experienced player and the one who controls the happening on the center court.

Here are some thoughts on each of the sets: (more…)

Dinara Safina lost her third Grand Slam final, this time at Roland Garros 2009 against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Safina had been under immense pressure when she played Azarenka and even in semifinals against Cibulkova. Dinara was for example leading 6-3, 4-2 against Cibulkova, made an unforced error and berated herself.

In today’s final, she was very tense and I could see that because:
-    Her shots did not flow
-    She was missing for just a little bit
-    She made many double faults (serve is the most affected shot by nerves)
-    Her screams when hitting the ball were really tight and stronger than in previous matches
-    Her facial expression was most of the time worried, unhappy and very afraid
-    She constantly looked to her coach for help and encouragement

See the pictures below of Dinara Safina in this Roland Garros final and see what I mean… (All photos Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

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Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro both started their semifinal match not playing their best tennis. Their serving though worked well and they managed to hold.

Del Potro managed to get 0:40 on Federer’s serve and broke first when he calmly built the advantage in the point at 30:40. Roger’s shots didn’t really flow and especially his backhand landed much too short.

Del Potro’s backhand on the other hand worked beautifully and it was the backhand that won him 2 big points and Del Potro held for 4:2.

Then a patch of really bad mistakes from Federer allowed Del Potro to get 0:40 ahead again but Federer focused on the next 5 points and managed to hold.

Roger Federer wins against Juan Martin Del Potro (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

5 consecutive first serves from Del Potro at over 200 km / h gave no chance to Federer to break back. Another aggressive game from Juan Martin and the set was over 6:3 for Del Potro.

The second set went with serve where both players served accurately. Federer usually had to finish the point with a forehand or two whereas Del Potro served massive serves with over 210 km/h and often served aces or winners. (more…)

Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez both started their semifinal match very focused which showed in their excellent serving and returning too.

Both players had 72% first serves in which is fantastic, considering that Soderling’s average first serve speed was over 200 km/h and Fernando’s was 183 km/h.

Soderling was able to control the points much better and put much more pressure on Gonzalez than vice versa. Soderling was winning 75% or rallies which lasted more than 4 shots and this brought him the first set 6-3.

Robin Soderling wins against Fernando Gonzalez (BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images)

The second set was much more equal. Gonzalez started playing more aggressively and used more top spin backhands than slices and that helped him stay with Soderling.

Gonzalez was unlucky at 5:5 when Soderling returned 2 first serves and the ball bounced awkwardly for Gonzales who missed both of them. Gonzales fell 0:40 behind, then saved himself with 3 good points but then committed 2 unforced errors and lost the serve. (more…)

Robin Soderling’s win over Rafael Nadal was definitely not a fluke. Soderling kept his great form and dismissed Nikolay Davydenko in 3 sets; 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.

I watched the match live and at first glance it was not that obvious who was the better player.

Soderling and Davydenko traded groundstrokes and sometimes one guy won the point and sometimes the other guy. But somehow Soderling won the games. (more…)

Roger Federer is still a contender for the French Open 2009 title after beating Tommy Haas in five sets. Haas led two sets to zero, 7-6 and 7-5 and the players were equal until 4:4 in the third when Roger managed to break Tommy.

After that it was all Federer as he won 6-0 and 6-2 the next 2 sets. I watched the match live and here are some thoughts: (more…)

Rafael Nadal losing at the French Open 2009 Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Rafael Nadal’s hopes of winning another French Open in 2009 are finished.

Robin Soderling has played an excellent match and managed to dethrone the king of clay by 3 sets to 1.

I didn’t see the match today (only the last tie-break) so I cannot comment much, but from what I saw, Soderling played the right tactics; attack Nadal’s short balls and stay in the long rallies when he had to.

I believe Nadal got this aura of getting everything back and passing on every ball, but that’s of course not true.

He is just a human and doesn’t get every ball back and doesn’t pass you every time you come to the net.

Soderling showed no fear of Nadal’s passing shots and scrambling ability and kept attacking the same way as he would any other player.

Soderling played the ball and not the name. That’s an important lesson for every tennis player who competes in tournaments. (more…)

I got reasonably good seats on my day 5 at Roland Garros at Suzanne Lenglen court, so I stayed almost the whole day at this court.

The favorites on this court all won, but I saw that Djokovic was beaten by Kohlschreiber 3:0 which is a big surprise. Will have to check some stats and interviews to see what happened…

But the first match today on Suzanne Lenglen court was…

Svetlana Kuznetsova : Melinda Czink 6-1, 6-3

Svetlana didn’t have many problems with Melinda. As soon as she got the ball to her forehand, the point was almost over. When she added a few more backhand winners down the line, it was just too much for Czink.

While I was watching those monster forehands from Kuznetsova, I wondered what would happen, if a top ATP player, a clay court specialist, let’s say Tommy Robredo would play only to Kuznetsova forehand, what would the score be? (more…)

The doubles are in full swing at Roland Garros and Andreja Klepac, the last player from Slovenia left in the tournament was on court today.

She and her partner Ekaterina Dzehalevich were up against A. Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, the third seeds.

Andreja and Ekaterina started the match nervously, making bad mistakes while the girls from Spain played solid, high percentage tennis with no special shots.

The second set was more competitive as Andreja and Ekaterina realized that they had to attack and it was just the experience of Anabel and Virginia that got them the second set. (more…)

The third day of my stay at Roland Garros was very much about French tennis players. The biggest match for the French on this day was the Tsonga – Monaco match which Tsonga won in 4 sets.

The atmosphere at the Suzanne Lenglen court was great and French fans were jumping from joy and disappointment, depending on what Tsonga did with the ball.

Monaco didn’t play poorly but Tsonga was in his element; serving 63% of the first serves in and most of these were over 200 km/h.

It will be interesting to see if the long term statistics catches up with Tsonga on this tournament where he won’t be able to hit so many first serves and hit so many forehands on the lines… (more…)