alexrgct
RIP, Alex
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 10,094
- Reaction Score
- 15,650
Just dispatched with Kvitova to make the French Open finals against clay court specialist Sara Errani. In so doing, she has captured the world #1 ranking, win or lose Saturday.
But I certainly hope she wins and have a tough time imagining how anyone could root against her.
I can imagine how someone might have rooted against her in the past. Sure, she dispatched with Serena Williams easily in the 2004 Wimbledon finals, but you could argue she was given the world more because of her looks than her play. She wasn't another Kournikova, but she wasn't any Justine Henin either. Despite those whispers, she's always been a competitor, someone who's cared more about the game than she had any intrinsic need to once she was given all of that endorsement money and celebrity.
And after being #1 in the world four years ago, she fell off the map, not because of the mental weakness that seems to plague the women's game but because her body gave out on her. She was out of the game for nine months, and came back with a continuing shoulder problem that rendered her serve not just ineffective, but embarrassing. She took it in stride and kept chipping away. This is her third major final in four events, and if she can win here, she will have completed a career grand slam. That's something that Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, and Monica Seles, all failed to do, not to mention lesser champions like Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, or Mary Pierce. In fact, only five women have won all four slams in the Open Era: Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams (Billie Jean King just missed the cut, having won her Australian championship the last year it was not open to professionals). That's pretty heady company, and she may never have a better opportunity to join the club.
To me Maria's career most reminds me of Andre Agassi's. A lot of early success, a dropoff during what should have been their respective primes, and a resurgence that many of their peers wouldn't have had the humility to complete. Heck, if she wins Saturday, Maria will have won her first four slams in the exact same order Andre did (Wimbledon, US, Aussie, French). The key difference is that Andre's drop-off was self-inflicted, whereas Maria's body betrayed her.
In the past, it may have been just a little too easy to root for the leggy blond bombshell with the perfect posture and zillions of dollars in endorsement deals. Not now. She had the opportunity to ride off into the sunset an icon, a three-time major champion, a former world #1, and exceedingly wealthy, and she chose instead to dig in and pay the price to get back to this point. And as hard as she's worked, it feels simply easy to pull for her now.
But I certainly hope she wins and have a tough time imagining how anyone could root against her.
I can imagine how someone might have rooted against her in the past. Sure, she dispatched with Serena Williams easily in the 2004 Wimbledon finals, but you could argue she was given the world more because of her looks than her play. She wasn't another Kournikova, but she wasn't any Justine Henin either. Despite those whispers, she's always been a competitor, someone who's cared more about the game than she had any intrinsic need to once she was given all of that endorsement money and celebrity.
And after being #1 in the world four years ago, she fell off the map, not because of the mental weakness that seems to plague the women's game but because her body gave out on her. She was out of the game for nine months, and came back with a continuing shoulder problem that rendered her serve not just ineffective, but embarrassing. She took it in stride and kept chipping away. This is her third major final in four events, and if she can win here, she will have completed a career grand slam. That's something that Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, and Monica Seles, all failed to do, not to mention lesser champions like Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, or Mary Pierce. In fact, only five women have won all four slams in the Open Era: Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams (Billie Jean King just missed the cut, having won her Australian championship the last year it was not open to professionals). That's pretty heady company, and she may never have a better opportunity to join the club.
To me Maria's career most reminds me of Andre Agassi's. A lot of early success, a dropoff during what should have been their respective primes, and a resurgence that many of their peers wouldn't have had the humility to complete. Heck, if she wins Saturday, Maria will have won her first four slams in the exact same order Andre did (Wimbledon, US, Aussie, French). The key difference is that Andre's drop-off was self-inflicted, whereas Maria's body betrayed her.
In the past, it may have been just a little too easy to root for the leggy blond bombshell with the perfect posture and zillions of dollars in endorsement deals. Not now. She had the opportunity to ride off into the sunset an icon, a three-time major champion, a former world #1, and exceedingly wealthy, and she chose instead to dig in and pay the price to get back to this point. And as hard as she's worked, it feels simply easy to pull for her now.
