French Open 2014 is over …
often referred to as Roland Garros (officially: Les internationaux de France de
Tennis), the major tennis tournament is
held over two weeks between late May and early June at the Stade Roland Garros
in Paris, France. Named after the French aviator Roland Garros, it is the
premier clay court tennis championship event. Because of the slow-playing
surface and the five-set men's singles matches without a tiebreak in the final
set, the event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding tennis
tournament in the world.
Before the tournaments some
doubts were raised on whether Rafa is as dominant as he had been and whether he
could win once again ~ there was speculation and talks of Spaniard’s retirement
from the game – the result was no surprise …. Rafael Nadal has won his ninth
title at Roland Garros in the past 10 years – sounds something quite
surreal;yet true. The Spaniard achieved this feat on Sunday in a tough four-set victory over Novak Djokovic, a
milestone that may never be surpassed.
And as he continues to smash his own previously-set records at Roland
Garros and move towards others set elsewhere in the game, Nadal is establishing
himself as one of the more decorated players ever to have lived, says the
official website of the tourney. The
statistics are stratospheric. His ninth Roland Garros title is the most ever at
the tournament, let alone at any one Grand Slam event. His five straight titles
in Paris is an all-time record and takes his winning streak at the event to 35
matches. By reaching the title match he was making his 20th major final
appearance, and by winning it he claimed his 14th Grand Slam trophy, putting him equal with
Pete Sampras at second on the all-time lists for both those achievements. His
record at Roland Garros now stands at a sparkling 66-1.
Nadal arrived at Roland
Garros having been beaten on clay more times in a single season than any year
since 2004. On his famed battle front,
he looked assured from his very first stroke of the tournament. He dropped just
40 games en route to the final – his third lowest total ever. Most illuminating
was his performance against his top 10 rivals; On the final day of Roland
Garros 2014, Nadal faced Novak Djokovic, perhaps the only man who could have
challenged him for the crown – but what transpired merely reinforced the Rafa
legend. For a short while the world trembled on its axis when he surrendered
the first set, but Nadal simply adjusted his focus to win in four: 3-6, 7-5,
6-2, 6-4 in three hours and 31 minutes. Nadal is literally on ‘ Cloud Nine ’.
Julien Benneteau and
Edouard Roger-Vasselin secured their maiden Grand Slam title, securing at 6-3,
7-6(1) win over Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in the men’s doubles final on
Saturday evening. Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s coach stated that they are delighted
and very emotional about this victory. This is the first time that we came to
Roland Garros having lost so many matches on clay this year. Marian Vajda
(Novak Djokovic’s coach): was to say that it was a strange match. It was
disappointing but you have to admit that Rafa was simply better than he was
today.
Maria Sharapova is the
player most love to watch – not only for her game skills. She captured her second women’s title in her third
straight final at Roland Garros, and her second title at the event in the past
three years. In a Roland Garros final
with more twists than an Olympic slalom, Maria Sharapova defeated rising star Simona
Halep to lift the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen. The Romanian arrived in her maiden
Grand Slam final without the loss of a set, and although she wounded Sharapova
with the weapons which made her invincible against all other opposition, she
did not have enough in her armoury to inflict mortal damage. Sharapova won 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 in three hours
and two minutes.
With everything focussed on
Maria Sharapova, here is something on her young challenger too. Simona Halep is a Romanian professional
tennis player ; currently ranked a career high No. 3 in the world. Halep first
broke into the world's top 50 at the end of 2012, and won her first 6 WTA
titles in the same calendar year in 2013. It all started with an incredible run
in the Eternal City and now, six months later, she's on the brink of the Top 10
- Simona Halep is the WTA's Most Improved Player Of The Year. That year as a No.64-ranked
qualifier, Halep went on the kind of run that turns a contender into a
believer, beating four of the game's biggest names - Svetlana Kuznetsova,
Agnieszka Radwanska, Roberta Vinci andJelena Jankovic - before finally running
out of gas against Serena Williams in the semifinals.
TV bosses have apologised
after a blunder saw many tennis fans miss the dramatic winning points in the
French Open last night. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had played two points
in what turned out to be the last game in the tournament finale, which was
being aired live on ITV1. But with the game, and potentially the match, on a
knife edge, viewers were told the coverage would be interrupted for the news
and footage was switched to ITV4, the digital channel that many people are
still unable to access.
Halep finished 2nd …. So also references drawn to Michael
Collins American former astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third
group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew into space twice. His first
spaceflight was Gemini 10, and then Apollo 11 in which he orbited the Moon, Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first manned landing on the lunar surface.
He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon.Buzz Aldrin became the second person to walk on the Moon. He was the
lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history. He
set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 (UTC) on July 21, 1969, following mission
commander Neil Armstrong.
The photo at the
start is that of Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin courtesy : www.cleveland.com
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
9th June 2014.
