The French Open is over for another year. When you consider what has been achieved by the two singles champions, it’s fair to say that this year’s tournament saw numerous records shattered.
We start with the men, where Rafael Nadal achieved ‘La Decima’ at Roland Garros after an in-form Novak Djokovic and a terribly-timed wrist injury had conspired against him in each of the last two years.
The Spaniard completed arguably his most dominant French Open campaign yet by defeating Stan Wawrinka in the final in three sets, losing just six games and only facing (and saving) one break point for the match.
It marked the third time he won the tournament without dropping a set, as he previously did in 2008 and 2010.
However, this year he contested less than the 21 sets required to win a Grand Slam tournament – in the quarter-finals, compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta retired after dropping the first set 2-6 and trailing 0-2 in the second.
Nonetheless, the 31-year-old was never taken past ten games in any of the nineteen completed sets he contested, and the most games he conceded in any match was eight against Robin Haase in the second round.
In all, Nadal lost just 35 games including a miserly one in his third round win over Nikoloz Basilashvili, which stands as the most lopsided victory of his Grand Slam career.
According to these statistics from the Roland Garros website, the Spaniard spent a grand total of 168 hours and 11 minutes on court to win his ten titles; that’s a tick of just over one week.
The Mallorcan has now returned to number two in the rankings, only behind Andy Murray who, despite falling a round shorter than the previous year, remains well ahead in top spot by 2,605 points.
Nadal swaps places with dethroned champion Novak Djokovic, who this time last year had just become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles simultaneously, having also broken his French Open curse.
(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
His quarter-final defeat to Dominic Thiem saw him relinquish the last remaining Grand Slam title he had held, having also had his Australian Open title defence ended in the second round in January.
Runner-up Stan Wawrinka remains third. Interestingly, his defeat fell exactly 11 years to the day since his compatriot, Roger Federer, suffered his first loss in a Grand Slam final – also to Nadal.
Wawrinka had previously been 3-0 in major finals, including defeating Nadal in the final of the 2014 Australian Open and upsetting Djokovic at Roland Garros two years ago.
In none of his four major finals did he start as the favourite, given his poor records against both Djokovic and Nadal. His loss to the latter in the final aside, he beat them both when it mattered the most.
The fact he was unable to bring his A-game into the decider contributed somewhat to the lopsided scoreline. The Lausanne native had also come off a bruising five-set semi-final win over Andy Murray, before which he did not drop a set in five matches.
With the European clay court swing now over, the focus now turns to Wimbledon, where the battle for the world number one ranking will start to heat up.
It will mark the start of a period in which defending champion Andy Murray will be under pressure to defend the bulk of the points he gained throughout the second half of last year.
Having regained his title at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal will enter the All England Club with a good chance of reclaiming the world number one ranking, which he lost after his early departure from the tournament in 2014.
In fact, the Spaniard has not gone past the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2011, but in what could prove to be a dangerous omen, each previous time he won the French Open without losing a set, each time he also went on to win Wimbledon, in 2008 and 2010.
Stan Wawrinka will also have the chance to complete a career Grand Slam at the All England Club, however his overall record on grass is very poor, having never reached the final at Wimbledon, let alone the semi-finals, while he has not yet won a grass court singles title.
Men’s final result
[4] Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeated [3] Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.
We now swing to the women’s side of things, where, in a tournament blown wide open by the absences of Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, and the early exits of Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza, it suddenly became anyone’s title to win.
The player who stood out among the decimated field was Jelena Ostapenko, who won her first career title by upsetting third seed and pre-tournament favourite Simona Halep in the final.
The Latvian had dropped the opening set by 4-6 and was trailing 0-3 in the second, when she suddenly starred down the barrel of three break points and a potentially disastrous defeat in her maiden Grand Slam final.
( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )
However, the recently-turned 20-year-old would turn the match on its head with a run of four straight games, before breaking in the ninth game to take it 6-4 and therefore level the match at one-set all.
Halep would save a couple of break points to hold her first service game of the decider, then later broke for a 3-1 lead. Again, she seemed to be on her way to a maiden Grand Slam title.
But then again, Ostapenko would not give in, reeling off five straight games to take a 5-3 lead and make Halep have to hold her serve if she was to stay in the match.
Ultimately, the Latvian would send down two backhand return winners to seal one of the biggest upsets in recent women’s tennis history, and rocket up to a career-high 12th in the world rankings.
In a twist of coincidence, she was born on the same day Gustavo Kuerten won his first career title at Roland Garros in 1997.
She will now emerge as one of the dark horses at Wimbledon, where she won the girls’ title in 2014. She also becomes the third player born in the 1990s (after Petra Kvitova and Garbine Muguruza) to win a major title.
She is also the youngest female Grand Slam champion since Svetlana Kuznetsova won the 2004 US Open at 19 years and 76 days.
As for Simona Halep, it’s fair to say that, given the absences of the aforementioned big names, the Romanian blew her biggest chance to finally land her maiden Grand Slam title.
Also gone was the chance to claim the world number one ranking from Angelique Kerber, who should consider herself very lucky to still be sitting at the top of the rankings after she had lost in the first round at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year, continuing a poor season for the German.
The 25-year-old will be pondering what could have possibly gone so wrong after she had taken the opening set 6-4, and had three break points to go up 4-0 in the second.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
She had also led 3-1 in the deciding set, but despite her eventual meltdown, she committed just ten unforced errors for the entire match.
Afterwards, Halep said that the loss hurt more than the 2014 French Open loss to Maria Sharapova, her only other appearance in a major final, did.
Despite the defeat, the 25-year-old has reclaimed the world number two ranking and with only few points to defend at Wimbledon, where Angelique Kerber must defend finalist points from last year, will have another chance to claim the world number one ranking if she can perform well.
It will remain to be seen who starts as the favourite to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish at the All England Club in July, especially with Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova to be absent from SW19.
The latter recently ruled herself out of the entire grass court season after the thigh injury she suffered in Rome last month turned out to be more serious than first thought.
This will leave only Venus Williams and Petra Kvitova as the only former champions remaining in the field, and once again the women’s draw at Wimbledon will be as wide open as it has ever been.
Women’s final result
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) defeated [3] Simona Halep (ROU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
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