Yawn. Oh, excuse me. i wasn't yawning because I found the women's French Open final between Justine Henin and Ava Ivanovic boring or anything, i just had to get up at 6 a.m. to watch it live. But took a nap afterward and want to share my thoughts. Justine just rolled over Ava 6-1, 6-2 as the Serbian youngster was just too nervous in her first grand slam final to produce the kind of tennis that allowed her to thrash Maria Sharapova in the semis. But hey, she won more games than Natasha Zverva did against Steffi Graf in the '88 final (Graf won 6-0, 6-0) and than Mary Pierce in the 2004 final (Henin won that one 6-1, 6-1). Doubt that makes her feel better but hey, she made it there, she's really young, and unless she pulls a one-slam final career like Pam Shriver, she oughta be back!
But much of the credit goes to Henin who became the first woman since Monica Seles to win three French Open titles in a row. And it was her fourth title in the last five years. Since no one else holds a candle to Henin on clay these days and she is only 25 year old, I think she could match Steffi Graf's six titles and maybe even Chris Evert's seven. Time will tell.
Justine overcame a nervous opening game where she dropped serve and was down 40-love in game two to dominate and win in just 65 minutes. The final result was never in doubt after those first two games.
"It's surreal to win for the third time in a row," she said after the match. "I am struggling to take it in."
What was especially nice was seeing Henin's three siblings in the stands cheering her on. She had been estranged from them and their father for seven years and they re-connected this year after she divorced her husband. She looked to the sky and dedicated the victory to their mother who died the year after she brought Justine to the French Open in 1992 and they sat near the court watching Seles beat Steffi Graf in an epic battle that went to 10-8 in the third. Justine told her mother then that she would win at Roland Garros one day.
And now she has again...for the fourth time!
Congratulations to the champ!