Lessons from the French

So, with the French Open over, what did we learn from the finale to the 2013 Clay season?

1. Rafael Nadal is the Greatest Clay court player ever…ah wait. We already knew that. But we learned he, the greatest champion at any of the Majors ever, is even Greater than we thought.

2. Serena Williams is a bona fide GOAT contender. She has two of each Major now, like Navratilova. She is having another dominating period a decade after her first. She owns all her rivals. There are no more asterisks. All she can do is add to her tally and strengthen the arguments in her favor.

3. Maria Sharapova is tennis’ greatest loser. No one loses with more dignity. Each loss to Serena makes her even more human and an even greater player.

4. Richard Gasquet is not done. Not at all. He may not have delivered on his promise and the seasons are closing in on him but his aggressive play in his last sixteen defeat to Wawrinka suggested the best is yet to come. And if that means we get to see his delicious backhand again and again then that is a huge thing to be happy about.

5. Stanislas Wawrinka is wonderful. Ah, we learned that in Melbourne so it doesn’t fit the ‘lessons’ criteria. Still any excuse to write Stanislas Wawrinka is wonderful will do.

6. Tommy Robredo will go down as one of the game’s biggest fighters. That win against Gael Monfils started it, that victory over Amalgro sealed it. Age and struggle seems to have swelled the Spaniard’s heart and his emotional responses to his wins told us of depths that we hope to see gone to again.

7. Clay rules. But yeah we knew that already, too. Match after match we were treated to spectacular twisty turny tennis that tennis fans deserve to see and enjoy. Roll on Roland Garros 2014!