Maria Sharapova will play Simona Halep in the final of this year’s French Open. The tennis review takes a look at what might prove to be the deciding factors in the match.
Pedigree:
This match is a veteran versus up and comer, almost as much as was Sharapova’s first slam final when she faced Serena Williams at Wimbledon ’04. Maria has been winning slams for a decade, four of them, and the career slam at that, and has been in four other finals. At the French, she is 1-1 in finals, winning in ’12 and being runner-up last year.
Halep has never made a slam semi until this year and so this first slam final will be a test of has-she-got-what-it-takes. Maria passed that test in her first Major-the question is can Halep?
Current form:
The rankings say Halep, who is no.3 now, has had the better past twelve months than Sharapova, with six titles to her credit. But Maria has had the better last few weeks, climbing from no.9 to no.7 and winning in Stuttgart and Madrid.
Halep has been in the better form this tournament. She has not dropped a set while Sharapova, after winning her third round match 0 and 0, went a set down in her next three matches, and against Muguruza and Bouchard came within games of exiting the event.
Motivation:
Both women are coming from very different places here. For Halep, this will be all new to her and she will be hungry for her first slam. For Sharapova, with no Serena or Azarenka in the final, and with clay being by far her best surface, these chances to grab a fifth slam will be few and far between and for a woman who won her first slam a decade ago, she is already familiar with how precious these chances are.
Nerves:
Both women will battle nerves. Even Maria, who has been in 8 slam finals, was so nervous in her match against Bouchard her face looked like it had been frozen. Maria’s nerves, though, will at least be familiar to her, and she will know how to use them to her advantage. They should pass, too, as the match progresses. Maria has been equally on the winners and losers side of slam finals and will know how to handle the outcome whatever happens. Meanwhile, this is virgin territory to Halep and whether she ends up being a Safina-Zvonereva or a Majoli-Sharapova in her first slam final outing will come down to how she deals with those pesky butterflies not quite sure how to fly out the cage.
Games:
This final pitches the big hitting clay-court honed Sharapova versus the more versatile Halep. Sharapova has weapons in abundance in that she can keep the ball away from her opponent and then attack the short ball with either side of her groundies. Halep will look to mix things up and go for the double handed backhand when she can. She will also look to change the direction of the ball and never let Sharapova find her rhythm.
Those tactics worked well in Madrid where Halep took the first set 6-1, but Halep could not sustain her form and she could not stop Maria gaining the edge where it truly counts in professional tennis and which is discussed in the next category.
Mentality:
While Halep has been in the better form the past fortnight and possesses a game which can trouble Sharapova, the Russian is mentally, when she is not facing Serena, the greatest force in the game.
If Halep gets ahead, Maria will knuckle down and keep Halep honest. She will make Halep win the match in the face of relentless hard-hitting, grunting, fist pumps and icy cross-court glares. She will also make Halep do it to her time. Sharapova will face the back of the court while Halep waits to serve, brush her hair over her eyes as Halep waits to receive and move up and down the baseline between points until she is clear how she wants to win the next point.
Halep may have the game to beat Sharapova, but the biggest question on the day is going to be this- has she got the mind to do it, too?
Prediction:
Sharapova and slam final debutantes have quite the relationship, and it has not worked in Maria’s favor. While she won her first slam final, she was the runner-up to both Kvitova and Azarenka in theirs. Just like Kvitova at wimbledon and Azarenka in Australia, Halep’s game is tailor made for Roland Garros- she won the junior title there.
Sharapova also has another pattern that works both for and against her. While she has won all her slams in straight set finals, she has also lost them all in straight sets.
If Halep is going to win this, it has to be in straights. If it goes to a third, it will be about intensity and mind games, and Maria is the queen of those when facing anyone but Serena.
Expect the match to go the way of Sharapova’s last three. A dropped first set before Sharapova reigns in her game, ups the ante in every way and then continues to reign on the clay.
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