The draw is out, I’ve made my pick, and now it is your turn!
Tell us who you think will win the 2009 Roland Garros women’s title in this week’s edition of Open Forum Friday.
Can Ana Ivanovic or Serena Williams win another Roland Garros trophy? Will we see another former major champion win the title? Or is this a golden opportunity for a player to win her first Grand Slam crown?
Leave a comment below with your answer. Have a great weekend, everyone, and enjoy the tennis beginning on Sunday!
The tougher draw will do her good – Dinara to beat JJ in the final :)
is there a difference between who I think is going to win and who I want to win?
Think: Safina.
Want: Venus
I think it will be a williams show down on clay at the FRENCH OPEN.Venus or Serena can give any of the players a run for the French Open title of 2009….Therefore VENUS/SERENA in the final. May god bless the williams sisters on the their way to the 2009 French final.Tennis finals are not the same when the sisters are not in is. They bring such grace, power and excitement to the finals, especially when it’s a grand slam event.I like the others players, but the Willams sisters are a joy to watch.
It hardly has ever been the “Williams Show” at the French Open. It’s the way NBC likes to present it, but this is not reality.
Look for the dirt devils to rule. Names like Safina, Jankovic, Kuznetsova, even Dementieva.
Big serves are neutralized on clay. Unless you have the vision to look beyond slamming balls at a girl’s head it won’t take long to be butt or face down off balanced on the clay.
Desperately hoping dementieva wins this tile, but she will need to overcome bartoli, then wozniacki or jankovic. I think she can do it! :) DEMENTIEVA OR JJ FOR THE TITLE!
i think that will be safina or kuznetsova but i want sharapova
i want dementieva to win this. but i don’t think she will. :(. still i’m not losing hope. :D GO LENA!!!
I’d like to see Safina silence her critics by winning her first Grand Slam title. The pressure will be on Serena to take her out. The reality is that Safina has more wins going into RG than Serena, but Serena has more experience winning the big tournaments. I think Jankovic has a good chance of going deep into the tournament, but maybe not taking the title. The dark horse could be Caroline Wozniacki, as long as she remains injury-free.
safina d jankovic
hi!
dinara is any tennis buff’s favorite to win paris…three straight clay finals, and winning the last two, she is henin-like in 2003 and 2005 when justine won 2 clay tourneys in the former and 3 clay tourneys in the latter before winning the french open in those years….
but dinara could be the nadia petrova (2006) of this year’s french open, but dinara had shown that mental toughness is her utmost weapon even ranked higher than her ferocious groundstrokes…
im a williams fan, but i doubt if any of my fave could survive the 4th rnd, vee and rere had been given tough draws this season, vee could face amelie in the 4th who had defeated her in their 3 last encounters, and rere could be defeated by flavia in the 4th and flavia is a stellar clay courter, and even klara, whom serena suffered a loss in andalucia,,, if klara could defeat rere in the 1st rnd, then it’s rere’s first rnd defeat…
i think of the young players caroline wozniacki is the best hope for their generation to win a slam, she moves efficiently in clay, but minor question mark is her backhand, her backhand seems vulnerable on clay, yet her forehand is amazing…3 clay finals is a good thing…
azarenka on the other hand is awkward on clay, she seems to suffer from poor footwok on clay, if good opponents could attack her, run her side to side then she doesn’t seem a threat to anyone…
jj,,, i guess she will be a constant fixture at roland garros, maybe this year is her 3rd straight semis in paris, but her chances for getting to the finals is slim, meeting elena in the quarters, svetlana on the semis is prety dangerous…
aside from dinara, and caroline, the other threat to the title is the former finalist svetlana, i think she ‘tanked’ her match in madrid to bondarenko to prepare for paris, i think one-week preparation is not enough for her, so she decided to loss to bondarenko to prepare 2 weeks before paris, sveta had the power, athleticism, weapons and especially the ace-serves needed on clay…
finals:
dinara v. sveta
winner:
dinara!!!
welcome to the grand slam parade dina!!!
I want anyone to win expect Serena Williams and I don’t think she will anyway but being a slam you can’t totally right off as the slams do bring out the best in her. four match losing streak on clay will give any of the top players the confidence to beat her and I would like to see Ana defend her title or someone new win it.
Interesting that there’s only 1 mention here of Ana Ivanovic – the defending champion. Is there an assumption that her knee injury takes her out of the running for the FO title?
My money is on Serena. When she really wants something she gets it. Her will seems to be mightier than anyone else’s racket. The real interest is how deep Ivanovic can go. Not very deep, probably.
think: safina
want: sharapova
Dinara is in brilliant form (a double bagel against highly capable Keothavong, who’s also playing well lately, and then a double baguette against Diatchenko), but she’ll have a difficult road to the final, if she’s to make it there – Pavlyuchenkova next, then (presumably) Azarenka. I actually think she is the dark horse for the title, so if she beats Safina, I believe she could definitely be the champ.
I’d also love for Dementieva or Sharapova to take the title (but both seem shaky at the moment), as well as Li Na to go far. (I’d love a win from her, but that’s just a dream. A QF/SF would be wonderful, though.)
If Ivanovic remains injury-free, she could make a quarter or semi, but probably won’t go further.
Finally, I’ve learnt never to count out a Williams sister, but I’m certainly not convinced – I wouldn’t put my money on either of them.
Any which way, it’s a very exciting draw – I like having this constant state of flux over who the best player is. It’s much more fun than having a concrete number 1. (Ha. A poet, and I didn’t know it.)
Oh, and JJ! How could I forget JJ! She’s a contender too, but a tough draw for her – although I would love for her to capture her maiden slam. I think she can be a brilliant player, although my expectations are low after the Aus. Open debacle.
I think The Williams sister will be on finals. If they managed to defeat all the players in 2nd -4th round, they will be dangerous on the layter part.
ana has great outlook for going deep into the tournament. she improved many aspects of her game thanks to cardon such as volleys,groundstrokes,not to forget her recognizable,impressive forehand..she has much tougher draw this year..but if she wins 4th round match,she will go all the way. her (potential) opponent in quaterfinal match is world no1,but i think that at this juncture the only player who has the game to defeat safina again is ivanovic..ajde,ana..idemo!
(Slightly off-topic, but believe me, I’ll bring it around once I’ve made my point:)
Who am I talking about?
-Quarterfinalist in Gold Coast (lost to Peer)
-Early loss in Melbourne
-R16 loss in Charleston
-Win in Berlin
-Injury pull-out of Rome
-Final loss in Paris (with wins over Kuznetsova and Sharapova)
-SF and relatively early loss in other two majors
-Win in Los Angeles (with a win over Jankovic)
-Loss to “Williams” in New York City
-First time to Tour Championships
-Top 5 year-end finish
-Next year: Finalist in Melbourne, R32 loss in Miami
Okay, Kurt, I’ll take the bait. :)
I presume you’re meaning Dinara Safina, correct?
If so, I think you might have a very solid point. Four games dropped in six sets looks reminiscent of what Henin used to do in the draw at Paris.
Well, Aaress, my description was a little vague for a certain reason. Those results do indeed apply to Dinara Safina in the period from January 2008-March 2009. They also apply perfectly to Ana Ivanovic from January 2007-March 2008.
Ever since the LA win by Safina, I thought it interesting that the two players were following similar paths, results-wise. Add in an increase in fitness level and attaining the number one ranking in the spring following the Melbourne final loss, and the coincidences are quite startling.
My point is that I think, as Ivanovic proved last year, Safina is ready to win the French Open. And, as you noted, four games dropped in three rounds points toward the same conclusion.
Wow, Kurt, good point! Never thought of the similarities between the two players, but’s almost uncanny. Didn’t even think of Ana, but now that you mentioned it, I see it.
Thanks for pointing that out!
well. I have waited long enough!! NOW THAT MARIA SHARAPOVA MADE TO THE SWEET SIXTEEN AND HAS GOT SOME GAME EXPERIENHCE BACK……..I DEFENITELY LIKE MARIAS CHANCES TO GO ALL THE WAY!!! AS LONG AS SHE PLAYS WITHIN HERSELF!!