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By Richard Pagliaro
(June 5, 2010) Embracing the most monumental match of her life with all the exuberant emotion of a woman enveloping a long-lost friend with a heart-felt hug, Francesca Schiavone turned the largest Grand Slam court in the world into a celebratory stage of the competitive spirit.
In a stirring display of all-court acumen, grit and guts, the 17th-seeded Schiavone became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam championship, surprising Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 7-6(2), to capture the French Open title today in a match of first-time finalists.
Eighteen days removed from her 30th birthday, three years after she won the first title of her career and virtually a lifetime spent dreaming about a moment that sometimes seemed as close as a lob nestled atop the Eiffel Tower, Schiavone whipped a topspin backhand that rattled off Stosur's racquet on championship point.
Leaping in the air with the bouncing bliss of a player who successfully transformed Court Philippe Chatrier into a red clay tennis trampoline, Schiavone fell flat on her back, closed her eyes, then rolled over and kissed the court with joy, arising with traces of red clay caked on her lips and dotting the tip of her nose.
The 29-year-old from Milan spent a moment in a lip-locked exchange with the terre battue; the memory will last a lifetime.
"It is amazing. I feel very, very happy," Schiavone told the crowd after receiving the championship trophy from 2000 Roland Garros champion Mary Pierce.
Schiavone is the biggest underdog to win the French Open since Iva Majoli upset top-seeded Martina Hingis in the 1997 final, denying Hingis the shot of a single-season Grand Slam. But Majoli was seeded ninth in that final, a full eight spots higher than Schiavone, whose best Roland Garros result was a a quarterfinal appearance in her 2001 Paris debut.
Then there was the burden of the Italian's past final futility.
For much of her career, Schiavone was about as successful in finals as the Hunchback of Notre Dame in a high-jump contest. She lost eight straight finals at the outset of her career, before finally breaking through to win Bad Gastein in 1997. None of that mattered much to Schiavone, who has often played her best tennis representing Italy in leading the Italians to two Fed Cup titles and today she made history for her nation.
Playing with the pure passion of a woman committed to taking her shot at a life-long dream on the rise, Schiavone attacked brilliantly a times, defended with determination and scrambled across the clay with the speedy spirit of a player determined to touch every bit of crushed red brick beneath her feet.
A year after falling to Stosur in straight sets in the French Open first-round, Schiavone found herself standing next to the 26-year-old Aussie on the championship podium, clutching the the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen with the pride of a mother holding a newborn, wearing a smile as wide as the Champs-Élysées while singing the Italian national anthem with the gusto of woman living out her wildest dreams with her eyes wide open. Her supporters, clad in black t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase: "Schiavo Nothing Is Impossible!" were singing right along with her.
Schiavone cites Italian opera as some of her favorite music and on this day she played as if channeling a championship chorus in her head, hitting all the right notes in a virtuoso victory.
An emotionally expressive player, she started the day in tears of fear over the final and ended it singing her lungs out in joy.
"I felt many emotions this morning," Schiavone told John McEnroe after the match. "I was crying and I couldn't take the car. I said (to my coach), 'You go coach to play.' I tried to stay focused on my play, to just play and to enjoy, to really enjoy from the heart. Expectation (of winning?), no, dream always. When I was younger always dreaming to win this tournament and now it's time to enjoy it."
Stosur wears orange-tinted shades that hide her eyes like a protective shield. Reading emotion in her eyes when she plays is as about easy as reading the bottom line of an eye-chart through a one-way mirror. But Stosur seemed to pinch back tears when it was over. Characteristically classy in defeat, she credited Schiavone for simply outplaying her.
"She played extremely well and never really let me get into my full groove," said Stosur. "I thought I played quite well, but she was just a little bit better today."
It was a gut-wrenching loss for Stosur, who had knocked off three current or former World No. 1 players — snapping four-time French Open champion Justine Henin's 24-match winning streak in Paris in the fourth round, saving a match point to defeat World No. 1 Serena Williams in the quarters and annihilating three-time semifinalist Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals — to carry a WTA Tour-best 20-2 clay-court record into the final.
But playing her first major singles final as a strong favorite caused clear tension in Stosur, who was not as quick to the ball as Schiavone and who looked slightly tentative at times in the latter stages of the opening set. Stosur downplayed suggestions that nerves or fatigue played a factor in her loss on what was the warmest day of the tournament as on-court temperatures soared to near 85 degrees.
"Obviously they were three great matches for me to get into the final, but I knew it wasn't over
for me. I wish I had one more left but it wasn't to be," Stosur said. "I felt really good today. I felt ready to go. Just one of those days. (There was) no more pressure than I could ever put on myself. I had really good success against her in the past and I felt really confident, but because you won last time doesn't mean you'll win this time."
Stosur is only the second woman to beat both Serena and Henin in a Grand Slam tournament, joining Lindsay Davenport, who did it a decade ago at the US Open. Her road to the final was much more arduous than Schiavone, who beat third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, slowed by a creaky ankle, in the quarterfinals then won the first set over Elena Dementieva before the fifth-seeded Russian suddenly pulled the plug citing a torn calf muscle.
Conventional wisdom was that Stosur's kick serve, widely regarded as the best in women's tennis with hits helium-high bounce, would handcuff the 5-foot-5 1/2-inch Italian creating clear open-court opportunities for her favored forehand. Stosur was intent on following that script and why wouldn't she? She used that play in beating both the best player of this generation, Serena, and the best clay-court player of this time, Henin. If the kick serve-forehand shot combination had vanquished the 5-foot-5 3/4 Henin surely it would be too much for Schiavone to handle, right?
All went according to plan early for the Aussie, who made eight straight first serves and won eight consecutive points on serve through the first two games. Stosur surrendered just five points in her first four service games in seizing a 4-3 lead.
It was as if Stosur, who had won four of five prior meetings with Schiavone, including a 6-4, 6-2 triumph in the 2009 French Open first round, fully believed if she just played a solid baseline game she'd have more than enough firepower to overpower the smaller Schiavone.
Schiavone shared that sentiment.
Rather than get caught trading big blows from the baseline in what she knew was a losing proposition, Schiavone shrewdly used her variety of spins and speeds and fearlessly took the net away from an opponent who has won four Grand Slam doubles titles. Schiavone won 14 of 15 points at net, often delivering drop volleys short in the court that left Stosur swinging in vain at red dust.
"I work a lot on my volley, but the goal was to try anyway to go forward because otherwise she is too strong on the baseline," Schiavone said. "I am 60 kilos and she is 70 kilos so I had to use one tactic, the volley, today."
Emotion was etched on Schiavone's face and evident in her fist pumps and leg-splaying leaps. She poured her passion into the match from the first point.
In the ninth game, Schiavone pounced on a second serve, followed the shot to net and blocked a backhand volley winner to earn triple break point. Stosur screamed "come on!" after saving the first then Schiavone had a good look at her favorite shot, the backhand, but her pass collided with the top of the tape and landed wide leaving Schiavone hanging her had at an opportunity lost.
A skittish Stosur cracked on the next point, double faulting into net to drop serve and fall behind 4-5.
Closure did not come easy for Schiavone, who worked out of a 0-30 hole only to see Stosur erase a set point with a forehand winner. On her second set point, Schiavone took risk and reaped the rewards slicing a serve wide to open the court and knifing a backhand volley winner. She danced to her court-side seat with the first set in hand.
Though Stosur has a well-earned reputation as the best serve in women's tennis not named Williams, Schiavone actually hit more aces (6 to 3) and used her serve as a set up shot for her volley more effectively than Stosur.
Angered by what she thought was a blown call by the linesman in the third game of the second set, a fired-up Schiavone argued briefly with chair umpire Damien Dumusois, telling him "I couldn't stop (the point) was too important."
Veins bulging from her neck, Schiavone got back to work, lashing a backhand pass down theline then attacking net to force an errant backhand from Stosur to earn double break point in the third game of the second set.
Stosur saved both break points, spinning a second serve out wide and flashing a forehand winner for deuce. Leaning into a backhand drop shot winner, Stosur earned a crucial hold for 2-1 when Schiavone's backhand sailed beyond the baseline.
Forcing a scrambling Schiavone to sprint to her left doubles alley to track down one shot, Stosur drove a forehand winner into the opposite corner to earn her first break point of the match. Stosur created the short-ball chance she wanted but over-hit a forehand deep as Schiavone drew even at deuce. Showing her first signs of stress, Schiavone netted a tame forehand and muttered to herself in disgust. Stosur hit her favored forehand with aggressive ambition drawing a forehand replay wide to break for 3-1.
The break brought back the whip-like looseness in Stosur's right arm and she consolidated with an imposing love hold for 4-1.
At that point, a French Open women's final seemed destined to go the distance for the first time since Jennifer Capriati rallied for a 1-6, 6-4, 12-10 win over Kim Clijsters in the title match.
On this day, Schiavone would not be denied her dream.
A Schiavone backhand return winner followed by an inside-out forehand brought her to 0-30. Falling off her backhand, Stosur netted that shot to face triple break point. Stosur swiped the sweat from her face with the back of her hand then banged her third ace down the middle for 15-30. Another stinging serve down the middle elicited the short ball Stosur desired, but the forehand that had been such a weapon through her six tournament wins failed her under pressure. She badly bungled an inside-out forehand and Schiavone broke for 3-4 while her coach, Italian Fed Cup captain Corrado Barazzutti, pumped his fist furiously in support.
Forcing Stosur to net with a backhand drop shot, Schiavone won her third straight game when Stosur put a bachand into the middle of the net. It was 4-all. Neither woman dropped serve as the played into the tie breaker.
They split the first four points of the breaker and on the fifth point Stosur's elbow tightened considerably as she hit an atrocious drop shot that sat up for a swooping Schiavone who replied with a backhand winner. Attacking Stosur's backhand, Schiavone delivered perhaps the most pivotal play of the match in reading the short ball to come and racing forward for a firm forehand volley winner she punctuated with a leaping celebration landing with a 4-2 lead.
A Schiavone forehand winner down the line set up a daring McEnroe-esque drop volley winner that brought her to championship point, prompting yet another soaring celebration as many of her supporters leaped right out out of their seats with her.
Five shots later, it was over and Italy had its first female Grand Slam champion.
Watching the finalists' faces during the trophy presentation served as a reminder that while tennis is truly a humbling game it can also be an empowering endeavor.
Enduring a career filled with final futility, Schiavone always persevered as if propelled by the stubborn belief that if you want to kiss the championship cup, sometimes you better learn how to kneel in the dirt first.
An undersized overachiever showed in this era of ballistic-ball striking championship tennis is not always about strength, hitting hard or serving big. It's about being smart, tough and tenacious and having the guts to keep moving forward. Schiavone embraced all of those virtues and sealed her moment with a dirty and delightful championship kiss.