Does Serena need to win another French Open to add to her incredible legacy?

A

Amelie Mauresmo

Banned
I don't know if this has been asked by anyone yet but I am puzzled that Serena Williams has only won the French Open once!

Maybe Serena puts too much pressure on herself in Paris? She lives in Paris part time and loves the city even though the French tennis fans seems to have an intense racial hatred for the Williams Sisters.

Yes, I know Justine Henin was a big reason Serena wasn't able to win more French Open titles because she's superior to Serena on the clay.

Unlike Venus who is worse on clay than Serena, I really thought by now Serena would have won at least one more French Open title. Serena hasn't reached a French Open semifinal in ten years!

However, I think Serena has a mental block on the clay courts which she doesn't have on grass or hardcourts. On clay Serena really doubts herself, she lost to Virginie Razzano a French journeywoman last year at the French Open despite being so close to winning the title.

Over the years Serena has lost to solid clay courters such as Jennifer Capriati, Samantha Stosur, Svetlana Kuznetsova, at the French Open.
At the 2010 French Open Serena blew a match point losing to Stosur. Serena was so close the ball just landed outside of the lines and she lost that match.

Even Maria Sharapova has managed to overcome her problems on clay now it is her best surface she won the French title last year.

I would love to see Serena win the French Open one last time before she retires.
 
T

TMF

Talk Tennis Guru
SassyRamirez said:
Yes I think even just one more FO would do her legacy a bit of good.
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Serena won 1 FO, but had she was consistent by reaching multiple finals that would be good enough. Clay is her kryptonite and if she can win one more would boost her legacy.
 
President

President

Legend
She really should have won RG last year but I guess the nerves got to her. When she is in decent form she is probably the best clay player left in the field, it's not like Federer's situation where there is the monster Nadal to stop him at RG and then an extremely good CC in Djokovic as well.
 
S

SassyRamirez

Banned
President said:
She really should have won RG last year but I guess the nerves got to her. When she is in decent form she is probably the best clay player left in the field, it's not like Federer's situation where there is the monster Nadal to stop him at RG and then an extremely good CC in Djokovic as well.
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Kuznetsova is better IMO; and I'm not sure if Stosur is better but she can certainly give Serena a run for her money even if she's in good form.
 
S

SassyRamirez

Banned
Beyond those two, and those two are complete head cases, it's hard to see anyone else beating her at the FO if she just plays well enough..

Li Na?

Sharapova maybe? Supposed to be a clay goddess these days but she didn't do so well against Serena on the blue clay of Madrid last year. :lol:
 
egn

egn

Hall of Fame
Serena's lack of a second french open really hurts. Especially in the weak clay era that this has been. Serena is a phenomenal grass and hardcourt player, but even Navratilova mastered the clay for a period in time. Serena's 01-04 clay performance was impressive. Last year was great up until that embarssing first round loss. However frankly, Serena will never be in the Navra/Graf/Evert/Court tier without that second French Open. With the likes of Schiavone, Li Na and Pova winning the FO in this era, it's a shock that Serena has not. Serena needs to put 100% into French open this year.
 
N

NadalAgassi

Guest
SassyRamirez said:
Beyond those two, and those two are complete head cases, it's hard to see anyone else beating her at the FO if she just plays well enough..

Li Na?

Sharapova maybe? Supposed to be a clay goddess these days but she didn't do so well against Serena on the blue clay of Madrid last year. :lol:
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Sharapova isnt ever beating Serena again on any surface unless Serena has an enormous injury of some kind.
 
A

Amelie Mauresmo

Banned
It is shocking that Serena hasn't won a second French Open title by now. I thought for sure with the lack of solid and consistent clay courters like Justine Henin Serena would have won a second French title. Serena appears afraid on clay and uncertain she won't admit it, but Serena doesn't have the confidence on clay that she has on hardcourts or grasscourts. I think the other women sense Serena is vulnerable on clay. Last year people mention Serena won Charleston and Madrid BUT those clay court events were not played on the red European clay.

I think Serena needs to give everything she has this year maybe play smaller clay court European events on the red clay to gain confidence on the surface. She needs to stop worrying about silly events like Charleston that event isn't on real clay anyway. The only clay court that matter are the ones on the red clay.
 
N

NadalAgassi

Guest
Justine being retired has put all the pressure on Serena at Roland Garros since she knows there is no reason now she shouldnt win there every year. She would almost be better off if Justine was still playing. I think Serena often functions best when she can atleast convince herself she is the underdog. Hence why she bombed out at the Australian the last 2 years, and lost that U.S Open final to Stosur, but dominated the second half of 2012 after Azarenka and Sharapova won slams to start the year.
 
kiki

kiki

Banned
I´d be happy is Martina Hingis gets back the one stolen to her.She´d have the career Slam she so much deserves as the last classy act in women´s tennis.
 
N

NadalAgassi

Guest
It is too bad we didnt have more years of Hingis vs Serena and Hingis vs Venus at their best together. They always produced amazing matches vs each other, especialy in the slams. So much more exciting than the boring years of Clijsters, Henin, and Sharapova being on top (although even that period was like a golden age compared to the Jankovic, Safina, Wozniacki, mug era to come, blech).
 
kishnabe

kishnabe

Talk Tennis Guru
I hope she wins there again.....but whenever she steps on that court....things go bad even with her perfect from coming in.
 
S

Soianka

Hall of Fame
kiki said:
I´d be happy is Martina Hingis gets back the one stolen to her.She´d have the career Slam she so much deserves as the last classy act in women´s tennis.
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So many things wrong with this post.

I like Martina H, but I doubt too many would describe her as classy ...certainly Amelie Mauresmo would not.

I was rooting for her to win the FO match against Steffi in 1999 but that match wasn't stolen from her....she choked and it was very sad to see.

She also should have won in 1997, but she didn't take tennis as seriously as she should. She thought she would always be able to easily dominate. Little did she know...
 
kiki

kiki

Banned
If Graf was not so stubborn she herself would recognize that many things happened at that match, and none in favour of Hingis.But I agree she lost her concentration which a top player must never do.
 
kiki

kiki

Banned
Bueno in the 60´s, Goolagong in 70´s, Mandlikova in 80´s and Hingis in 90´s.That´s called talent.
 
boredone3456

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
I will point out the big glaring wrong thing with the OP. Justine was not the big reason Serena does not have another French. She beat Serena there in 03 and 07. You could argue very well for 03...but 07? I dunno.

Even so she has had 4 legit shots to win the thing with no Henin in her way in the last 5 years (2011 out due to injury) and all 4 of those years she won majors outside the French. Serena is not great on clay, arguably she is lucky to have won in 2002 (not a difficult draw apart from Capriati). She is just not awesome on red clay (her titles on clay last year were on blue and green clay...totally different from red).

Serena is an awesome player and her numbers stand up...but on red clay she has never been a demon like she has been on hard and grass. If she was she would have won another in the last 5 years and she hasn't even been able to get to a final.
 
THUNDERVOLLEY

THUNDERVOLLEY

G.O.A.T.
boredone3456 said:
I will point out the big glaring wrong thing with the OP. Justine was not the big reason Serena does not have another French.
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Agreed. That idea is myth often pushed by Henin fans more than anyone else.

Serena is an awesome player and her numbers stand up...but on red clay she has never been a demon like she has been on hard and grass.
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Rational observation.
 
S

SassyRamirez

Banned
Nah, I'm a Henin fan and I disagree that she was the big reason Serena couldn't get another FO; Serena has had plenty of opportunities in her absence. It's not really a Roger & Rafa situation.
 
T

TMF

Talk Tennis Guru
SassyRamirez said:
Nah, I'm a Henin fan and I disagree that she was the big reason Serena couldn't get another FO; Serena has had plenty of opportunities in her absence. It's not really a Roger & Rafa situation.
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I agree. Serena isn't good on clay to win another one. Nadal and Federer are the best cc in 2000s.
 
THUNDERVOLLEY

THUNDERVOLLEY

G.O.A.T.
SassyRamirez said:
Nah, I'm a Henin fan and I disagree that she was the big reason Serena couldn't get another FO; Serena has had plenty of opportunities in her absence. It's not really a Roger & Rafa situation.
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Agreed. Additionally, on the men's side, Nadal was the far and away master of that clay era and the one time during his run someone had a fluke win was due to Nadal not being in the 2009 finals.
 
Last edited:
AngieB

AngieB

Banned
TMF said:
I agree. Serena isn't good on clay to win another one. Nadal and Federer are the best cc in 2000s.
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Really, #Girl?

Let this be a reminder of an example where you have been on the wrong side of history because you allowed your bias to overtake rational, logical thinking. I wish you well on #that.

#GrannyIlluminati​
 
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