Roland Garros 2018 Final: [1] Simona Halep vs [10] Sloane Stephens

Who will win Roland Garros 2018?

  • Simona Halep in 2

    Votes: 17 26.6%

  • Simona Halep in 3

    Votes: 25 39.1%

  • Sloane Stephens in 2

    Votes: 11 17.2%

  • Sloane Stephens in 3

    Votes: 11 17.2%
  • Total voters
    64
I am shocked that there was no mention of the death of Maria Bueno. A one minute silence after the coin toss would have been nice.

South America's most successful female tennis player, Maria Bueno of Brazil, has died at the age of 78.

Bueno won 19 major titles during her career in the 1950s and 60s, including three Wimbledon singles titles and four US championships.

She had recently been admitted to hospital suffering from mouth cancer.

A self-taught prodigy, she brought grace to the game and was a dominant force, BBC Americas editor Leonardo Rocha writes.

However, her career was shortened by elbow problems, which she blamed on the heavy wooden rackets of the time.

Brazilian President Michel Temer has led tributes to the star, tweeting that she would be remembered as "the number one of tennis in the hearts of all Brazilians".


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-44422258
 
Mainad said:
Wow, I thought she was going to blow it yet again when she went down a set and a break but something obviously clicked with her to stop that and turn it around. For that last set and a half, she really did play like the world #1 and got the infamous monkey off her back by finally securing her 1st Slam title in her 3rd final, 2nd at her favourite tournament. Congrats and well done Simona!!! :D

Halep becomes the 3rd Romanian player in the Open Era to win a Slam title and the 3rd at Roland Garros (after Nastase in 1973 and Ruzici in 1978). It is the 40th anniversary since Ruzici's win at Roland Garros! :cool:
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It was her 4th final not 3rd :)
 
Roland-Garros‏Verified account @rolandgarros 53m53 minutes ago
New silverware for @Simona_Halep. Making memories with @darren_cahill. #RG18

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First time I see Simona with fire in her eyes and a completely different body language.

I think she's going to take another Slam before the end of the year.
 
SeeingDusk said:
What a class act by Sloane. So gracious in defeat and still smiling. Those dimples. I find Sloane really attractive; the way she speaks, the way she carries herself, and how confidence just exudes from her. Beautiful.
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I agree. I would like to add that Sloane’s movement and ball strike on both side are also fluid and effortless. I have a feeling if she is willing to put in as much efforts in training as Halep, she would win multiple slams.

This was a high quality final. Congrats to both girls.
 
insideguy said:
People always say Simona has a negative attitude. This woman is nothing if not a fighter. She never gives up and is as consistent week in week out as they come. Considering she really has no big weapons that says even more about her fighting spirit.
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Like Sharapova her biggest weapon is never giving up-you could see Stephens gave up as soon as she was broken in the third set, to me she looked like she also gave up in the second set somewhat. Probably 80-85% or thereabouts of sport is about mental strength & attitude, huge levels of talent is nice, but not really needed to succeed as most sports are won & lost in the head. She showed today how powerful & fit she is, which are very good weapons.
 
clayqueen said:
I am shocked that there was no mention of the death of Maria Bueno. A one minute silence after the coin toss would have been nice.

South America's most successful female tennis player, Maria Bueno of Brazil, has died at the age of 78.

Bueno won 19 major titles during her career in the 1950s and 60s, including three Wimbledon singles titles and four US championships.

She had recently been admitted to hospital suffering from mouth cancer.

A self-taught prodigy, she brought grace to the game and was a dominant force, BBC Americas editor Leonardo Rocha writes.

However, her career was shortened by elbow problems, which she blamed on the heavy wooden rackets of the time.

Brazilian President Michel Temer has led tributes to the star, tweeting that she would be remembered as "the number one of tennis in the hearts of all Brazilians".


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-44422258
Click to expand...

NBC Sports and Mary Carrillo did pay tribute to Maria Bueno during their broadcast today. Bueno’s best showing at RG was as singles runner-up in 1964.
 
MatsPhilander said:
Like Sharapova her biggest weapon is never giving up-you could see Stephens gave up as soon as she was broken in the third set, to me she looked like she also gave up in the second set somewhat. Probably 80-85% or thereabouts of sport is about mental strength & attitude, huge levels of talent is nice, but not really needed to succeed as most sports are won & lost in the head. She showed today how powerful & fit she is, which are very good weapons.
Click to expand...

I don’t think it was a mental thing with Sloane. She clearly run out of gas. She was winning long rallies in the first set, but that took a toll on her, and she had nothing left for the second half of the match.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Zlatni said:
I don’t think it was a mental thing with Sloane. She clearly run out of gas. She was winning long rallies in the first set, but that took a toll on her, and she had nothing left for the second half of the match.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

But true greats dig down to try to find a second wind-Serena, Sharapova etc. She just gave up, as tough as it is you have to play through the pain barrier & find a way. Imagine if she had to play five sets like the guys.
 
Im(moral) Winner said:
As soon as Simona switched to Nike she won a slam#JustDoIt
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Yes, of course. I'm not a Nike fan (nothing against it), but Nike knows their stuff and knows who to sponsor. It was just a bad move from Adidas. Good for Halep - I'm guessing she gets better contract from Nike sponsorship anyway. It's a blunder by Adidas - Simona gets the last laugh.
 
Zlatni said:
I don’t think it was a mental thing with Sloane. She clearly run out of gas. She was winning long rallies in the first set, but that took a toll on her, and she had nothing left for the second half of the match.
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I think it was a little of both. She looked hesitant at some put away shots and hit safe shots which allowed Halep to get back into many of the games.
 
tennis4me said:
Yes, of course. I'm not a Nike fan (nothing against it), but Nike knows their stuff and knows who to sponsor. It was just a bad move from Adidas. Good for Halep - I'm guessing she gets better contract from Nike sponsorship anyway. It's a blunder by Adidas - Simona gets the last laugh.
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I heard (that she cited?) that Adidas wanted to Focus on Muguruza :rolleyes:
 
steenkash said:
Sloane is gracious in defeat. I'm sure she will win more. She's much more refreshing than Serena, who can be a nasty piece of work.
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ausfrewimuso said:
What has Serena got to do with this? Fool
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THUNDERVOLLEY said:
..because he compares one black person to another--he's obsessing on them as if they are joined at the hip and not to be compared to any white players. Typical of tennis boards.
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ausfrewimuso said:
Exactly, so pathetic.

They are 2 different tennis players with 2 completely different play styles.
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To be fair, there is a back story here. Stephens idolized the Williams sisters when she was young. Serena was something of a mentor to her. For a while, Sloane had been branded as a “Serena clone”. However, after Sloane beat Serena at AO 2013, Serena was cold toward her (according to Sloane). A bit of bad blood there.

Serena has been known to be less than gracious in defeat.
 
Didn't have the chance to post here, but I'm extremely happy for Simona, truly played like a champion. I thought, not only during the match, but before and even when sleeping, that no matter how well Halep played and/or fought, it'll have the same ending.
That comeback from 36 02 down was just epic, it's like the karmic forces that prevented Halep to win last year after leading by a set and a break plus break point. :p
Jokes aside, the fact that I came with negative expectations for this match made the victory much sweeter, Simona never gave up and kept fighting, also, she played much more aggressive, which was lacking before, and most importantly, she conquered her own demons in a big final. Also, big kudos to Stephens who has learned how to play on clay, good slidings, good defence when needed, and very graceful on defeat.
 
TahoeTennis said:
Didn't get to watch this live but I can only assume Sloane was up a set and a break before she choked it away correct?
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It was really not so much a Sloane choke as it was Simona victory. Yes, Sloane was up a break at the very beginning of the 2nd set. But then Simona stepped up her game — found another gear, if you will. Sloane did not know how to respond once Simona found her groove. Suspect that she was also a bit spent from the long rallies and her effort in the 1st set. Even tho, Sloane lost the 3rd set 6-1, she had no DFs and only 9 UEs in that set.

Simona was “a girl on fire”, esp in the 3rd set. It’s been her MO for the fortnight at RG. The 3 sets that she lost during these 2 weeks have all been 1st sets. In most of her matches here, she has dominated so much more in her 2nd and 3rd sets than the 1st. The one notable exception is her SF match that she won against Garbine (6-1, 6-4).
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
To be fair, there is a back story here. Stephens idolized the Williams sisters when she was young. Serena was something of a mentor to her. For a while, Sloane had been branded as a “Serena clone”. However, after Sloane beat Serena at AO 2013, Serena was cold toward her (according to Sloane). A bit of bad blood there.

Serena has been known to be less than gracious in defeat.
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And several months/years later there is no hatred between them.

Sloane is no clone of Serena, there is only one reason she was called this, they are two completely different players with differing styles.

Everyone can cherrypick all the moments Serena was not gracious in defeat, but it is nothing compared to the average player in the WTA field.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
On Monday, the top 4 ladies in the rankings will hold a slam.

#1 Simona Halep - French Open champ
#2 Caroline Wozniacki - Australian Open champ
#3 Garbine Muguruza - Wimbledon champ
#4 Sloane Stephens - US Open champ.
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Not only that, now Simona Halep has massive leads in the Rankings and the Race. A 1245 pts lead on the Rankings and a 1915 pts lead in the Race, both over Wozniacki.
And considering she has only lost once before the QF in the GS/PM/P5 tournaments this year (3R in Miami), she has almost sealed her second YE#1.
 
Zlatni said:
I don’t think it was a mental thing with Sloane. She clearly run out of gas. She was winning long rallies in the first set, but that took a toll on her, and she had nothing left for the second half of the match.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Sloane wasn't winning too many long rallies in the first set either, although it's true, she really collapsed physically and made Simona's job so much easier.
Bravo Simona!
 
ausfrewimuso said:
And several months/years later there is no hatred between them.

Sloane is no clone of Serena, there is only one reason she was called this, they are two completely different players with differing styles...
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Hope that it true. For a number of years there was definitely some tension between the 2. And there was a time when Sloane was labeled “a Serena clone”.

www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/tennis/sloan-stephens-gave-her-mentor-reason-to-get-angry-with-herself/news-story/6f13dcda412fb71f3055b3f983cf0efc
 
ewiewp said:
Doesn't bend her knees much yet beautiful light and quiet movements. Smooth effortless stroke productions.

Exceptional talent.
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She has good anticipation, but she has **** poor footwork and waits for the ball to come to her. She also needs to be more aggressive in general. So many moon ball points she could have unloaded, but she was content to just keep the rally going to her detriment. Her first serve should have been better today too. Sloane screwed the pooch by being too passive in the second -it’s like she decided to go on autopilot. She needs more fight in her. I remember when Anacone coached her- he implied she was lazy after their relationship ended. I don’t know about that, but she could use an infusion of rage once in awhile. She lacks urgency.
 
mightyrick said:
I love Stephen's play style... it is exactly like Andy Murray. Both players are incredibly good movers, but the real reason both make their movement look so effortless is because of their incredible court sense and anticipation of the ball. Federer is the same way.

These players are like psychics who know where the ball is going to be 500ms before any other player. It's really breathtaking to see.
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Radwanska is the very best anticipation player on the women’s tour
 
tennistiger said:
May be taken other things beside the blood bags. For many people her fast movement, never getting tired and recovery is very suspect...
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It’s called fast twitch muscles and fitness. She is extremely fit, both aerobically and anaerobically. If ATP players can go 4 or 5 sets, why would Simona’s ability to go 3 sets w/o getting tired be suspect? Sure there were some long rallies but the whole RG women’s singles final was just a little bit longer than 2 hrs total. To put that into perspective, Caro Wozniacki, who beat Simona at AO earlier this year, was able to finish the NYC Marathon in just under 3.5 hrs.

Note that, while Simona is able to handle 2 or 3 hr matches w/o appearing to tire, she does not fare so well in extreme heat. That was evident at Washington DC last year. Heat exhaustion/dehydration. And after the finals match at AO against Caro this year, Simona was hospitalized for heat exposure/dehydration. That match was 2.8 hrs under extreme heat conditions with the roof open.

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