TENNIS 2014 ROLAND GARROS – World’s number one, Serena Williams got things underway for the defense of her French Open crown. However, despite the easy scoreline of 6-2 6-1 over French wildcard entry Alize Lim, the win was anything but routine. Cordell Hackshaw
Interviews, Results, OOP, Draws from the 2014 Roland Garros
World’s number one, Serena Williams got things underway for the defense of her French Open crown. However, despite the easy scoreline of 6-2 6-1 over French wildcard entry Alize Lim, the win was anything but routine. Much throughout the match, the American looked like some weird aberration of herself. She was screaming at herself, missing easy shots and going for unlikely winners while well out of position. It appeared as though she was going for a winner with every shot but this strategy is unlikely to success as Williams finished with winner/error differential of +1. She produced 37 winners to 36 errors. It was all very strange and inexplicable as there were no signs that it might be an injury. In her on court post-match interview, Williams was clearly not happy with her performance. Williams mentioned quite frankly that this was not an easy win for her and recognized that she needs to lift her game if she hopes to win this title again. Nonetheless, she is through to the 2nd round.
Perhaps it was the fact that Williams was playing another lowly ranked Frenchwoman in the form of her friend Lim in front of the French crowd in the 1st round of the French Open that caused her so many jitters. This situation was eerily similar to that of the 2012 French Open when Williams imploded upon herself and was dispatched by Virginie Razzano in the 1st round. Interestingly enough, Williams was wearing another green outfit as she did then. However, lightening rarely strikes twice in the same spot. Even with all the many reckless errors (14 by the 5th game of the match), Williams had winners and was able to break Lim in the 4th game. Serena showed no signs of the classic clay court patience, a necessary prerequisite to conquer this surface. She went for broke on nearly every shot and in the end it paid off she had the 1st set 6-2 after 39 minutes.
The 2nd set saw Williams picking up her levels and showing her all court skills. She raced out to a 4-1 lead. Lim tried with all her young effort to prevent being broken in the 6th game. She saved three break points and showed some good portion of her game. Williams was not to be denied. On the 4th break chance, Williams forehand swing return was too much for Lim to keep in play. Williams was serving for the match 6-2 5-1 and it seemed that it would be an easy close for the veteran player. However, Williams had other idea as the final game of the match proved to be the most bizarre. The American produced a ton of errors, double faulted twice, had a couple of aces, saved 5 break points (the only break points she faced throughout the entire match) before taking the match on her 5th match point, 6-2 6-1. Points won on 1st serves were decent at 78% but Williams’ second serve was dismal at 43% for the match. This level of play will certainly not serve her well in this competition and if this is the sort of form she maintains here in Paris, Williams is very beatable. Then again, this is Serena Williams and her prowess is never to be underestimated. Hopefully, her game picks up because she is fun to watch on clay.
