By Cheryl Jones
Ten years and two days ago, a youngster from Romania by the name of Simona Halep won the Junior Girls’ Final at Roland Garros. Today, Halep was the winner in a three set match before a full house in Court Philippe Chatrier, making her the sixth woman who has won the women’s singles after winning the girls’ title. (The other five were Francoise Durr, Mima Jausovec, Hana Mandlikova, Jennifer Capriati and Justine Henin.)
Sloane Stephens, an American, who had won the Junior Girls’ Doubles title in 2010 with Timea Babos of Hungary, was the runner up today. Tennis fans will remember that Stephens won the US Open last September. She had come a long way after foot surgery that left her sidelined for nearly eleven months in 2016 and 2017.
She came to Roland Garros ranked 10 in the world of women’s tennis – on Monday, she will rise to 4. Halep is number one and she will stay there after a very strong performance today that lived up to her boast that she could run and didn’t need to be a big hitter. (Actually it seems that her hitting power has been underestimated.) But, quick she is and zigzagging to and fro across the court seems to be her specialty. It took her two hours and three minutes to vanquish Stephens in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
It appears that Halep had the tougher line-up to work her way through their arrival on the big stage Saturday afternoon. She defeated a long line of excellent players to get there. Her first match was with Alison Riske of the US who took the first set, but relinquished the remaining two of their three set match. It set up a trend that seemed to follow the Romanian throughout the tournament. She started out slow, but gained confidence and momentum much like a musical crescendo.
Early in the tournament, she was asked about a poor showing in the first set and she explained how she managed to stay focused and ended up on top when the final score was tallied. She said, “I know what I have to play, to continue playing for the next set.” Today she did just that, and more. She must have remembered her final statement after defining her early tournament play, “So I just have to be calm and keep trying.”
The first set really was all Stephens. She looked strong and it appeared as if John McEnroe, (on the first day of the tournament), had actually been right on with his prediction. (McEnroe proclaimed staunchly that Stephens would take the title, he was sure of it.) But it was not to be.
Early in the second set, Stephens began to falter and actually looked a bit lost. It was as if she had deflated, hunching her shoulders forward and breathing as if she were in the last few hundred meters of a marathon. It was startling and quite unexpected. Halep moves so quickly about the court that it is bad business to let her romp around the court so freely. It’s likely that the unforced errors were Stephens’ downfall, since she committed many more than Halep in each of the sets. Stephens was circumspect when she spoke of her literal slowdown and change of direction midway through the second set.
When asked what happened, she said, “She just played better. Obviously, I saw my chances in the second. I still had opportunities. It happened. You learn from it. You move on. You try to be better next time.”
That particular next time wasn’t quite a sure thing. She said it was still up in the air whether she would chose Eastbourne and Wimbledon or just Wimbledon. “I have to take care of myself first and just see what’s best.”
Simona Halep had been disappointed in the final here at Roland Garros twice before. She lost to Maria Sharapova in 2014’s final and then to Jalena Ostapenko last year in the women’s championship. (She has been in one other slam final – Australia where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki in three hard fought sets this past January.)
After the match, Halep could not stop smiling. When asked about that first set and the first half of the second set, she examined her feelings and to quote her directly, “I said it’s not going to happen again (losing the match), but it’s okay. I have to just play. And then when I started to win games…there is a chance to come back and win it.” She believed in herself and her game became more relaxed and she did come back and she won it all.
As a fourteen year old, she decided to play as a professional. She dedicated herself to the sport. The most important moment to her was winning the Juniors here. She even said that she was glad she didn’t win in Melbourne but had saved that honor for here. “It’s special and I keep it forever in my heart for sure. It’s my favorite city, actually.”
A charmed life she hasn’t had. Tonight her friends and family will be planning a big party. They had better. She is waiting for it.
Halep has learned something today. Dreams do come true. Dedication and hard work aren’t the stuff of miracles, but add a dream and it can be reality. Congratulations to Simona Halep!
