What happened at the French Open in the Women Finals?

Francesca Schiavone v Samantha Stosur
Game, set and Match Schiavone 6-4 7-6 (2)
If you think that the motto 'Nothing is Impossible' you saw on the t-shirts of Francesca Schiavone's fans is just a gimmick, you did not get half of the story.

Does it surprise anyone that Francesca a 14 year veteran professional player has only won Bad Gadstein in 1997, Moscow in 2007 and Barcelona in 2009, in such a long career (1996 - Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Italy)?

Amazing is the least anyone can say! Only four tournament wins including yesterday's Roland Garros! Why?

Simple, 'Nothing is impossible'!

In tennis terms you saw it in the final, Francesca does not abide by any of the conventional 'coached' patterns of play, she is not a pattern player, she is not a steady player, she is not a percentage player, she is chaos impersonated!

Nevertheless, as attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche, 'Out of chaos comes order' and the same applies in tennis to Francesca Schiavone!

 For Francesca,  there are no specific tactics previous to a match but, if there are, they will be changed four, five or even more times during the course of the encounter.

If the opponent thinks has Francesca  in the bag, like Stosur thought after the break in the second set, better think twice or three times because everything had to be reviewed when out of the blue Schiavone started playing an enormously aggressive game at 2-4 and broke Stosur!

Of course everything worked for Francesca Schiavone yesterday and a frustrated Stosur could not play 'her game', 'her plan' or 'her favorite shot' (the inside out forehand) but, how could anyone with such a chaotic opponent?

Everything was there at as it happened, honest, bare simple, with her heart, as I am 'a la Schiavone', not even a canned pre-written winner's speech!

Boy was it fun to watch! Please coaches out there, bring more chaos into the game! I love it!

Oh! The men's final today, as usual I will go against 'expert opinion' (the experience Robin gained last year, yada, yada, yada...) and give you three reasons why Nadal is going to win in 3 (or 4 if hot and court is dry) sets:

- Revenge!

- Soderling peaked in the quarters against Federer.

- Soderling is at the end of his mental/emotional and physical reserves.

Enjoy the next final!

Sergio Cruz 

Questions About Tennis Anyone? Feel free to ask, if I can not answer myself, I will research and find the solution to your question. Write directly to me at, cruze (@) bluewin.ch

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