The women's final is set in Paris.
Francesca Schiavone from Italy VS Samantha Stosur of Australia.
I'd like to meet whoever had that match-up before the draw came out.
Stosur took the hard road to the finals, beating Henin and Serena back to back in 3 set wars. Her semifinal match was much less complicated as she breezed through Jelena Jankovic 1 and 2. Good to see an Aussie making noise in women's tennis.
Schiavone, the hard working Italian, battled her way to the semis and then got handed a trip to the finals. Elena Dementieva, perhaps the best woman ever to not win a Slam, retired after she lost the first set in a tiebreak. Apparently, she tore a calf muscle in her 3rd round match, and just couldn't play through the pain in the semifinals.
Now, I am not going to bash Elena for retiring...but I am going to bash her for how she handled it.
How does she retire without even calling the trainer to the court? Her response: Something along the lines of that she has seen the trainer too many times and knew there was nothing else she could do.
Give me a break.
On one of the biggest stages in the game, you better call out the trainer. If she had a serious injury and felt she could not continue, I completely understand and she made the right decision.
She owed it to the fans and especially Schiavone to at least sit through an injury time-out. Elena, maybe you know that the trainer can't do anything...but why not call him out, take treatment, play a point and then call it quits.
This had a bit too much Henin in it for me. Of course we remember Henin retiring in the FINALS of a Slam to Mauresmo, yet was OK enough to stay for the trophy presentation and press conference after the match. That was one of the all-time heartless moves in sport history.
Again, I don't judge injuries and if players choose they can continue or not. All I judge is how it's handled, and when your in a Slam Semi or Final, you owe it to your opponent and the fans to over exaggerate how hard your trying to stay on the court.
No one wants to retire.
If you want to know how to handle it, watch the Rafa/Murray match from Australia. Rafa called the trainer, he looked devastated, and called it quits. No one questioned how he handled it.
I like Elena, and believe she was in a tremendous amount of pain out there.
Call the trainer, take an injury time-out, and then call it quits. If it's still too bad to continue...No mas. No one will say a word.
Tomorrow we have Soderling/Berdych and Rafa/Melzer...should be good.
Predictions:
Soderling DEF Berdych in 4 sets.
Rafa DEF Melzer in 3 sets.
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