My Visit to Open Gaz De France - WTA Paris Indoor 2012

This weekend I attended the Paris Indoor tournament for the women. The tournament is called Open Gaz De France and is held in the South West sector of Paris, not far from Roland Garros. I got tickets for quarterfinals and finals day, although when I got my tickets in December, I had no idea that this year was to be a special occasion.

Open Gaz De France was celebrating its 20th year as a tournament and had organised a special exhibition doubles match featuring four legends of womens tennis. Martina Navratilova teamed up with Martina Hingis to play Monica Seles and Amelie Mauresmo, Mauresmo is also Tournament Director. It was a great moment in front of a packed crowd, the volleying skills and trick shots on display were incredible, I’m sure memories came flooding back for many in the audience.

The ladies had a lot of fun; Mauresmo even hit a hotdog winner at one point. At the end of the match (which Navratilova/Hingis won incidentally), there was a special birthday cake presented to commemorate 20 years, a huge cake brought out by at least 4 chefs! But no one cut into the cake!

Onto the tournament proper, I attended 3 excellent matches on quarterfinal day. I arrived on Friday, straight from London via Eurostar; I arrived too late for the first match between Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium and Mona Barthel of Germany but at least Germany’s Julia Georges was warming up to play Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, I would see the whole contest. The match started how I expected with Georges attempting to make the play, firing a couple of big serves and aces.

Georges raced to a 4:1 lead and was looking good, Zakopalova had some good shots, particularly on the run, but made too many errors on the forehand side. By this stage, Zakopalova was fighting hard, saving more break points to hold at 4:2 down. However, Georges went on to close out the first set 6:3. I was expecting Georges to win in straight sets but was secretly hoping it would go to 3 sets. Zakopalova obliged by racing to a 3:1 lead in the 2nd set, Georges broke to make it 3:3 but Zakopalova broke at the end of the set to take it 7:5 and force a third.

By now Georges looked quite irritable and before we knew it, she was 4:0 down in the 3rd set. Georges called for the trainer and received treatment for what seemed to be either a back or leg injury, in the end Georges succumbed 6:1. A surprising result but Zakopalova upped her game, cut down on the errors and played quite well in the 2nd and 3rd sets.

The next match between Maria Sharapova and Germany’s Angelique Kerber was a repeat of their Australian Open encounter of three weeks prior. I had never seen Kerber play before but was looking forward to it as I think she has an interesting game and felt she would run Sharapova close. Kerber was broken in her very first service game and Sharapova held the lead twice but after an exchange of breaks Kerber held to reach 5:4 in the first set. Kerber then broke Sharapova to claim the first set 6:4.

The first set had some really good tennis; there was a good contrast in styles. Kerber is a lefty and is an interesting mix of puncher and counterpuncher, she can do both. Kerber is a good retriever who can also hit the forehand down the line and is not afraid to attack the net. Sharapova found that she had a lot of trouble with Kerber and getting a handle on Kerber’s game.

Sharapova broke early in the 2nd set but was broken back, Kerber then survived a long game with many deuces and break points to hold at 3:2. Both players held serve until 5:4 to Kerber, then lightning struck again as Sharapova was broken to 30 whilst serving to stay in the match. Sharapova hit a crucial double fault at 30:15 which cost her dear. It was unfortunate because Sharapova actually served well throughout the match and didn’t hit too many double faults, but as so often these days, it came at the wrong time. Having said that, Kerber was the better player and deserved to win 6:4 6:4.

The next match between home favourite Marion Bartoli and Italy’s Roberta Vinci was a real thriller. This was even more of a clash in styles, Vinci is a real old school player from the 1980s and 1990s – big topspin forehand, sliced backhand and very good volleys, in the mould of Novotna, Sukova, Sabatini and Conchita Martinez. Vinci’s sliced backhand, drop shots and sneaking in to volley floating balls were very exciting to watch and gave Bartoli a lot of trouble, Vinci also employed the drop shot often, exploiting Bartoli’s lack of forward movement.

When Bartoli attacked the net early, Vinci hit a beautiful rolled backhand pass; Vinci gave a wry smile because she didn’t practise a single topspin backhand in the warm up! Vinci broke at 4:4 in the first set and served out a tight set at 6:4. Vinci went up 4:1 in the 2nd set and then suffered a major wobble and lost 5 games in a row as Bartoli took the set 6:4. By this stage, the fantastic Paris crowd were really getting into it, the sort of atmosphere I had seen so often on television but was now experiencing.

Vinci broke early in the 3rd set with another topspin backhand pass as Bartoli approached, and seemed to get it together. Vinci now served for the match at 5:2 and it went all horribly wrong again, by this stage Bartoli and the Parisians were incredibly pumped. Vinci tried again at 5:4 and was broken again, now Vinci somehow managed another crisis at 6:5 down to get to a tiebreak, but the force was with Bartoli and she won it convincingly 7 points to 2. It was 10:30pm and I had witnessed an excellent day of tennis with an incredible climax to the evening.

Finals day was another festival of tennis. The Doubles final between Huber / Raymond and Greonefeld / Martic was first up at 12pm. The experience of Raymond and Huber proved too much for the new pair and they won the match 7:6 6:1. After the presentation I had a brief chat with Lisa Raymond, I told her that the first match I saw was between her and Gabriela Sabatini in Wimbledon in 1995 and now we are in 2012 and she’s still winning titles. She said it has been a long a career, I congratulated her on her longevity, which she appreciated.

The final between Angelique Kerber and Marion Bartoli took place after the exhibition, and it was another cracking match; played in front of a raucous Parisian crowd. There were exchange of breaks but Kerber held the upper hand and served for the 1st set at 5:4 but was broken, but then held her nerve to claim the first set on a tiebreak. In the 2nd set, Kerber served for the match at 5:3 but wobbled, which got Bartoli and the crowd really worked up, Kerber couldn’t respond and was broken again as Bartoli took the 2nd set 7:5.

Kerber steadied herself and broke early in the 3rd set and ran to a 4:1 lead with a double break. Bartoli broke back to 4:2 and Kerber survived an incredibly long game to get to 5:2. Bartoli saved at least 3 match points but in the end the pressure was too much and Kerber closed it out 6:2 to win her first title on the WTA tour.

I thought Kerber was the better player on the day. She had the better serve and teased Bartoli with sliced backhands and drop shots, exposing Bartoli’s relative lack of movement. Kerber also retrieved well and showed a good level of athleticism because Bartoli really pounds the ball from corner to corner. Kerber has the potential to be a consistent top 10 player for years to come.

There were some tears in the presentation by Bartoli but it was a great match and the crowd was tremendous for Bartoli, but very fair to Kerber and applauded her good shots. I had the opportunity to congratulate Kerber after the presentation on a job well done.

I had an excellent time at the Open Gaz de France; I met some interesting people there as well and would definitely consider attending the tournament in future years.

Kvitova v Azarenka - The Next Big Rivalry?

Well, the first major of the year has been decided. Victoria Azarenka emphatically beat Maria Sharapova 6:3 6:0 to claim her first Grand Slam title and the World Number 1 ranking at the same time, not bad for a day’s work. Two of the last three major tournaments have been claimed by Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova. In 2011, the two also played each other in the final of Madrid, the semi-final of Wimbledon and the final of the year end WTA Championships in Istanbul.

Victoria Azarenka is now world number 1 and Petra Kvitova world number 2. It seems appropriate that we could see these two players swap places quite a bit over the next few years, much in the way Federer / Nadal, Agassi / Sampras, Graf / Seles did in recent history. They have all of the ingredients for a great rivalry – contrast in styles of play, contrasts in personality and both have a will to win and desire to improve their game.

It is almost ironic that both players beat Maria Sharapova to claim their maiden grand slam title. On each occasion Sharapova was made favourite by the pundits and bookmakers, although I thought Kvitova and Azarenka would come through in their respective finals, they were the players in form and ready to claim the big prize.

Looking at their personalities, Azarenka is a feisty character on court, someone who plays hard and throws her heart and soul into a match, which has led to many “meltdowns” as Azarenka herself puts it. I first saw Azarenka as a junior in the 2005 French Open and I remember her being almost hysterical in her match, on the court and during changeovers, virtually sobbing in her chair! I wasn’t impressed and questioned how far she could go at senior level acting like that on the court but Azarenka sure left an impression on me that day. It is great to see her come so far, banish her demons and realise her potential.

Azarenka is a player that makes fans take sides, there are not too many neutrals out there. Some will love her fighting spirit, others will dislike her grunting (or wailing) and the way she orders ball kids around. Although at the same time she is still young at 22 years and will probably mature further as time goes on.

Whilst Azarenka is the feisty player out on court giving everything until it hurts, Kvitova is often as cool as a cucumber. But like all great players, looks can be deceiving; Kvitova has a burning intensity to win her matches, that’s displayed often when she screams PODJ! after winning an important point. Kvitova also makes it look easy often, she has incredible natural power and timing, she doesn’t look like she’s making a huge effort, and yet the ball whistles off her racquet for winners.

Their differing personalities and styles of play are the perfect ingredients for a great rivalry. Kvitova is the player with the all court skills, great net play and natural power with a great serve. Azarenka is the solid player with a great groundstroke game but doesn’t have the best serve out there. Traditionally, the attacking player with more options has the better head to head in this type of rivalry. And so far that has proved to be the case, they’ve met 6 times so far and Kvitova has a 4:2 lead. Kvitova won most of the big matches in 2011, the finals in Madrid and Istanbul, plus the semi-final in Wimbledon. Kvitova also beat Azarenka in 2010 Wimbledon, coming from 5: 3 down in the first set to win 9 games in a row 7:5 6:0. Azarenka beat Kvitova in the 2009 Australian Open 1st round 6:2 6:1 and in Prague in 2008.

Kvitova has proved a bad match up for Azarenka so far, Kvitova usually has all the answers to Azarenka’s play. Azarenka likes to play solid and manoeuvre her opponent from side to side, but Kvitova nullifies that by going for lines and coming to net often, putting Azarenka in situations she doesn’t like. Kvitova plays high risk tennis which when it comes off, Azarenka hasn’t got an answer to as yet.

In a press conference during the Australian Open, Azarenka was quoted as saying "New rivalries are being set up like the one I can have with Kvitova. Maria and Serena came back to the top. Kim's still there. We are playing at a very high level." With Kvitova and Azarenka being the same age, that rivalry will be around for many years and they will play each other in many semi-finals and finals. Both Clijsters and Serena are in the autumn of their careers and Sharapova is currently going through a phase Boris Becker once experienced, where he was just 2 to 3 years older than many of his rivals like Agassi, Sampras, Courier and Ivanisevic, but it seemed a world away because he broke through to win Wimbledon at 17, just like Sharapova years later. Sharapova is now playing catch up against her younger opponents.

This is an exciting period for womens tennis after the problems that were caused by Justine Henin’s sudden retirement in 2008. Serena Williams didn’t play enough to stay number 1 consistently whilst we’ve had 3 number 1 players without major titles to their name. Now we have two players who could help take the game to the next level; Azarenka is looking to improve her movement and variety all the time, Kvitova is looking at ways of making her game solid whilst keeping that level of creating something out of nothing, her lefty game making her angles and improvisation even more spectacular, much in the way Marcelo Rios once did on the ATP tour.