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A Game with Losers and Winners When There Sometimes Shouldn't Be

© Michael Cecilio

If Roland Garros this year has taught us one thing, it is this– don’t ever walk into a match and underestimate your opponent. As much as we all predict, and expect, that the top players are all going to come through unscathed in the first week of a Grand Slam championship, that most or all of the Top 8 seeds are going to provide us with further instalments to their rivalries, sometimes the unexpected is to be expected.

If the Roland Garros final this year has taught us something, it is this – don’t allow the critics, the press and the media to convince you that you are going to have an easy stroll to the title. As much as you are the heavy favourite and your opponent is the heavy underdog, the things you want the most are the hardest to come by. That is certainly what Jennifer Capriati and Kim Clijsters learned today. Both came to the realisation that realising your ultimate dream is going to take a lot of patience, hard work, mental strength, determination and the utmost in will power. And if both are just as determined as the other to grab hold of that dream, you can expect an incredible dogfight.

What a match! Many had their money on Capriati from the very beginning of the tournament. Heading into the final against an opponent who was ranked #14 to her #4 and who had never before been in a Grand Slam final before to her being the reigning Australian Open champion, a lot more money was put on Capriati to not just win the title, but to win it easily. Those who put money on Capriati were well rewarded in the end, but in the process, they were made to sweat for their money for Capriati and Clijsters put on one of the most tremendous shows in recent Grand Slam final history as the match hinged on a few points here and there. The bookies and their clients were sweating, the players themselves were suffering bouts of nerves and exhaustion, but so too was every single person following the match – whether that be at the stadium, via television, via radio or the Internet. It certainly was difficult not to be overcome with such emotion in such a highly charged atmosphere – and for some of the biggest supporters, the fact that the drama occurs even if the event unfolds all the way across the world at the most god forsaken hours of the morning for them, is a testament that tennis is one of the most dramatic sports in the world.

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