Francesca Schiavone wins the French Open Final, but how? Check this out.
Sam Stosur…
In this 2010 French Open tournament, she rolled over Jankovic, roared back against Justine Henin, and stuck to a winning plan when she played the almost unbeatable Serena Williams – all former world #1s, essentially back to back to back.
Then… went into the final as the overwhelming favorite. But… lost to a 17th seed girl by the name of Francesca Schiavone.
How did this happen? How could this happen? How did the under-dog manage to defy the 1 to 120 odds of winning this unbelievable tournament in Paris?
Well, check out a pretty detailed analysis I just completed and find out some of the main reasons for this historic upset.
4 Main Reasons Francesca Schiavone Stunned Stosur In The French Open 2010 Final
1. Superior Serving: This is definitely one of the biggest reasons. Previously at TennisMindCamp, we’ve talked about how much of an impact the serve can have on the outcome of a match, and on Saturday, Francesca showed just how true a concept that is. She…
A. Played The Percentage: Early on, it was easy to see the nerves being tested and the anxiety seeping through for both players who were on the biggest stage of their lives. Both were a little tight.
But as the the first set began to unfold, not only did Francesca Schiavone make it difficult for Stosur, by giving her minimal break opportunities, ZERO, the amount of serves that she was strategically placing around the service box reached a high of an amazing 70%!
And when the serves started popping in one after another after another after ANOTHER, the sky opened up and the confidence began to pour on the 29 year old Italian.
As a result, the shackles of tension and unfamiliarity were broken, and her game really began to flourish. She began to fully extend out on her shots and seemed to effortlessly float (…or fly), depending on the tempo of the point, to each ball and execute with great precision.
Now, seeing that the score was only 6-4 in that set, by no means did Francesca Schiavone completely run away with the set, but that noteworthy first serve percentage is what enabled her to really play “HER” game (…which was to use ALL of her shots) and to steal a boatload of momentum heading into the second set.
Now was she “serve perfect” throughout the entire final? Well…Almost. Francesca Schiavone did have one minor mental lapse in the second set where Sam was able to get a break and hold at to take the score to 4-1.
And as you would predict, that’s when the Australian power-hitter began to pick up some steam. Though it made for a great wrinkle in the match and stirred things up a bit, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise to us.
Why? Mr. momentum usually likes to stay on the side the player who serves the best – which was definitely the case here. The one “ON” when serving usually can do so many great things like dictating the tempo of the match and making the opponent play at an undesired pace.
Luckily, Fran stuck it out, stayed as poised (…as humanly possible), and got back on serve, which lead to winning 3 of the biggest game of her career back to back to back – dumping all of the pressure right back onto her opponent.
B. (Fooling Around): Anyone who’s seen the scouting report on Miss Samantha “Smack That Thang” Stosur, knows that she has a thunderous forehand stroke that can reek havoc on her opponent strings – both ground strokes and the return of serve.
So, this being the case, normally an opponent would force them to return the serve from her backhand side up the T, the weaker of the two strokes. And Sam “expecting” this to happen, would (…if possible) run around it and smack back a smokin’ hot forehand. So… No harm done, right?
Not quite. Francesca Schiavone, fooled her by going the opposite side. Yes! She did the reverse. She sporadically would serve balls directly out wide into her opponent’s deadliest weapon. On purpose? Yes. On Purpose 
!
Guess what happened? Easy points! It frequently left Stosur wrong-footed. And if she did get it back, it didn’t have enough on it to do any real damage. Stosur wasn’t prepared for it. Why? She didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to do that. She was wrong, and it cost her.
See, sometimes it’s good to go down the road less traveled! She did, and made tennis history because of it.
2. Weakness Exploitation:
A. Placed Instead of Punished: You might say, “Wow, how did Francesca Schiavone produce such a top-level tennis performance against one of the heaviest hitters on the WTA without using power. Power? What for?
That’s actually one of the biggest mistakes even the most seasoned and competitive tennis players make. They try to out muscle the “power monger” as I like to call it. That does NOTHING but add fuel to flame.
Fortunately, Francesca Schiavone did NOT make that mistake in her French open final match this past weekend.
Instead, she denied her opponent that gift and took the pace away! She put it in her pocket, and sealed it. Well, she would pull out the big gun O-ccasionally haha. But for the most part, she used milder shots like soft high-topspin loopers and sexy slice backhands.
This strategy not only almost drove the Aussie to the looney bin, a big it also drove a stake right through the heart of her rhythm gaining hopes! And as a result, she was forced to generate her own pace – something difficult and out-right exhausting to do over and over and OVER again.
It takes a ton of patience, near perfect timing and boundless concentration – something that few possess – even a 7th seed at Roland Garros.
Bait is what it was. Most players end up becoming impatient and wanting to blast it out of the stadium. Sam took the bait… went for the BIG SHOT… and shanked a bunch because of it.
3. Flucuated Between Offensive and Defensive Posture: Much to many player’s dismay, we can’t be running and gunning on high-octane offense 100% of the time. You have to be able to tactically switch between both as each situation changes.
Francesca Schiavone did that. She analyzed and evaluated each situation one-by-one. If she had Sam with her back turned or in an inferior position, she made an offensive advance. If Stosur had her scrambling she would shift to a more defensive gear.
Do the opposite, or mixing the two up can spell disaster! So, great job!
4. Became The Neutralizer: As I mentioned before, Sam “Smack That Thang” Stosur is a baseline-banger. That being the case, Francesca Schiavone knew it would be championship suicide to engage in a slug-fest battle from the baseline.
So, her plan was to get aggressive and neutralize her brutal baseline strokes by aggressively attacking the net. She ended up being quite successful more than 80% of time she went net hunting – deflecting well angled volleys to finish her off, point after point, after point.
And when she saw it working, she doubled the dose – winning 14 of the total 15 times she came in. Smart girl!
The Tie-break: So with all this wonderful strategy working for her, by the time the tie-breaker came around, it was lights-out for Stosur. Confidence, momentum, and the adrenal push were all on Francesca Schiavone’s side!
She felt almost invincible. I mean, everything was clicking. And like anyone would do with that type of feeling, she went for broke – firing away with ease – executing gutsy (…yet intelligent shots) like the cross-court backhand into her opponent’s weak spot. She was hitting corners and nailing lines.
It was really incredible to watch. She just steamrolled through the final few points needed to capture the 2010 French Open crown. And that was that – 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
So, though it was a hard fought match… It turned out the way she ironically predicted the day before when she said, “The smartest player will probably win the match – not the strongest.”
And indeed… It came down to the more strategic player who had the calmest nerves. Fabulous job Francesca Schiavone!
Oh, and that making history thing (…the first Italian to win a Grand Slam in the Open era, well… that’s good too. Enjoy the biggest win of your tennis life. We all here at TMC wish you much continued success!
Let me know if you liked this French Open Finals Analysis by leaving a comment in the blank below.
Have a great week, and an even BETTER game!
Brian Hall, Founder
TennisMindCamp
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, I feel like i really “understand” the match now. Before I was just watching it. Gracias Coach!
Glad you took something away Fernando. I advise you to always watch with your thinking cap on so to speak. I mean, you can most certainly watch for pure enjoyment, but you can pick up oh so much that’ll help your game as well.
Learning can be fun in this case… especially when you use the stuff to put a whipping on your next opponent
And that’s enjoyment on a whole new level!
I to have a problem of trying to over power ,only gets me into trouble.
I would like help with returning serve, and how to return both high and low
incoming balls, whats a good strong return stroke and how should I try to
attach these returns
Absolutelly great. You have described precisely the tactics that are so often overlooked in this day and age of big hitters. The smartest player always wins. Thank you for this insightfull analysis
Brilliant – perfect description of the game on Saturday. What should Sam’s tactics have been in this situation do you think?
I have noticed that often the clever person can beat their opponent by using their head to compensate for their weaker skills.
@Alison: Sam has an excellent physical game, but I think what hurt her the most was her nerves. You could easily see how anxious she was out there.
She was looking for the knockout blow way too often. She should have “boxed” her if you will – mix up the tempo with some milder shots. And then let her have it when she had her on the ropes.
That would have:
1. Slowed down the pace of the match, which would have helped Stosur settle in a little better so she could get more comfortable with her game on that big stage.
Going for the winner on almost every shot not only revs up your adrenaline, but it exhausts you both physically and mentally.
And a lot of times, once you get rolling in a negative direction, it becomes very difficult to turn it around.
2. Minmized the errors and “shanks.” She wouldn’t have felt like she had to force the issue as much. And as a result, those awesome power-shots would have been a lot more controlled.
And she would have been able to really sink her teeth into the weaker balls from Schiavone and given herself a fighting chance to battle through a lot of those points – with the possibility of winning many of them.
So… Who’s your Wimbledon pick?