Tennis Grand Slam - Roland Garros 2017
Sports Article
Roland Garros logo
PARIS, FRANCE - One of the biggest tennis events of the year, Roland Garros, has been ongoing for the last two weeks. Being the 2nd of the 4 Grand Slams, it is reaching its final matches. Read this article to learn a bit more about the sport itself, the competition, and the possible winners of this Grand Slam!For those who are not familiar, tennis is an olympic sport that involves beating the opposing side by winning the most sets in a match. The players hold a racket and they have to hit a ball back to their opponent's side, using different types of shots: Serves, Forehands, Backhands, Volleys, or Lobs, for example. Points are awared to you if the the opposing side does not deliver the ball or fails to do it. The scoring system is unique and is shown on the image below.Tennis scoring system
Tennis is just like the other sports and there's a competition side to the game. Every year, there's a world tour calendar that allows tennis players to go around the world and play different tennis masters and events. These events rewards players, not only with money, but also with a scoring system that ranks them between each other. The major tennis events are called Grand Slams. Roland Garros is one of them, being the only one played in a clay court.This year, Roland Garros is having its 116th edition. After qualifying matches, the event involves 128 players from both men and women competitions (not including doubles or other less important competitions). After almost two weeks of exciting tennis play, full of drama, including with the referees, there's only 4 players left for each of the ATP (men) and WTA (women) competitions. A brief description of them and their chances will be given below.Remaining Tennis Players in the Competition (Men):Rafael NadalRafael Nadal is a spanish tennis player. He holds the 4th seeded rank at this competition and expectedly reached the semifinals.
Nadal's expertise lay on clay courts, which is Roland Garros' type of court.
He has won Roland Garros 9 times and now he is looking for his 10th victory. However, his job won't be easy as the other opponents have strong ambitions and motivation to win the event too. Even though he is not as strong as some years ago, being an expert in clay courts gives him an advantage against its opponents.
Rafael Nadal will face Dominic Thiem in the semifinals
Dominic ThiemEven though he is the 6th highest seed for this competition, he is considered the
big surprise on the men's event. After his
astonishing win against Novak Djokovic, one of the biggest stars of the tennis world, Thiem has reached his best result ever on Roland Garros. Now he is looking to improve his result at this competition and, even though his chances of winning the event are considered low, his skills should not be devalorized.
Dominic Thiem will go against Nadal on his semifinal
Stanislas WawrinkaWawrinka is a swiss player, much times forgotten due to his compatriot Roger Federer. However, his
tennis skills are as great as the current best tennis players, in which he is ranked 3rd. Wawrinka
has won Roland Garros once before, in a year that was full of surprises and which revealed him as promising big star of the sport. Now that he has reached his peak in terms of ranking, it is expected that he will give a tough match to Andy Murray, the number 1 ranked player, being this semifinal considered an early final for a lot of tennis fans.
Stan will face Murray on the next step towards the final
Andy MurrayMurray, one of the most known scottish sport players in history, is the
current number 1 in the ATP rank. However, clay courts, and by inheritance Roland Garros, are
not his strongest skill. Andy Murray has reached the final of the Roland Garros last year and he is obviously expecting to do the same this year. However, he has to face a previous winner of the competition first. Will Murray and his strong tennis skills prevail on his weakest type of court? Tennis fans believe they will and he is considered
one of the favourites to win the event.
Murray is the current number 1 in the ATP rank
Remaining Tennis Players in the Competition (Women):Jelena OstapenkoIn a year of surprises on the women Roland Garros competition,
Jelena is the biggest one. The latvian tennis player keeps beating her personal record at Grand Slams and is now looking to do better, only at the
age of 19. After
beating a former number 1, Wozniacki, Ostapenko has reached the semifinals and will, curiously, face the other big surprise of the event, Timea Bacsinszky. Both players birthday are on June 8 and the match is on this day... what a coincidence!
Jelena Ostapenko will face Bacsinszky in her semifinal
Timea BacsinszkyBacsinszky is a swiss player, inspired by the emerging stars of this country throughout the recent years. After
defeating Venus Williams on her way to the final, she will now face Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinal. At least one thing we can say,
one surprise of the event will reach the final this year!
Timea is facing the big surprise Ostapenko on the semifinal
Simona HalepSimona Halep is a romanian tennis player which has emerged from being unknown to a
big star on the women tennis world tour. After being on the Top 10 for about 3 years, she is looking to
win her first Grand Slam title in her career. In a year full of surprises, her chances of doing so have risen and she will probably not waste her chance.
Halep will face number 2 seed Pliskova in the semifinal
Karolina PliskovaPliskova is the czech tennis player which is holding the
highest seed on the women's event that hasn't been eliminated. Like all her other opponents, she is looking to win a Grand Slam for the first time in her career. She is currently on
her best rank ever on the world tour and she will not lose a chance to fulfill her dream. However she will have a tough job against Simona Halep in the semifinals. Whoever wins this match will probably win the Roland Garros trophy as the other semifinal will be against two surprises.
An early final between Pliskova and Halep will go through on her semifinal
Even though there are favourites from both men and women semifinals, you should look forward to watch the rest of the competition as surprises always happen! This year, Roland Garros will see at least
one new Grand Slam winner since all the women have never won one. The finals will be on
saturday and sunday (June 10 and 11) and you should not miss out!
EDIT: This article was prepared in June 7 so, after that preparation, Jelena Ostapenko and Simona Halep have won their semifinals and will play the women's tennis final on saturday.
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