Dubai: Last week, some of the tennis stars including Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova pulled some funny faces as they took on the WTA’s emoji challenge. Also participating in the challenge were former world number ones Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic, along with Eugenie Bouchard, Simona Halep, Ekaterina Makarova and Garbine Muguruza.
As if by coincidence, Sharapova was the one left smiling upon helping herself to the Italian Open crown after coming from a set down to beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain for her third title in Rome.
Is this a sign of things to come in the second Grand Slam of the season? Going by the top two’s form, it all points at a Roland Garros final between the Russian and her American nemesis: world No. 1 Serena Williams. It will be a shot at a possible third French Open title for both — whom being top seeds — meaning they cannot meet until the final on June 6.
The older Serena gets, the better she has been performing. And that has been her theme of the season so far as she continues her domination of women’s tennis like no else before. The younger of the Williams sisters picked up her 19th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January and was on a roll till her shock semi-final defeat to eventual champion Petra Kvitova in Madrid earlier this month.
Last week, Serena withdrew from Rome mid-tournament due to an elbow injury. But that will not stop her from pushing towards a third French Open, while also hitting the magical 20 milestone that will take her closer to the standard held by Margaret Court and Steffi Graf.
For the past few years, the clay court swing has brought out the best in Sharapova. She has had her frailties during the year though including an abysmal slump in form during the American hard court swing at Indian Wells and Miami and more recently in Stuttgart, where she lost three matches in a row for the first time since 2003.
The Russian beauty has had her moments though, including the semi-finals in Madrid and last week she won in Rome for the first time since 2012. What tilts the scales in her favour at Roland Garros is that Sharapova has reached at least the semi-finals in the last four years and the final in the last three — something that has not been achieved since Justine Henin won three titles in a row between 2005 and 2007.
While the top two ranked women are bound to have all the attention surrounding them, they will still need to watch out for the likes of last year’s runner-up Halep, dual Wimbledon champion Kvitova, former world number one Wozniacki, fast-rising Spaniard Navarro, Makarova and the struggling trio of Bouchard, Ana Ivanovic and Agnieszka Radwanska.
