How can you not be happy for each of these ladies who will be playing in their first French Open final on Saturday? They have very different stories, but each has a special appeal. For Maria Sharapova, watching her struggling to come back from shoulder surgery after her early successes is very inspiring. Remember her loss in the first round of the Australian Open a couple years ago? How about matches where she could hardly get a serve in, even losing to young American Melanie Oudin? But she has fought her way through, back to #1, and now has a chance to complete the career grand slam.
And how about Sara Errani? There must be a special inspiration for Italian tennis players at the French Open. She had never even been to the semifinal of a major, had never beat a top 10 player, and now here she is in the final! She wasn't even given any chance to win today - it was just assumed that she would fold under the pressure. Instead it was Sam Stosur, already a grand slam champion, who folded. How much Errani would love to follow in the footsteps of her country-woman Francesca Schiovonne!
I have to say I will be cheering for Maria to finally break through and win another major after some disappointing defeats in the last year. If somehow Errani is able to win, though, I'm sure it will be another emotional moment like two years ago that couldn't help but bring a smile to the face of even the biggest Sharapova fans.
As far as tomorrow's men's semifinals, I'm trying not to speculate too much on it yet. Mostly I'm trying to work through the frustration that Nadal's match was scheduled first even though he's been playing second the whole tournament, and that there will only be delayed TV coverage in my area of Federer's match. Sometimes being a crazy tennis addict can have its frustrations, and can also be exhausting, given that the first match starts at 4 a.m. my time!
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