Wawrinka, Williams Win French Open Titles

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Published on June 8 2015 6:48 am
Last Updated on July 2 2015 6:24 am

Moments before his third French Open final in four years, Novak Djokovic jogged in a stadium hallway near a poster of the Coupe des Mousquetaires, the silver trophy awarded to the men's champion at the only major tournament he has never won.

This time, it would be Stan Wawrinka standing between the No. 1-seeded Djokovic and the title at Roland Garros that the Serb needs for a career Grand Slam.

And once again, Djokovic came up one victory shy, stopped by the eighth-seeded Wawrinka and his magical, one-handed backhand. Wawrinka won his first French Open championship and second major title by stunning Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in a superbly played match Sunday.

"I know he's looking for that title," Wawrinka said. "I hope he will get one, one day, because he deserves one."

Wawrinka exited in the first round in Paris a year ago. And he had lost 17 of his past 20 matches against Djokovic. But Wawrinka would not relent on this sunlit afternoon, compiling twice as many winners, 60 to 30.

"Certainly one of the best matches of my career," Wawrinka said, "if not the best."

That beautiful backhand of his was a big reason; one even made its way around the net post before landing on the red clay.

Another backhand earned the match's last break, to 5-4 in the fourth set. And, fittingly, yet another finished off Djokovic's 28-match winning streak.


Serena Williams Wins 20th Grand Slam

What is remaining for Serena Williams the rest of 2015? A 21st Grand Slam championship? A 22nd to match Steffi Graf for the most Slam titles in the Open era? A Grand Slam year?

Sure, but why stop with 2015? What about 2016? Given Serena's ability, strength, resilience, drama and age-defying drive, nothing is out of the realm of possibility. So in addition to the Grand Slam season and Olympic gold, there also is always winning a Super Bowl. True, her minority ownership is in the Miami Dolphins, a team that hasn't been to the NFL championship in three decades. But who knows? You can't rule out anything when Serena sets her mind to it.

Williams showed that again and again -- and again and again and again -- in her amazing French Open. She lost the first set four times. She went to three sets five times. She battled a flu that she said could have knocked her out of the final. And despite all that, Williams won her 20th Grand Slam and third in a row by beating Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 on Saturday.

And not only was it her 20th, it probably also was her most challenging.