French Open 2018: Will Simona Halep finally break her ‘final’ jinx?

She was leading 6-4, 3-0.

She needed to hold her serve for just three more times.

This was the closest she went to a Grand Slam title.

The end result, however, was different. It was bitter for Simona Halep. She lost to a 20-year-old, unseeded and on-fire Jelena Ostapenko. Halep could not have played better tennis that tournament. She did not drop a set going into the quarter-final. With the blend of defense and attack, Halep made her way fighting through some of the best players in French Open 2017. With her immense pace and experience, Halep was beating Ostapenko 6-4, 3-0 in the Roland Garros final in 2017 before she let the opportunity just slip as she showed almost zero resistance to Ostapenko’s table-turning assault.

The initial script was about Halep climbing to the No. 1 rank for the very first time. Instead, she ended with a 0-2 record in Grand Slam finals. “From our perspective, Simona can walk tall and hold her head up high. She's had a wonderful clay court season. This will be tough for sure, but I think she'll regroup and she'll be a better player for it,” Halep’s coach, Darren Cahill, had said after the loss in the 2017 final.

Ever since Halep entered professional tennis circuit, the clay courts have been crucial in her career. It was in Paris, when she played her maiden Grand Slam main draw. Then, her first Grand Slam final appearance also came in the same city in 2014 , where she lost to Maria Sharapova after three-hard fought sets. It took Halep three years to return to a Grand Slam final and it was again at the Roland Garros.

The Romanian needed only a few months to regenerate herself following her heartbreaking loss in the French Open 2017 final. Halep made it to her third Grand Slam final earlier this year at the Australian Open, where she played Caroline Wozniacki on a steamy Australian evening. The battle was so wearying that she was hospitalized the same evening because of dehydration. Although she lost the match, she retained her No. 1 rank.

When you talk about women’s tennis, consistency is conspicuous by its absence than presence among the top players. The rubbers are unpredictable and apart from Serena Williams who is on a league of her own, rest seem to fade away after showing potential. 

Moreover, tennis these days is more about making full use of the current opportunity before an injury strikes or a new face comes in to unravel your game. Apart from not winning anything major, Halep has well established herself in the sport. When she won her first six WTA titles in the same calendar year in 2013, it was the feat that was last achieved by Steffi Graf in 1986 when she won her first seven titles.

Once a player gets injured, a comeback remains uncertain. The term winning has no guarantee these days. Hence, Halep will hope this does not happen with her. She has been the No. 1 player for a while without a major title to her name and it’s high time she converts a Grand Slam final into a win before it’s too late.

Tennis is a sport in which physical and mental strengths are equally crucial. It is fair to say that Halep has mastered both. After her semi-final win over Muguruza, she was asked what she had learned from those three losses. Halep smiled first and then very cheekily, she responded, “Can we change the subject? Let’s talk outside. It’s beautiful weather.”

Halep is going to face reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the final on Saturday. If the skies are going to be clear and cloudy in Paris on the day of the final, there surely will be storms added with the battle between these two. Halep holds a 5-2 record against Stephens and has won their last four matches in straight sets. However, there is no way Halep must underestimate Stephens. The latter won the US Open 2017 ranking 83 and was still making a comeback following a foot surgery.

For Halep redemption may come on Saturday. Or we may just see the Sloane fairytale continuing.