PARIS — Li Na of China is 29 years old, and she will be the younger of the two women in Saturday’s French Open singles final.Her opponent, Francesca Schiavone of Italy, last year’s champion, turns 31 next month.
These two old ladies are going to show the kids how you go about winning a major.
Much has been written about the aging of the WTA Tour, with the next wave seemingly stalled the last couple of years.
In 2011, it has morphed from emerging trend to fact of life — even with the Williams sisters out and 27-year-old Kim Clijsters in and out.
Think about it. The last real young gun to bag a major was 20-year-old Ana Ivanovic, who had the two weeks of her life at the 2008 French Open. And look what happened with that.
The last true prodigy to win a major probably was 17-year-old Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004.
The path to Saturday’s final couldn’t have been more different for the two players, which tells you there is more than one way to get to the top of Mount Everest.
Schiavone was a decent junior with big dreams.
Back in 1998, after losing in the quarter-finals of the junior event to Jelena Kostanic of Croatia, Schiavone snuck into Court Philippe Chatrier with her camera to watch a match between Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.
“I remember that moment, and I say, I want to play in this court. I want to be like them,” she said.
Schiavone took one photo. Every year, before she heads to Paris, she takes it out and looks at it again.
Li grew up in China during a time when it was rare to see any kind of tennis on television, hard to have any kind of idol at all.
She forged her own path and, after years of being a level below the very best, of having to fight with her federation for more independence and of dealing with a chronic knee problem, she has finally blossomed.
“I’m not old. Why do you think I’m old? I feel I’m still young,” Li said.
It took her a moment to understand the context of the question. But once she did, she stressed the value of the lessons learned.
“I think maybe we have more experience because we be on the tour like so many years and you know what you should do on the court,” she said. “And also strong mentally, so that’s why like right now many players come to Grand Slam, like you say, yeah, little bit older.”
To neither was much given. Both have taken much.
And Schiavone says that despite their vastly different game styles, she and Li have this in common: “We are strong person, strong personality.”
The next wave, the one crashing a few yards from shore so far, may lack that strength.
You can see it in the juniors who invaded the Roland Garros complex this week.
They crush the ball. And it seems they’re the generation that had Sharapova as an idol, because so many of the on-court mannerisms are hers.
But you’ll rarely see them sneaking into Chatrier to sneak a photo of their idols; instead they’re surrounded by teams of coaches and parents, wearing their perfect, sponsor-supplied kits, walking around as if they own the place.
When they graduate into the big leagues in a couple of years, playing against the women who really do own the place, and it doesn’t happen as easily, they tend to struggle.
They have rarely needed to develop that strong personality. So much was given.
For Li, and Schiavone, the journey has not only made them the best tennis players they can be, at their age. It also will make them stronger human beings, for all those decades to be lived long after the tennis is done.
“I think it’s good, not just for tennis, but also for the younger players that are coming. They can understand that the career is not just this moment or one, two, three years, but is long, so they have to control and to improve every day,” Schiavone said of the geriatric wave.
What she’s saying is that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
And to those who want everything yesterday, who expected everything yesterday, be patient.
At home in China, Li is having a huge effect on tennis at the grassroots level. In Italy, Schiavone said, there was a major rise in tennis-player registrations following her improbable win in Paris a year ago.
But are those who are closer to the pros listening and watching? Seeing the tennis being played, rather than just the ball being bashed?
These two grown-ups will never be Graf or Seles, but they can teach and inspire just the same.
You just hope, surrounded by their “teams,” the message is getting through to them.
You hope they’re paying attention, even if they’re not sneaking into the stadium to take a photograph.
Montreal Gazette
smyles@montrealgazette.com
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