SPORTS

Without Serena Williams, French Open women's draw is wide open

Sandra Harwitt
Special for USA TODAY Sports
Angelique Kerber of Germany returns a ball to Estonia's Anett Kontaveit during the WTA Tennis Open tournament at the Foro Italico, on May 17 in Rome.

PARIS — Serena Williams is such a huge factor in the world of tennis that even when she’s not making the scene at a Grand Slam she remains a relevant topic of conversation.

And the 35-year-old Williams is definitely not making the scene at this year’s French Open, which she’s won three times in her career, after revealing she’s pregnant in April.

In fact, Williams had just discovered she was an expectant mother on the eve of the Australian Open. But the urge to break away from sharing second place for most Grand Slam titles won at 22 with Steffi Graf was too strong. She decided to play and win, and is now in possession of 23 Grand Slam trophies, just one behind Margaret Court’s achievement of 24.

When it comes to active players, Williams is miles ahead of the competition with her 23 major conquests. Sitting just behind her is older sister, Venus, still in single digits with seven Grand Slam singles trophies, and hoping for an eighth with a first French Open victory. Others on the list of Grand Slam champions set to compete here in Paris are Petra Kvitova with two, and world No. 1 Angelique Kerber and defending champion Garbine Muguruza with just one to their credit.

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Williams is well aware of her significance in the game, recently telling talk show host Gayle King at a Ted Talks conference in Vancouver, "Every tournament where I show up, I'm expected to win. If I don't win, it's actually bigger news.”

And for the most part, her closest competition confirms she’s always viewed as the favorite when she’s in town.

The fourth-seeded Muguruza, who would become only the 12th woman to defend a French Open title since 1945 if she can perform that feat in the next two weeks, knows that Williams not being here has an impact on the tournament.

“I think it makes a difference, because if you look at the paper, Serena is always in the final,” Muguruza said, “So, for sure, it makes a difference to not have her (here) for a good reason.”

Muguruza, who will start her defense against former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the first round, believes without Williams in the mix the competition becomes something of a free-for-all for the rest of the field.

“I feel like there is 10, 15 girls that can win the trophy,” the Spaniard said. “So that's not normal. Before is not like that. There was always like few favorites. It's kind of weird to have a lot more. But this year is very open. I feel like a lot of people can win.”

Kerber, who has now taken over the No. 1 spot twice from Williams over the last seven months, will occupy that position for 29 non-consecutive weeks through the French Open.

There are two scenarios that could play out that would see either second-seeded Karolina Pliskova or third-seeded Simona Halep taking over the top position at the end of the tournament: Kerber would have to fail to reach the semifinals and Halep or Pliskova would have to win the title, or Kerber falls before the round-of-16 and Pliskova reaches the final.

Kerber, who won her first Grand Slam title by beating Serena Williams in the 2016 Australian Open final, was more interested in Williams’ exciting news than how the complexion of the women’s draw changes without the pending mama playing.

“I'm also happy for her that she will [become] the mother and she have like now, yeah, something different and it's the next level for her. But, yeah, it's great to hear about this, like, few weeks ago now.”

Despite the top seed distinction, Kerber isn’t feeling too confident about her opportunities the next two weeks. Besides not being a huge fan of clay, the German hasn’t been playing top-flight tennis all year and has a tough first-round opponent in Russian Ekatarina Makarova.

“I think this is difficult,” said Kerber, when asked to describe her relationship with clay court tennis. “Of course, everybody knows it's not my favorite surface, but, yeah, we have to play on clay. I tried my best. I try my best to really being ready for the first round and making the preparation the best I can, and then we will see how far I can come here.

But first of all, I will just try to, step by step, get in love a little bit with the clay.”

Halep, who was a finalist at the French in 2014, is starting the tournament with a first round encounter against Jana Cepelova and with an ankle injury that hasn't fully healed. While she believes the players are used to Williams not being present at many of the regular WTA tour stops, she acknowledges it is noticed when the most decorated champion of today is not at a Grand Slam.

“Of course we feel that she's missing,” said Halep, who won the Madrid title and reached the Rome final ahead of this year’s French Open. “Yeah, it's changing, has to change something, because young players are coming. The old ones are going. So it's just a cycle of life, of tour. So we take it like it is.”

In contrast, the always confident-sounding Pliskova, a finalist at last year’s U.S. Open, sounded non-plussed when discussing Williams’ absence.

“My thoughts, I don't think the draw would be any different with Serena for me,” Pliskova said. “I think it's still tough draw. Still a lot of players who you have to beat, so you have to win seven matches to win this tournament. So it doesn't matter who is there. So even Serena, I don't think she was unbeatable.”

Whether Williams can tie — or even surpass — Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam title victories won’t be determined at this French Open. But if she’s to be believed, Williams is planning on continuing that pursuit with baby in tow in 2018.

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