Championship Day at Roland Garros 2018: Simona Halep vs Sloane Stephens

It has been great two weeks for tennis in Paris. Today, World No.1 Simona Halep will meet No.10 Sloane Stephens for the Roland Garros 2018 trophy.

Simona Halep lost here in 2 times (2014-2017) before. I think she had some mental blocks handling final matches, to keep her calmness. But her semi final match performance against 2016 Roland Garros Champion Garbine Muguruza made me think differently. 

Simona Halep stormed into the match. Her attitude was like "never let Garbine to play her game". It was again a stressful match but this time she was so confident. (6-1, 6-4) I think Simona Halep improved her game and her mentality. As a fan I really want her to win this trophy. I love her game, her on and off court persona, and I believe she really deserves this big title. I am sure that every loss is bad but I guess losing a Grand Slam final must be devastating and very hard to recover , hard to get back that confidence. In addition being no 1 in world with no Grand Slam victory may be another pressure for a player like it happened to Caroline Wozniacki before.

Simona Halep

What about Sloane Stephens? I like her coolness. She is strong and very athletic player. But most importantly as she talks about herself that she can keep her calmness during matches. This is very important key for success. Especially in final, the one who can control her stress level will play her game and strategy. When last year at US Open Sloane Stephens held the trophy after a long term injury and operation and came back to courts only after 6 weeks against close friend Madison Keys- it was like a fairy tale came true. This year again Sloane Stephens is having a great 2 weeks here in Paris and this time in semi final she beat Madison Keys once more. My expectation for this Championship match is that these two strong, elite and determined players show their best games on court and make tennis fans happy and satisfied!

Sloane Stephens

Photos: (Philippe Montigny/FFT, USTA Instagram Page )