Roland Media (Finals Weekend): The One With All the Trophies

For one last time, Roland Media is going to take a look at the best, funniest and most interesting moments of the French Open 2015.

Serena seals the deal

Despite a flu and feeling far from 100%, Serena Williams won her 20th major this weekend, defeating Lucie Safarova in three sets. For much of the first three sets the American showed some of her best tennis, ripping winners and blasting serves past the Czech lefty — who didn’t even play badly.

In the middle of the second set, Williams’ serve went on a bit of a walkabout and Safarova showed everyone why she made it as far as she did, forcing a decider and going up 2-0 in the final set. After that, it was all Williams, who reeled off six games in a row to take the title. Nonetheless, it was a strong effort from the Czech in her debut major final but Williams found that extra gear when she needed it.

“F-yeah, #20!” #quotehermaybe

Melo and Dodig upset the Bryan Bros

How amazing was the men’s doubles final?

How fantastic were those three sets by both teams?

How incredibly dumb was it that no one in the U.S. aired it?

How brilliant was the celebration by Melo and Dodig…and Guga?

Very much so (x4).

Doubles is alive… kinda

Oops, Safarova and Mattek-Sands did it again

After winning the Australian Open out of the blue — or as Mattek Sands said, by “Winging it!” — the newly formed team added another Slam trophy to their resumé. The Czech/American pairing beat Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova in the women’s doubles, coming from a set behind. For Safarova, it was a happy end to the tournament after missing out on the Coupe Suzanna Lenglen the day before. For Mattek-Sands, the doubles trophy was the second title this week after already winning the mixed competition with Mike Bryan.

There probably haven’t been two people who’ve enjoyed a fortnight more than the No. 1 team in the doubles race to Singapore!

Get money, gurls!

Wawrinka’s Coup(e)

The career Grand Slam just wasn’t meant to be. (For now).

Novak Djokovic had eliminated Rafael Nadal in convincing fashion, weathered the storm against Andy Murray and looked within touching distance of the elusive Musketeers’ trophy — but Stan Wawrinka had decidedly different plans on Sunday afternoon.

Djokovic took the first set but throughout the remainder of the match, the World No. 1 was under the Swiss’ thumb, as Wawrinka produced the kind of stunning tennis everyone knows he’s capable of playing. Blasting a total of 60 winners down the other end of the court, the No. 8 seed kept Djokovic on his toes and had him more and more rattled– sometimes visibly — as the match went on.

For Djokovic, the hunt for the Career Slam will continue; for Wawrinka, a second major will hopefully erase the “asterisks” some people put next to him after Australian Open victory in 2014. It wasn’t a fluke, and Wawrinka is not a flash in the pan.

Certainly, the Swissman has been erratic and unreliable at times — but I, for one, will not be making the mistake of discounting him ahead of a slam again.  The 2015 Roland Garros champion can hit his way through a draw — he doesn’t need to wait for it to combust.

SHO(R)T(S)!

This concludes our Roland Media series — but we’ll be back later this month for Wimbledon! Au revoir!