Serena Williams survived a briefly wretched opening to the French Open and, despite recovering well to trounce the world No 83, Vitalia Diatchenko, 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, she is yet to convince her peers and rivals she can last a tournament, let alone rediscover the magic that lifted her to 23 grand slam titles.
She is not exactly a sitting target and she will play better than this but the Serena of old, the three-times champion of Paris, is a memory at the moment. She needs one more major to match the all-time record of Margaret Court. It is an assignment that grows more difficult with each passing month.
A year ago Williams chose the French Open – in her favourite city - to announce her return to the big time after she survived the most difficult of first pregnancies eight months earlier. She had to withdraw with a shoulder injury on the eve of her fourth-round match against Maria Sharapova and her comeback has continued to splutter since. Williams, who turns 38 in September, has finished only five tournaments in 12 months – including the Australian Open – and, through illness or injury, has quit after only one match in her past three.
On Monday she looked in danger of not getting out of the first round of a major tournament for only the second time in 71 matches – the other slip-up occurred here in 2012 against Virginie Razzano – before her serve got her out of trouble against a solid but unthreatening opponent.
Speaking in French to the delight of the home crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier, she told her friend Marion Bartoli: “I was worried about playing this match and am relieved to have come through it in the end. I’m very happy to be back in Paris and looking forward to the rest of the tournament.” She added: “I didn’t play great in this match but I’m happy I got through it. I knew that I couldn’t get worse. I just had to hang in there. I’m a little upset because I have been practising extremely well. I am just going to maybe take a deep breath. I think I was also a little nervous today.”
Just as relieved, although reluctant to characterise it as such, is Johanna Konta. For all that the British No 1 tried to play down the significance of winning her first main-draw match here in five attempts, getting past the awkward young German qualifier, Antonia Lottner, 6-4, 6-4 plainly soothed some psychological bruises.
Lauren Davis, a competitive if injury-bedevilled American, is next on the dance card for the world No 26 after beating Kristyna Pliskova, 6-2, 6-4, in little over an hour. That will not be easy, either. Konta has won two of their three encounters but in their only match on clay – seven years ago in Florida - Davis allowed her just a single game.
While some memories stay longer with Konta than others, that surely is one from long enough ago to put aside. Indeed she had to be reminded they had played three times. Konta has also buried her French Open ghost; now it is time to assert herself in the tournament.
Still, she was not about to get carried away after beating a player ranked 147 in the world, albeit a former junior standout who stands 6ft 1in and hits hard and clean groundstrokes from all angles.
“I’m pleased to have come through that match.,” she said when asked what it was like to shake off the memory of having lost in the first round here four times in a row (to players with a combined ranking of 350). “ It’s nice to have won a main-draw match here. But I didn’t look at it too much like that. I was just, more than anything, happy to have dealt with the challenges. She was a tricky player.”
For years Konta relied on “process”, the concept of repeating skills and drills and trusting in talent to deliver the best performance – almost regardless of results. But she brought with her to Paris a new method and attitude, encouraged by her coach, the French-Russian Dimitri Zavialoff. She has recently developed a clay game to match the best, reaching finals in Rabat and Rome, and putting her faith in drop shots and surprises, rather than metronomic, back-of-the-court grinding.
Now, she says, she has learned what she describes as “acceptance”- roughly translated as patience under pressure, or a refusal to rush and panic.
There were seven breaks of serve in the first 10 games. Lottner, not a clay-court natural but a strong, lean shotmaker more comfortable on hard courts, broke at the first opportunity; the rollercoaster was up and running. Konta, serving well, won 12 of the next 13 points to steady the boat, dropped serve again then, serving for the set at 5-3, was broken to 30. When she forced a backhand error from Lottner after 40 minutes to take the set, she looked mightily relieved.
Lottner had to save two break points to hold for two-all, while Konta held to love as she neared the business end of the contest. After eight games Konta had lost only four points on her serve, yet had to save three break points for a 5-4 lead. Lottner, serving to stay in the tournament, went 15-40 down and could not reach Konta’s final withering forehand. She had won seven of the last eight points. After an hour and 19 minutes relief and joy mingled.
