SI

Francesca Schiavone falls short in likely last French Open match

Italian Francesca Schiavone fell to Garbine Muguruza on Monday in what was likely the final French Open match of her career.
Jon Wertheim|
Francesca Schiavone falls short in likely last French Open match
Francesca Schiavone falls short in likely last French Open match

A complaint you often hear about women’s tennis: it’s become a monoculture of physically imposing, flat-slugging athletes who play first-strike tennis and treat the net as terra incognita. (The newest model to roll off the assembly line: JaimeeFourlis, a 17-year-old Aussie who blasted away took a set off Caroline Wozniacki early this afternoon.)

Let’s use this occasion to tip a beret to Schiavone, the 2010 champion who, a few weeks from turning 37, likely played her final Roland Garros match on Monday. ("For the moment, I want to live this moment this year. I have to see how I feel physically. You know, is not easy to wake up and run again for six hours and push yourself. But we will see. I think after U.S. Open I will ask to myself what I want to do,” she said after the match.)

Slicing, dicing, flailing a one-hander and making whimsical decisions during points, Schiavone offered a singular game and a ferocious contrast to baseline bashing. And Lord will she be missed.

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Jon Wertheim
JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat , sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for "60 Minutes" and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor's in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.

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