PARIS — Dinara Safina wore the face of a woman who had just watched her home burn down. And she had forgotten to insure it. Or maybe she let the kids play with matches. Well, a tennis court is pretty much Dinara’s home, and none is more desirable to a European than Roland Garros’s primary clay rectangle where she, the planet’s No. 1, went down in flames trying to win the … [Read more...] about FIVE YEARS LATER KOOZY ADDS SECOND MAJOR; SAFINA SHAKEN BY FINALITIS
Safina
TITLE RIVALRY: MOSCOW (SAFINA) AGAINST ST. PETE (KUZNETSOVA)
PARIS — This is like Ohio State-Michigan, if I may use a fierce American football rivalry and apply it to tennis. What I have in mind is a great long-time Russian rivalry – Moscow and St. Petersburg – and a representative of each bumping heads with the Championship of France at stake. Both are 23, proud to have put together the second all-Russian French final. But they come … [Read more...] about TITLE RIVALRY: MOSCOW (SAFINA) AGAINST ST. PETE (KUZNETSOVA)
SISTER SERENA PROVES IT: SHE’S THE WORLD BEST IN ONE OF WORST FINALS
It’s not Serena’s fault that Dinara Safin contracted stagefright. Or maybe it is. Looking across the net at destructive Sister Serena is not one of the great views. Nothing scenic about it. It’s like peering over the edge of a cliff and losing your balance. It was the tennis version of falling into the Grand Canyon, and in this battle for the No. 1 ranking, No. 3 Dinara … [Read more...] about SISTER SERENA PROVES IT: SHE’S THE WORLD BEST IN ONE OF WORST FINALS