The women's semifinals are set.
There is one blonde. She turned 24 this past April. On her way to the semifinals she destroyed Germany's Andrea Petkovic getting revenge for the loss she suffered in Australia.
There is one French woman. At 26 she is the first French woman to make it to the semis at Roland Garros in many a moon. At the present time she buys her tennis kits off the rack. She is known as something of a flake with her odd serving motion and between point antics. The only coach she's ever had is her father.
The representative from Italy came to Paris with a thousand questions swirling about her. She had no cupcake draw. Her most famous video is one of her and her boyfriend visually discussing what they were going to do after a match. She dug deep into the terre battue to defeat an upstart nineteen year old. Oh yeah, she's 30.
Then there's the representative from China. At 29 she's the first player from her country to make the semifinals of a Grand Slam. She played good old fashioned all court tennis defeating a ball bashing wailer to make the semifinals.
Notice a pattern? Not one of these women are among the chosen. Even the blonde had been relegated to the sidelines for newer models. What they all have in common is experience and knowledge of the game of tennis. The WTA may not like it but Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli, Francesca Schiavone and Li Na have proven up to the test of the clay. The have shown intelligence, strength and fight on the dirt, requirements to do well on the surface. We can quibble with their games - some of us preferring one style over another - but what they've proven is that behind the image is everything don't you wanna do her p.r. hype there are women playing good tennis. They may not take the best pictures but they are playing very good tennis right now. And for tennis fans that is all that matters
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