A French tennis fan reflects on Mauresmo’s 6-3 7-6 defeat to Safarova in the 3rd round of Roland Garros.

Dear Mauresmo,

I suppose it was to be expected. You have never done well at Roland Garros, for reasons which aren’t quite clear. The pressure of playing in front of the home crowd (but then why do you do so well at the Gaz de France?), the pressure of playing a Grand Slam (but then how do you explain your win at Wimbledon?), the clay court (but surely you’re used to playing on them, aren’t you?). There are all valid reasons as to why you don’t succeed at the French Open. And to make matters worse, this time you played Safarova, who knocked you out at the Australian Open this year as well. So maybe it was psychological, because you remembered last time you played her, you lost your chance to defend your crown. And you’re still not really over your injury.

I find myself justifying your loss, and I have a feeling I might be the only one who will. Others will accuse you of having cracked under pressure, and are they really so wrong to do so? You have the game to beat her, you raced ahead to a 3-0 lead, but then things started to go wrong. The service, the shots, your game started to go downhill at the same time that Safarova started to play better. You bowed out 6-3 in the first set, and at the end people were starting to resent you, saying you shouldn’t have the set slip through your hands, that you had it and you lost it.

It looked like you were going to prove them wrong in the second set. Again, you went ahead 3-0, and the doubters went quiet, wondering if maybe their bitter accusations in the first set were unfounded. But like the first, you let her come back, and she was leading 4-3 and people were saying “she’s going to lose it again”. But you came back, against the odds, and you leveled at 5-5 and then at 6-6.

And then came the tiebreak. Mauresmo, what went wrong? Was it the pressure? Were the crowds really expecting too much from you, considering the lack of preparation? Have they been underestimating your opponent? Did you remember it was her who knocked you out at the Australian Open, and, as you struggled to stay alive in the tiebreak, did the memories become too much? Why did it go so wrong?

It shouldn’t have, it should have been an easy match for you, and that is what leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as a fan. I know what you’re capable of, I’ve seen it so many times. Why can’t you play like you usually do during the French Open? Just once I’d like you to be “my” player again, the one who makes it all look so flawless, so easy. I remember how it once felt when you stepped on court, the shortness of breath, the heart racing, the general excitement of watching you play. I remember those feelings, do you? Or have you forgotten what it feels like to really play, without those expectations the crowd has of you? Do you feel it so much that it stops you from playing your game?

I want you to win Roland Garros, every French tennis fan would love for you to win it one year. It’s not going to be this year, obviously. But more than the French Open victory, I want to be proud of “my” player. I remember the exhilaration I felt when you played in Anvers, in Dubaï, there is a whole list of places where you made feel so many different emotions, yet Roland Garros is lacking from that list. You made French tennis fans feel so proud. Please, Mauresmo, make me feel that way again.

Please be that player again