French Open Tennis Championships : Wilander Sweeps to His 3rd Title

If ever a scene was made for a Frenchman, the French Open final was made for Henri Leconte Sunday. Moments before he and Mats Wilander walked into Roland Garros Stadium Sunday afternoon, the French Tennis Federation staged a dramatic ceremony to celebrate the 60th anniversary of this venerable tennis playground.

One great champion after another was introduced, climaxing with Rene Lacoste and Jean Borotra, the two surviving members of the Four Musketeers for whom the French built this stadium. Seconds after Borotra, 90, all but sprinted onto the court, French singer Michel Sardou delivered a stirring, a cappella version of Le Marseillaise and the chill level skyrocketed.

All that was left then was for Leconte, greeted by wild cheers and whistles as he entered, to take care of third-seeded Wilander and become the French Open champion. But Wilander isn’t much for sentiment. In a display of almost perfect tennis, he quieted the crowd, stunned 11th-seeded Leconte and easily walked away with his third French men’s singles title, 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.

The victory moved Wilander halfway to a Grand Slam, because he also won the Australian Open in January. Although he is still No. 2 on the computer behind Ivan Lendl, it raised questions about who is the No. 1 player in the world.

“I think right now, at this moment, I’m probably No. 1,” Wilander said. “At the very least, I’m one of two at the top.”

It looked that way Sunday when he won the match in just 1 hour 52 minutes on a surface where one set can take almost that long.

Using a twist first-serve designed for consistency rather than power, Wilander missed exactly one first serve--out of 73--in the match. Leconte couldn’t come in because everything Wilander hit was deep and when Leconte did come in, he spent a lot of time jerking his neck around to watch Wilander’s shots whizzing past.

“He just played too good for me today,” said Leconte, who had only 54% of his first serves go in. “When he plays the way he did, he makes me play bad. I didn’t serve well, and even when I did get in he just passed so well, I had no chance.”

He had a chance for one set. Leconte is something of a latter-day musketeer himself, a daring player whose racket is his sword. The only problem is he can stab himself.

Leconte has always teased his countrymen, following brilliance with silliness. He flashed his brilliant side early Sunday, breaking Wilander in the third game of the match with a lunging forehand volley off what looked like a Wilander winner. When he held for 3-1, the place was rocking.

Serving at 3-2, Leconte missed an easy backhand volley, tried a foolish drop shot and sent an overhead wide. They were back on serve at 3-3. But moments later, Leconte turned superb, breaking Wilander at love with two straight backhands that no one in the world could have reached.

When the second backhand landed, Leconte was shaking his fist as he walked to his chair, knowing he would eventually serve for the set.

Said Wilander: “I was a little bit nervous right there because sometimes he gets going for a few games and doesn’t miss. But I also thought it was much more important for him to win the first set than for me.”

Serving with a 5-4 lead, Leconte tried a drop shot at 15-15 and dumped it into the net. He later double faulted to go down, 15-40. After saving one break point, he blasted a backhand volley wide and it was 5-5.

Wilander held quickly for 6-5 and then broke for the set, making two remarkable gets to reach set point, then ending it with a forehand pass down the line.

Wilander broke right away in the second set and won it in 32 minutes. He swept the first five games of the third set before Leconte saved two match points and won one game.