Forza Francesca!

As the Italian anthem rang out at Roland Garros, the proud Francesca Schiavone realised what she had achieved.

The 29-year-old had not just won her first Grand Slam title but also became the first Italian woman to win a Slam after a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Sam Stosur.

In fact, Italy had not had a Grand Slam winner since Adriano Panatta won the French Open 34 years ago.

This pressure of a desperate nation did not hinder but instead inspired Schiavoni who produced tennis of the highest quality.

She came in as the underdog but she showed that she deserved to become a Grand Slam holder.

Her grace, style and attacking play was worthy of any champion, producing a magnificent display against the Australian.

The seventeenth seed use of the court was a demonstration of how to play on a clay court as she tore through her opponent with an abundance of angled shots to open up the court.

Volleying was also an aspect of her game, which surprisingly was used to much affect on the clay and showed signs that she could also be a threat on the grass.

Despite winning in Barcelona, the Italian was not expected to get anyway near the final due to her inconsistent Grand Slam record.

Even coming into the final, following victories over Elena Dementieva and Caroline Wozniaki, Stosur considered as the clear favourite.

But what Schiavoni showed during this championship was, as printed on her teams shirts, that ‘nothing is impossible’.

Her age, her ranking, her previous record had no bearing on the Italian who demonstrated tremendous fight to capture her first Slam and become the second oldest first time winner since Britain’s Ann Jones in 1969.

She said it was a ‘dream’ but now with a ranking inside the top ten and with a Grand Slam to her name, the Italian must now face the reality of a now expecting nation.

Darkness falls on the French Open

The uncertainties surrounding the second Grand Slam of the calendar year has taken a further hit by the failures of the tournaments organisers over the past week.

The unfortunate weather has not just opened Roland Garros to questions over its future but it has also not been helped by the Championships decision makers.

Despite its long history and prestige within tennis, it is clear that the Slam is lagging behind its three contemporaries.

Its limitations over expanding, has meant the venue of Roland Garros, with the famous red courts of Philippe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen, may come to a sad end.

The structure of both are said to not be strong enough to take the weight of a retractable roof which both the Australian Open and Wimbledon have added and there are now plans to have one placed on the Arthur Ashe stadium so the US Open can join the list.

Another problem for Roland Garros is the lack of land available as they are currently 10 aches short of Wimbledon’s 18. The inability to expand and enhance the experience for the public is why they are now seriously considering locating to other places within the capital, with Disneyland being named as a potential site.

Black out

The Championships cause has not been helped by the peculiar decisions made by the referee this year, which has caused much bemusement with the players.

The most significant incident, which highlighted this, was Wednesday’s match between French favourite Gael Monfils and Italian Fabio Fognini (pictured).

At 9.40pm with the match tied at 4-4 in the deciding set and with darkness closing in the tie looked to be ending for the night.

However with the crowd roaring on for their hero to continue and finish off the second round encounter the organisers, who looked to call it a day, were swayed and pretty much forced them to continue.

Although pleasing for the fans, the players were left to battle it out in the darkness, as they traded many uncomfortable rallies with only the only the stadium television screens as the source of light.

With an extra two games completed they finally walked off at 10:00pm, with the match level at 5-5.

This type of treatment was a disgrace and it was not the only big mistake as on many occasions players were out playing in heavy rain when they should have pulled off. The clay is known for withstanding rain but this year the organisers took this to new levels.

With all this going against the French Open, this year more than ever has demonstrated that the Parisians need to sharpen up or else they will fall even further behind.

Time to prove

Now Andy Murray has taken temporary leave from Davis Cup action it now gives the rest of Britain the opportunity to prove themselves.

The LTA announced the side that will take on Lithuania in the Europe/Africa zone group 2 on March 5-7. The squad includes Dan Evans, Jamie Baker, James Ward and the doubles pairing of Ken Skupski and Colin Fleming, with Ross Hutchins as back up.

Although the team has yet to be finalised it is likely that Ward and the young Evans will be given the chance to shine. They are both holding the British no.3 and 4 singles rankings respectively and both competed in the qualifying draw for the Australian Open last month. Baker however has had experience of winning a rubber against Agustin Calleri in 2008 but his form is not at the level it once was.

In the doubles Skupski and Fleming have developed a superb partnership in the past year and will be our biggest chance in securing a win. They have been in great form since the turn of the decade, reaching the semi-final of the Aircel Chennai Open in India before claiming their first main draw victory at a Grand Slam after defeating Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) and Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the Australian Open.

John Lloyd AEGON GB Davis Cup Team Captain, said of the selection: “This is a real opportunity for some of our younger players to gain valuable Davis Cup experience. I’m confident that they all have the ability to perform at this level, and a passion to represent their country.”

Bottle

The question though remains is whether they have the bottle?

The fact it is not being played on home soil will actually help their cause especially being away from the media spotlight. Instead the tie will be played on the clay of Vilnius at the Vitas Gerulaitis Memorial Tennis Centre. This is a surface Ward and Evans have succeeded on in the past, most notably Ward, who last year became the first man since Tim Henman to win an ATP Challenger Tour event on the red brick.

Meanwhile, the threat of Lithuania or should I say lack of it, show little signs of causing many problems with only Ricardas Berankis, who is ranked just three places below Ward in the rankings, being the only man to strike any type of concerns.

Other than that it is the perfect opportunity for the British lads to get a positive result and banish the shadow of Murray for the meantime anyway.