Expect women's singles fireworks at Wimbledon
Muguruza's confident, Williams' out for revenge and SW19 is set to rock
The French Open final between Serena Williams and Garbine Muguruza was a great showcase for women's tennis.
Skill, power, finesse, grace and fight were all on display as two fearless players engaged in a battle worthy of a final at Roland Garros.
We saw a first-time Grand Slam champion emerge, a young player who is gaining confidence and is now able to win titles on the biggest stage.
We have seen four different winners in the last four Grand Slams and it shows the depth of talent in women's tennis.
What stood out for me in the French Open final was that Muguruza (left, with the trophy) showed so much poise and confidence. She was hardly intimidated.
The difference between the Wimbledon final last year, when the Spaniard lost to Williams, and the French Open final this year, was that this time Muguruza exuded calm.
Just 22, Muguruza (below) displayed confidence and showed off a belief that she could beat arguably the greatest player in the history of the women's game. It was as if she expected to win, and that's how a champion should be.
She went into the match telling herself she had to stay in the moment, be prepared and play with no regrets.
When I heard that, I said to myself: "She has a great mindset."
It's so important to have the right mental attitude at that level of the game. It is almost always the mental side of things that separates champions from everyone else.
For Williams (above right), the match analytics showed that her first-serve percentage - at only 49 per cent - was lower than it normally is.
When you have a high-serve percentage, you keep the pressure constantly on your opponent, and the low numbers could have had an impact on her performance.
Also, Muguruza converted 40 per cent of break points, while Serena managed only 25 per cent. In the biggest matches, it's really about who plays the big points better.
The result in Paris sets up a mouth-watering prospect at Wimbledon.
Wimbledon is going to be very exciting - Muguruza, as a Grand Slam champion, will have the momentum. She was in the final last year and I'm sure she will be confident of taking that extra step this time around.
Williams is the reigning champion and I can imagine revenge is very much on her mind.
While Muguruza grew up on clay courts, Serena is great on grass.
At Wimbledon last year, the American won an average of 79 per cent of her first-serve points, had a 59 per cent average first-serve percentage, and racked up 80 aces, which was an all-time high for women.
If the world No. 1 goes into the tournament and her serve is on, then she will play a game that is unbeatable.
Williams and Muguruza have played in two of the last four Grand Slam finals and that's a high ratio, and it could continue to happen.
Muguruza has so much talent; she's really coming into her own and playing excellent tennis.
Williams has had several players challenge her over the years - from Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport in the late 1990s, to Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters in the early 2000s.
In recent times, she's also taken on Victoria Azarenka and Li Na, and the fact that she's reached the last two Grand Slam finals suggests she is not slowing down.
A Williams-Muguruza rivalry could well develop, although we haven't seen the kind of storied contests like Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, or Monica Seles and Stefanie Graf, in this era because of the depth of talent.
The two big guns will also have to be wary because so many rising stars are doing really well now.
We saw Shelby Rogers shine in Paris and she was in the WTA Rising Stars Invitational in Singapore only two years ago.
There will always be players emerging, and there's no doubt we will see more rising stars shine at Wimbledon, too.
The English summer, strawberries and cream, white attire, royalty in the box and tennis will soon descend on SW19.
I'd say expect fireworks at Wimbledon.
* Canadian Melissa Pine is a former NCAA player and a columnist for The New Paper. She is the vice-president of WTA Asia-Pacific and also the tournament director of the WTA Finals. Held in Singapore from 2014 to 2018, the 10-day tennis extravaganza showcases the world's top-eight singles players and doubles teams competing for a grand prize of US$7 million ($9.6m). For more information on the event, visit www.wtafinals.com
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