Can Dominka Cibulkova defeat Venus Williams in French Open
A year ago, Dominka Cibulkova shocked the tennis audiences when she led Maria Sharapova to the door of the 2009 French Open. After that feat, Dominika Cibulkova is expected to do what she did already in French Open. But is she really as ready as she was before? Would she be able to beat the likes of Justine Henin and Venus Williams, who are favored to win this year’s French Open? Will she be able to reach the same level of her game the way she did a year ago? Only time will tell how much she fares in the French Open.
Dominika’s Cibulkova’s road to the French Open finals last year was quite impressive. On her first time on the clay-courts of Rolland Garros she beat Maria Sharapova and lost to the then world number one Dinara Safina in the semifinals of the competition. A year ago, Dominika Cibulkova was quite overwhelmed with the crowd in Paris. She said that her game and her strategy were distracted by the jeers and the cheers of the crowd. She said that, in the beginning of the match against Sharapova, she was pissed that the crowd was not on her side. She did not get why they were cheering for Sharapova and not for her. It took her some time before she pulled herself together and focused on the game at hand. She eventually won the game limiting Sharapova to just two games won in the match.
Based on her clay-court season tournament performance this year, it’s not far from possible that Dominika Cibulka will be able to reach the quarter finals of the competition this coming May 23rd. After all, Dominika Cibulka is doing well in the clay-court tournaments that she is participating in; however it still may not be enough for her to steal the grand slam title from tournament favorites. After all, Justin Henin is on a huge comeback tour and is expected to win the title. Justine Henin has won the tournament four times in the last decade (2003, 2005-2007) and went on hiatus in 2008 and 2009. Other players going after the title are Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic.
Since the clay-court season started, Dominika has joined three tournaments and has performed well in all of them. Her best finish so far is a semifinal finish at the MPS Group Championships where she was a third seed in the competition. Her worst performance was in the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open where she exited in the second round of the tournament after losing to China’s Na Li.
All in all, Dominika Cibulkova is expected to fare well in the French Open but she will not be able to win the tournament all together. She has won reached one clay-court semifinal this year, but this may not be enough to boost her chances in the upcoming French Open. She is a good player, but not good enough to face the big names like Henin and Williams, or even Jelena Jankovic. Remember that she fell to Na Li, a person who has yet to win a grand slam; she has also yet to face a big name competitor in any clay-court tournament this year. She is expected to reach the third round of the competition before getting eliminated by the likes of China’s Na Li, much like what has happened to her in Madrid.
In a few years time, Dominika Cibulkova is expected to rage on the grand slam tournaments and win them all, but for now, the winning would have to be done by the pros. For now, she needs to gain as much experience just in time for her career to peak in one or two years.
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