PARIS — It had been more than an hour since Ana Ivanovic had waded through the usual itinerary that follows a championship point, and there was still a Grand Slam smile on her face.
She’d done the kneel down to give thanks. She climbed into the stands to hug family and friends. She had given an acceptance speech to 14,000 people on the stadium court, many of them screaming Serbian countrymen.
And now she was leaning forward in an interview chair in order to pat the silver trophy sitting on a table in front of her.
“It’s my incentive,” she said Saturday, “to keep working hard and win more of these.”
On the same court where a year earlier, at age 19, she had been reduced to jello in a nervous 6-1, 6-2 loss in the final to Justine Henin, she used the baseline power that had dominated the French Open to beat Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3, and win her first major.
Number ones were everywhere on a cool, overcast day with the wind blowing hard enough at times to leave the various international flags at the top of the stadium standing at attention.
Not only did Ivanovic win her first Slam title but on Monday she’ll officially be declared No. 1 in the rankings. And in the president’s box, sitting next to the French Tennis Federation head Christian Bimes, was 2005-07 French winner Henin, who retired at No. 1 in the middle of May.
This time the nerves belonged to Safina, and those jitters might have contributed mightily to her tired performance. She never looked as slow as on the final point of the match, when Ivanovic stroked a soft backhand that landed midway up the right sideline and Safina couldn’t reach the ball until it bounced twice.
In order for Safina to win this final, she was going to have to return serves as demonically as she did against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals. She failed.
“I knew where she was going to serve, but still I was coming so slow to that ball. I was not even getting any pressure on her serve,” Safina said. “I would say it was more tiredness because I see the ball, but body just didn’t go.”
She didn’t mention that Ivanovic poured in 77 percent of her first serves in the opening set, which forced Safina to back off the baseline.
French Open
A look at the tournament, being played at Roland Garros:
Weather: Cloudy. High of 66 degrees.
Women’s final: No. 2 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat No. 13 Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4, 6-3.
Stat of the day: 19 — Unforced errors by Safina in the second set, nine more than Ivanovic
Quote of the day: “It was really thrilling when she handed me the trophy.” — Ivanovic, speaking about four-time French Open champion Justine Henin, who retired last month and came to Roland Garros to watch the women’s final
Men’s final today: No. 1 Roger Federer vs. No. 2 Rafael Nadal, a rematch of the 2006 and 2007 French Open finals, both won by Nadal.
Today’s forecast: Cloudy in the morning; partly cloudy in the afternoon, with a chance of rain. High of 72.
Today’s TV: NBC, 7 a.m.-noon MDT
