Cahill has been there every step of the way, of course. But I actually think that Halep has been helped by the fact that she can’t call him down to the court in Paris, the way she can in WTA events. While Halep won the title in Madrid, she also lost control of her emotions at times—she could have been defaulted in the final after she kicked her racquet across the court and it glanced of a ball boy’s leg. From what I’ve seen of her in Paris, though, she has kept her focus even when she has felt the pressure. Halep knew that Cahill was back in her camp, but she also knew that if she got into a hole at Roland Garros, only she could dig herself out. And she did.
Halep didn’t panic in the first round when Jana Cepelova, who had beaten her at Wimbledon two years ago, started to find her groove and push her around the court. She didn’t panic in the third round, when talented Russian Daria Kasatkina served for the second set; instead, Halep broke and closed out the match in two.
And while Halep probably did panic when she was down a set and 1-5 to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, she kept playing one point at a time; she didn’t rush herself off the court, which is something she has done in the past. When she was down match point to Svitolina in the second-set tiebreaker, Halep remained cool enough to play that rally with just the right mix of aggression and intelligence. We may look back on the forehand that landed on the sideline during that point as the biggest shot of her career.
Twenty-four hours after that miraculous comeback, Halep was still playing with the same aggression and intelligence. The key to beating the much more powerful but much-more-erratic Pliskova was (a) to make her, as they say, “hit one more ball,” and (b) to make her do it from deep in the court, and from above her shoulders. Racing from side to side—by the end, Halep’s back was covered with the clay she kicked up—she worked hard to track Pliskova’s flat bullets down and send them deep and out of the six-foot Czech’s very high strike zone. In one of the match’s most critical games, with Pliskova serving at 1-2 in the third set, Halep won two points with high, deep forehands, and then broke with her most spectacular shot of the day, a running crosscourt forehand pass.
In her post-match press conference, Halep, wearing her long hair down under a baseball cap, was still in all-business mode.
“I learned that I have to be focused in the match day,” Halep said. “It comes natural now. I can handle everything.”
We’ve heard similar "I’ve learned my lesson" sentiments from her before, and we’ve seen her go back to riding her emotional roller coaster again. Chances are she’s not going to stay completely calm and focused every day for the rest of her career. But that’s the beauty of being in the French final: Do it one more time and she’ll be a Grand Slam champion.
Halep had one last chance to panic in her semi. When she served for the match at 5-3, Pliskova won the first point with a forehand winner. But Halep kept her wheels in motion, and kept sending her forehand back deep and high. When Pliskova’s last return floated long and Halep looked toward her player box, presumably she caught Darren Cahill’s eye. I’m guessing he was pleased with Halep’s performance, and by the fact that she didn’t see any reason to celebrate—yet.
On Friday, watch live coverage of the men's semifinals on Tennis Channel, home of the 2017 French Open.
