Caroline Wozniacki will one day be the No. 1 player in the world, mark my words. However right now, at the tender age of 19, she has to settle with being No. 3 on a good day and grow within her game.

Today at Roland Garros, the gorgeous Dane was easily handled by Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-3 and ended her run at the French Open in the quarter-finals.

The Italian has played some inspiring tennis this year and Shiavone becomes the first from her country to reach the final four in France in more than a half-century. Tuesday was a clean and quiet assassination on court. No aces, no double faults and converted 81% of her net approaches (compared to 38% by Wozniacki). While Shiavone was seeded 17th, many in the tennis circle was not surprised by today’s outcome. Shiavone has been to the puppet show and has seen the strings. She is playing on borrowed time in tennis circles, turning 30 at the end of the month. Wozniacki turns 20 in mid-July and has already experienced a Grand Slam final, having lost to Kim Clijsters last year in New York. The quarter-final appearance in Paris marks the second-best finish at a major for the booming baseline blonde.

Slams are about patience, calming nerves and execution. Schiavone possesses those qualities after 12 years on Tour. Wozniacki will get there. She is not a flash in the pan, however she will need to remain mentally strong after the disappointment in Paris and head to the grass court with the same conviction that got her as high as No. 2 in the world. As soon as she can learn to win a Slam, watch out ladies, they will come in droves.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Clay Court. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.