TENNIS in DEPTH.

Has France found what it has been looking for since Amelie Mauresmo has retired?  Now in the WTA Tour’s Top 20, Aravane Rezai has lit a fire under the French in what has been for years a dimly lit, flickering flame.

Rezai surfaced with perfect timing as Roland Garros quickly approached, and now the crowd has a hometown hero to stand behind. She powered her way to the third and biggest Tour title of her young career, beating Venus Williams in straight sets in the final of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open. However, it was when Rezai defeated perhaps one of the best clay court champions of all time, Justine Henin, in their Madrid opener, that the French began to take notice – and Rezai hasn’t let them look away.

Rooting for Rezai may have become their only option, but she has made it well worth their while. Rezai beat two Top 10 players in the same week – Jelena Jankovic, Williams – bringing her career tally to four Top 10 wins. Rezai defeated Williams in the final at Madrid in straight sets, 62 75. She made her way through as an unseeded player showing a confidence and resolve that put together a string of big wins. Down 2-5 in the second set against Williams, Rezai rallied, saving six set points to take a one-hour, 14-minute second set.

The 23-year-old is proud to be Iranian and speaks several languages including English, Persian and French. She captured two medals at the Muslim Games in Iran, but right now she is as French as it gets. Tennis fans around France will be passionate, all of them hoping that France’s flame will continue to burn, and Madrid might have been a preview of what is to come at Roland Garros.

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