"I want to really hit the ball".
Stage fright is a very real prospect for a first-time finalist. I think Simona, maybe she felt a little bit nervous because she had a lot of pressure.
"You have just got to hang in there and hope she misses enough balls to give you enough chances". When serving at 5-4, Ostapenko smiled as the French crowd rose in a Mexican wave.
"All the credit for what you have done this tournament", Halep said to her opponent in the post-match ceremony.
"But not many players win their first final in a grand slam".
With much of the pre-match conversation dominated by Halep's improved on-court attitude, Cahill was quick to say he was happy with her composure through the final.
"She deserved to win", said Halep, who has now lost two French Open finals. Not coincidentally, that was also the last time at any Grand Slam tournament that none of the women's quarterfinalists had previously won a major championship.
"I really love Wimbledon", she said.
"(Ostapenko) played like a champion that she now is, her first major title but surely not the last one", Navratilova added on Twitter. This will be tough, for sure but I think she will regroup and be a better player.
Women's tennis has been crying out for a young player to not just make a breakthrough but build on it and become a great champion.
"I can't believe I am the French Open champion at just 20".
Former world No. 2 and coach to Stan Wawrinka, Magnus Norma, called her fearless. Despite having only recently turned 20, or perhaps because of it, she brimmed with confidence and performed with conviction.
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"She was hitting very strong", Halep said after the match.
Time will tell whether Ostapenko can be that player, but Jakovleva needs no convincing.
It was then quite a decisive - and demoralising - turnabout for the world No 3 in the all-important match on Saturday, as she failed to rise to the challenge when it was needed the most.
The 23 unforced errors caught up to the Latvian and Halep took the opening set. In the run-up to Paris, she had won the title in Madrid, made the finals in Rome and the semi-finals in Stuttgart. Of course I would like to win probably all of the grand slams. But Ostapenko would not go quietly, winning that game and the next three en route to forcing a third set. Halep, beaten by Maria Sharapova in the final here in 2014, had been the favourite from the start pf the tournament and looked to be cruising at a set and 3-0, with points for 4-0. So what if Ostapenko wound up dropping that set, then facing big deficits in the second and third?
Yes, she was just two days past her 20th birthday.
And there is no second guessing, even though Ostapenko was clad in disbelief.
What was most remarkable was how Ostapenko defied her lack of experience to fight back from a seemingly hopeless position.
Jelena Ostapenko with the French Open Trophy in Paris on Saturday.
Before beating Halep, Ostapenko allowed the media to get to know her as she answered a number of questions on topics other than the final.
"But then I learned how to play on it and understood the movement". "It is a nice place and the surface, grass, really fits me so I am really looking forward to playing this year".
"This one hurts a lot maybe because I am more - I realize more what is happening. I have no words".
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