Five years after reaching the final of the French Open, Lucie Safarova has looked back on her incredible fortnight in Paris, during which she also won the doubles competition with Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
The Czech had reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2014 but the 2015 competition at Roland Garros would be the only time that she reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament, ultimately losing in three sets to Serena Williams.
Read more: 'Paris, I love you' - Safarova given send-off at French Open
On her road to the final, she overcame Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in two gruelling tiebreak sets in the first round before getting the better of Kurumi Nara and 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki to move into the second week.
Defending champion and No.2 seed Maria Sharapova was brushed off in straight sets before she beat Garbiñe Muguruza, who would win the title the following year, in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 champion, was overcome in the semis.
“I can’t believe it’s five years ago. It feels like last year. I’ve still got amazing memories. I’ve probably not had a better two weeks of my life on Tour,” the 33-year-old, who retired to start a family in 2019, told www.wtatennis.com.
Check out the video for the full interview, in which she discusses the rigors of playing a match every day and exactly how it feels to play Serena on one of the greatest stages in tennis.
