Changing of the guard?

Will this year's French Open be seen as a changing of the guard on the women's side? It's too early to say for sure, but you couldn't have drawn one up any better. World No. 1 and three-time defending champion Justine Henin retires two weeks before the tournament; one month later 20-year-old rising star and No. 2-ranked Ana Ivanovic takes advantage by winning her first major title and ascending to the top ranking. The whole thing was made even more strangely symmetrical when Henin appeared on stage with Ivanovic during the trophy presentation. It was almost as if she were handing over the keys to the WTA castle.

There's no doubt now that Ivanovic is for real. In the last 12 months, and particularly over the course of 2008, she's dispelled all doubts about her ability to stand up to the competition at the biggest moments. In the past she had seemed too nice, too demure, a little out of shape. But with her new team of coaches and trainers, she's methodically set about recasting herself and her game in a more ambitious image. Ivanovic lost weight, developed a fist-pump to remind herself of her desire and intensity (OK, it's still a little awkward but give her points for trying) and, for better or worse, began to embrace stardom and capitalize on her sex appeal. She sealed the deal in Paris by successfully managing her emotions and her tactics at just those crucial moments when she might have broken down in the past.

Is Ivanovic the next Henin, the next seven-Slam winner, and long-term No. 1? I'll say this: She could be. She has the smooth strokes and a strong serve to back then up, and she's growing as a competitor with every match. And most important of all, she wants it. If there's one element of Ivanovic's game that remains in question, it's her ability to fight off the power players. This spring she impressively won a big event in Indian Wells, then went to Key Biscayne and was belted off the court by Lindsay Davenport. And she's struggled thus far with the tour's heavy hitters -- Ivanovic is 1-5 against Venus and Serena Williams and 2-3 against Maria Sharapova.

Ivanovic needs to dictate. With her serve and her slap forehand, which she can hit for winners from anywhere, she's a first-strike player. While she showed improved defense at Roland Garros, sliding smoothly for difficult gets, she still doesn't like to react to hard-hit balls directed right at her. It's no accident that her first Slam title came on clay, a surface that gives her a little more time to absorb her opponents' best shots.

That won't be true of the grass at Wimbledon, which shoots the ball through more quickly. Ivanovic reached the semis there last year but was handled routinely by another first-strike artist, Venus Williams. Which just means that Ivanovic, two weeks after passing one test, will face another. She has the stuff to be a true No. 1, but I don't think she's ready to run through the Williamses and Sharapova and complete the rare French-Wimbledon double. Changings of the guard don't happen that quickly, do they?

SOURCE: ESPN