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THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: SATURday,
JULY 3, NO. 93
As tough as they come: Sharapova
soars past Serena
Maria: 'Now I can concentrate of
my goal of being number one'
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
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 Susan
& Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| Maria: The Wimbledon champion
gets many kisses from her father, Yuri Sharapov. |
Maria Sharapova has never really been afraid
of much – not whether she would see her mother again after
being yanked away from her homeland at the age of 8 and dropped
down in a tennis factory in South Florida, or whether she would
fit in with her peers in her new residence of America.
She believed her father, Yuri, who told she had a higher purpose
as a tennis player. But on Friday night when she felt a bad cold
coming on, she cried, because she was concerned that she might be
too congested on Saturday to unleash a full throat full of shrieking
strokes.
But the sun arose on London on Saturday, Sharapova could breath
freely and she went on court for the Wimbledon final against the
most feared woman in tennis and wiped the court with two-time defending
champion Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4.
Mentally, Sharapova is far beyond her 17 years. Even when she was
babe in tennis woods being trotted out prematurely as "the
next cute Russian blonde with potential," it was easy to tell
just how naturally smart she was. She took to English like a mid-court
sitter, grasping the language within less than a year and now she
can sling teenage slang like a Miami mall rat.
Sharapova understands that when you can hit the ball as powerfully
and accurately as she can when she's in her zone, that the guile
and experience of an opponent doesn't matter. The Siberian-born,
inside-the-baseliner is aware that if can keep landing haymakers,
it's irrelevant whether your opponent has the ability to come off
the floor.
WINNER OF LAST FOUR GAMES
Even when Serena briefly bounced to a 4-2 lead in the second set,
Sharapova was waiting with a roundhouse left hook or a sharp overhand
right. The glorified Ms. Williams thought she might be able to leap
to another three-set victory until Sharapova screamed an inside-out
backhand return winner to break back to 3-4. Then the Russian held
behind two deep forehands that burnt the parched grass to 4-4. Serena
strained to try and hold serve in the next game, but Sharapova was
keenly reading her serve on the deuce side and keeping her guessing.
On Sharapova's fourth break point, a clearly stressed Serena slipped
and pushed a forehand wide.
No one questioned then that Maria "I've never had nerves"
Sharapova could serve it out and she crushed another forehand deep
that Serena was unable to lift over the net. She collapsed to her
knees, raised her arms up, received numerous bear hugs and kisses
from her dad, Yuri; her trainer; and agent; and read the inscription
on the Wimbledon champion's Rosewater Dish. It must have said something
like, "2004: Write your name here if you're a multi-talented
Russian who won't choke." That would be Maria with a big "M."
Sharapova didn't allow the six-time Grand Slam champion Serena to
claw her way into the match like Williams did in the semifinals
against Amelie Mauresmo. It was big serve after big serve, huge
return of serve down the line after scorching crosscourt return
down the line. It was one in-your-face ground stroke after another.
It was a relentless attack from a relentlessly hard worker who's
about as self aware as any kid you will meet who never had the benefit
of a formal education, or a normal childhood that included spending
dozens of Saturdays lip-synching Britney Spears with her friends.
"I know if I work hard, I have the talent for it," Sharapova
said at the year's outset. "I'm not going to hide that. I feel
if I work hard that it will pay off. I remember the tough times
and I worked hard. Look where I've gone from there."
Very, very far.
MARIA MANGLED SERENA
It's easy to say that Serena didn't
play well and point out how vulnerable her forehand was at key moments.
But the fact of the matter is that Sharapova simply suffocated her
and challenged her to play at 100 percent of her abilities the entire
match. At her best, Serena is capable of doing so, but she hasn't
consistently displayed her A-plus game in a year's time. Pay no
attention to Serena's post-match comment that she played only "20
percent" of her ability. She was at about 80 percent but needs
to be at the very pinnacle of her game to take down an in-form Sharapova.
As the hissing and shrieking, Sharapova says she knows how to "snake"
her way into points. Not like some sneaky garden snake variety,
but like a king cobra, looming tall with its back arched, flashing
its fathomless eyes and striking within a millisecond. Sharapova
bounces on her feet, bends low, turns rapidly to the side and thrusts
her fangs forward in a bat of her long ponytail. She locates the
ball and then follows through her shots with an innate sense of
where the jugular is. When she senses vulnerability, she's merciless.
In 1997, Martina Hingis won Wimbledon when she was a few months
younger than Sharapova. But Hingis was already a more known quantity,
having swept through the juniors and already have taken down a number
of stars. Although Sharapova had won three tournaments in her career
coming into Wimbledon, she has never won a big crown before nor
beaten Top 5 players like Lindsay Davenport and Serena.
Much of the reason why Sharapova rose slower than Hingis had to
do with her growth spurt over the past two years, when she complained
that she grew so tall so fast that she hadn't gotten used to pulling
her large feet and tall frame around. In February after Anastasia
Myskina had schooled her in the fourth round of the Australian Open,
she talked about how weak she was physically. But she said she was
willing to hit the weights and do as much off-court training as
necessary to be able to last at the Slams.
"My body is still trying to get used to being my body,"
she told tennisreporters.net at the time. "At
the beginning of last year I felt terrible because I had my growth
spurt. I couldn't feel my body at all. Now I feel better moving,
but I still have a lot of improvement to make. Physically, I'm still
only at 20 percent of what I'm capable of. I'm getting stronger,
but in the gym, I still can't even put up two plates!"
BIG AND FAST, LIKE VENUS
Now standing at least 6-foot-1 inch, Sharapova is still thin, but
she's become a tremendous athlete with sinewy muscles who moves
as well as any tall champ has before her, including Serena's sister,
Venus. In fact, she has the same body type as two-time Wimbledon
champ Venus. While she doesn't yet have Venus' huge first serve,
she has a far better forehand than Venus had when she was 17 and
is a more ambitious returner. Moreover, her serve is very, very
good for a player who can't lift two plates. Just imagine how tough
she'll be two years from now when she rocking in first serves at
125 mph?
There are those who doubted whether Sharapova had the mental fortitude
to win a Slam this young. Her countrywoman, Nadia Petrova, said
early in the year that as good as Sharapova was in her rookie year,
her sophomore season would be much tougher. Petrova wasn't speaking
out of turn because most players acknowledge that it's much more
difficult to jump from obscurity into the Top 30 than it is to go
from the Top-30 to Wimbledon champion. However, when told of Petrova's
comment, Sharapova saw it differently.
"I don't agree with that," she said. "There are times
when other players watch you play, but that doesn't matter. The
difference this year will be experience. Last year I didn't know
what to expect; this year I do."
She sure does and really impressed Serena, who lord knows isn't
easy to impress.
"She's kind of like me; she doesn't back off. She keeps giving
it her all," Serena said. "I think she treed a little
today. She played her best tournament, her best tennis maybe in
her life. … I like how she plays everyone really tough and
not just a few players. When I see people that do that, then they
definitely have a better look at being a champion."
Sharapova is not out-and-out cocky like Hingis was. She come out
won't publicly say that she'll be dominating her sport in a year's
time. But know this: that's her plan. She may say it in a cool and
demure fashion off court, but once on court, she'll be setting off
earthquakes with the sheer velocity of her strokes for the rest
of her career. After Saturday, the Williamses, the Belgians and
even French champ Myskina know that.
"[Number one] is very important," said Sharapova, who
will rise to No. 8 in the rankings. "I though winning Wimbledon
was a dream and now I can concentrate of my goal of being number
one." |
