Maria cuts down injured Serena
for WTA Championships … then smiles Sharapova: 'I'm just one girl in front of millions of people'
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
Lumfoto
Yuri Sharapov hugs his daughter,
Maria Sharapova, after her
WTA Championships victory over Serena Williams in LA.
FROM THE WTA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LA –
For someone whose sponsors believes that her smile is worth about
$5 million annually, Maria Sharapova was in a wild state of confusion
most of the week at the WTA Championships, frowning, glaring and
sometimes sneering.
It is not easy to be the flavor of the year when your have yet to
taste most of the fruits of your success. It's not easy being an
immensely popular Wimbledon champion in the locker room when your
all your friends seem to have left the building, or when half the
Russian Fed Cup team is sitting court side cheering against you.
It's certainly not easy trying to push your game to warp speed when
you have so much improving to do, let alone facing down Serena Williams
in her house.
But life has never been easy for Sharapova and maybe she likes it
that way. In an extremely difficult and often bizarre match, the
Russian undercut an injured Serena Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to win
the WTA Championships on Monday. Sharapova finally cracked a smile
and told of her immense relief that her season is over.
"There were a lot of difficult periods," she said. "I
learned a lot about myself. After winning Wimbledon at 17, it was
a bit of a struggle. There's a lot of things, expectations. I had
to face a lot. I'm just one girl in front of millions of people,
with a lot of people watching what I'm doing, wanting me to win.
I had to realize it's not about winning and losing; it's about doing
what you can, learning from your mistakes, and most importantly,
working hard."
Even though Sharapova can be difficult to be around, she has certainly
brought a lot of new attention to the sport. Yes, part of that has
to do with her looks, but some of that has to do with how fiercely
she competes and how obvious it is that's she not just some tall,
pretty blonde looking for the next available pop singer., She can
really play and, at close look, it's apparent just how much she's
improved since Wimbledon. She's still a bit gawky, does not move
that well to her left, frequently flubs her volleys and is no expert
strategist. But, she really does understand what her weapons are.
Her serve is much more consistent than it was at year's outset,
her hooking forehand is getting better by the day and, although
she's not very fast, she's making a tremendous effort to be a better
retriever. When she hits behind players, there's almost no reason
for them to attempt to spin around and pick up the ball, because
it's already gone.
So now here she is, ending the year ranked No. 4, behind Lindsay
Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo and Anastasia Myskina. Those are all
veteran players. Every other teen and player between the ages of
20 and 22 can take a deep bow to her. She beat the best of the best
at Championships and no one can take that away from her.
"It shows that I've come a long way in a short period of time,"
Sharapova said. "To be able to beat top players and playing
five days in a row with my body, it's not very easy. When I was
playing against Mauresmo, I was absolutely dead and I didn't think
I could go on. I found an inner strength."
Lumfoto
Serena Williams get treatment for an abdominal injury.
ABDOMINAL STRAIN SLOWS SERENA'S SERVE Pity Serena, who played a terrific
first set behind her gigantic serve and well-placed groundies. She
may have won the match had she not strained her abdominal muscle
early on. But, by midway through the second set, she had slowed
down her serve. Serena took a medical timeout after the seventh
game and even a tight wrap didn't do her much good in the serving
department, as her big heater fell into the 75-mph range.
"I really thought it was just a stitch, and it would go away,"
Serena said. "I thought at times I wouldn't finish, but I like
to fight. On a 0-10 scale, the pain was a 10 and a half."
Serena is going to have an MRI on Tuesday because she suspects she
might have torn the abdominal muscle. She didn't risk cranking up
big serves because she recalled what happened in the '03 Wimbledon
semis when her sister, Venus Williams, continued to play against
Kim Clijsters despite an abdominal strain and eventually tore it.
Venus also played the final against Serena (mostly to prove to fans
that the sisters always try hard against each other). Consequently,
she was off the tour for the next six months.
"I was thinking I'm not going to be out six months," Serena
said. "I wasn't going to go for any big serves because it's
not worth it with the New Year coming around."
Serena nearly pulled off a miracle, going for broke off the ground
in the third set and grabbing a 4-0 lead, while Sharapova lost her
focus. But, after Sharapova held to 4-1, she found a mental opening
and grew confident again, bullying Serena's second serves. A few
huge forehands later, Sharapova was screaming for joy. Her father
Yuri joined in with an on-court bear hug a minute later.
"I'm still in shock. I can't believe the way I pulled it out,"
Maria said. "I don't think I could have asked for anything
better this year. It's been extraordinary. To finish it off by beating
the best in the world; I've accomplished so much at 17-years-old.
A lot of people don't realize that I'm still 17. It's very unreal
the way I stuck in there. It's been an amazing year."
Serena couldn't believe what had occurred. She fought like hell
to get to the final and now she'll end the year with only two titles,
nothing for a six-time Slam champ to chat with the Hollywood crowd
about.
"It's been a really tough for year for me in general. It's
extremely disappointing," said Williams. "I figured I
had a good chance at this title. There's nothing I can do about
it. I can't rewind time. I don't know where I went wrong."
On court, little went wrong for Sharapova this week. She made few
friends off court with her complaining about the heaviness of the
balls, but she clearly signaled that a skinny Siberia native won't
be pushed around. She's smiled broadly when she discussed the "great
vacation" she going to take and showed a lot of heart in donating
the new Porsche Cayenne she won to the victims of the Beslan, Russia,
terrorist attack in the early September. She also showed her trademark
spunk when asked whether she's a legitimate Top-5 player.
"I deserve a spot on the list," she said. "I consider
myself one of them after beating them."
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