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| Home » Interviews » Tennis Princess looks forward to an assault on the French Open crown and talks about the open nature of the draw |
Maria Sharapova looks forward to an assault on the French Open crown and talks about the open nature of the draw |
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| Tennis Princess looks forward to an assault on the French Open crown and talks about the open nature of the draw |
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| May 21, 2011 |
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Italian Open champion Maria Sharapova talks to the press about her form coming into the French Open, her increasing comfort with clay, the favourites for this year's crown and the open nature of the women's draw...
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| Question |
Coming into Roland Garros on the back of a great win, so you come in with confidence. Will people look at you a bit more differently given that you said here a couple years ago clay isn't exactly your best surface or a surface with which people fear you perhaps as much as on grass? So coming in with a big tournament win, you're in the front line. |
| Maria Sharapova |
Yeah, I mean, it's not really my job to say whether I am or not. I think that's more of your job than mine. My job is to go out and play tennis and compete, and I was really happy with the way last week turned out. You know, I played great tennis. I had some great matches and wins over good players, especially on clay.
So it's definitely a confidence booster. You know, just hoping to take this form and bring it over to Roland Garros. |
| Question |
Kim Clijsters, she is back in this tournament. What do you expect of her? |
| Maria Sharapova |
Well, it's always difficult to not play for a few weeks and come back as a Grand Slam being your first tournament. But, you know, she has a tremendous amount of experience behind her back.
I don't think this is the first time that certainly not the first time she's come back after having a long lay-off. She's been able to do really well when she's taken time off, so you can never count her out. It might take her a few matches to get into form. That's normal when you haven't played for a while. But, yeah. |
| Question |
Is she the top favorite for you? |
| Maria Sharapova |
I mean, she's someone that's, like I said, a great champion, is one that's won the last couple of Grand Slams, you know, is No. 2 in the world, I believe. And, yeah, she's certainly the one to beat here. |
| Question |
You're obviously struggling with injuries, and you're back now on the court. What goes through your mind when you are trying to get back into top shape? How do you motivate yourself to say, Yes, I will go back out on whatever it is, the practice courts or to the machines to try and get back when there is no match in sight? |
| Maria Sharapova |
I think it's just about having a good perspective. I don't think there is any time in an athlete's career where you're not gonna have injuries. That's impossible. Everyone's going to go through little aches and pains, some bigger than others.
I mean, recovery is just really big in our sport and preparation. It's just as important as the matches themselves, and, you know, we work really hard at that. We spend hours trying to get our body ready. And also recovery, you know, after the matches. When we're put a situation where there is no date in sight of when we're gonna compete again, I think it's just about having a good perspective and realizing that we have a pretty good job and when we get back out there, we'll be able to do it again. |
| Question |
Who are the people who give you that perspective? Is it friends or is it family? |
| Maria Sharapova |
My family, yeah. |
| Question |
What would you say about the evolution of the level of the tennis for the women after all these years? |
| Maria Sharapova |
I think it's quite deep, and I find that from the first round on you really have to be ready no matter who your opponent is and no matter what they're ranked. Everyone's really competitive and tough from the first point on.
You might not be playing someone that's seeded or ranked in the top 50, but they come out and they're someone that have had big wins over top players. They've also had experience, and you've got to be ready. Yeah. |
| Question |
Regarding the color of the courts that you guys play throughout the year, you guys have played on purple in the past decade or so you've gone to purple, you've gone blue at the US Open and in Australia. Madrid is talking about going to blue. I wonder, as a player, does it matter at all the color of the court? Does the ball pick up differently if you're playing on a green court, red court, blue court? |
| Maria Sharapova |
I think it's more about consistency than anything. I think if we get used to one thing, then we're okay with it. I think it's tough to jump from a blue court to a red court right away. That's a little bit different.
But I don't really mind different colored courts. Sometimes I think the backdrop actually has a lot more to do with it, with the ball, than the court itself. |
| Question |
You said the level is pretty high here in Roland Garros for the women's draw, but there are no clear cut favorites, I mean, more than ever maybe. What's your explanation? |
| Maria Sharapova |
I mean, I'm not really the one to explain, you know. It's the way it is, and, you know, some of the players have been injured. Some are not in the draw. You know, some I don't know. It's not really my expertise to say why it's maybe more open than other years. |
| Question |
What are the challenges that clay presents when you first move on to clay after not having played on it for a couple of months? |
| Maria Sharapova |
Just getting used to the feel and the movement. You know, you don't have as much grip on the clay as you do on a hard court. Just moving around and just letting your body be more comfortable with it. It takes a lot of time.
Actually, it helps a lot when you play actual matches instead of just practicing, because you're put into in different situations in an actual match. You have to recover, you know, from a more difficult spot on the court, and you've got to move forward, go back, you know.
Also, the points are longer, so you might have to be a little bit more patient from the beginning of the point. Yeah, things like that. |
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