May 25, 2011
Ms. Maria Sharapova must be salivating at the opportunity she has before her at this year's French Open. The two-time grand slam winner has had her fair share of downs over the last few years due to either injury or the distraction of her burgeoning fame.
But, right now, Maria is playing her best tennis in years, catapulting her world ranking to 8th and grabbing the 7th seed at Roland Garros. And this year she'll find the fewest amount of obstacles standing in her path to the French Open title that she's ever had.
Can she pull it off over the next week and a half? Possibly.
Maria's draw lays out fairly reasonably for her. She'd play one of the two toughest competitors in the tournament, Kim Clijsters, in the quarterfinal round. At full strength, Clijsters would surely be the heavy favorite heading into the match. However, Clijsters is coming off of a nagging injury and assuming both women make it that far, Sharapova could possibly move her around the court and pull the upset.
The other viable threat left in the draw sits in the top half, seeded #1. Caroline Wozniacki, who's also likely relishing the fact that she can win her first ever grand slam without having to go through either Williams sister or Justine Henin, is beatable.
If Sharapova can maneuver her way through her half of the draw and upset Clijsters, she'd have a great chance to take out the steady -- and often unthreatening -- Wozniacki.
There's no telling what the draws will look like at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open later on this summer, and even with the Williams sisters back in the draw Sharapova could certainly fight her way to another title, but winning at Roland Garros would mean a lot to the story of her career.
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