June 30, 2011
Wimbledon favourite Maria Sharapova admits the unheralded Sabine Lisicki will pose a threat to her title hopes.
Sharapova won at the All England Club as a 17-year-old in 2004 and she is now being heavily backed to secure another grand slam title.
However standing in her way in the last four is the unseeded Lisicki, with the German having stormed through the draw after being handed a wildcard.
And with Lisicki having previously reached the last eight at Wimbledon two years ago before injury hampered her game, Sharapova is refusing to take anything for granted.
"She hits very hard," Sharapova said. "She has probably one of the hardest serves on the tour, and that's very beneficial.
"She's used that very well on the grass so that will be challenging."
Lisicki, though, will go into the semi-final encounter with nothing to lose.
"I'm here as a wild card. I'm here in the semis. I'm going to go out there and fight and give it all I have," she said.
Sharapova against Lisicki will be the second match on Centre Court on Thursday, with the first semi-final between fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka and No.8 seed Petra Kvitova getting the action under way.
Neither player has previously reached the final at SW19, with the 21-year-old Azarenka having considered quitting tennis after a first-round loss in Qatar three months ago.
"After Doha I didn't really want to play tennis. I just wanted to go home and rest," Azarenka said.
"My mum asked me, 'What are you going to do?' I said, 'I'm going to study'.
"She laughed out loud. She knew I was just in a bad place.
"She knows that I like to study, but she also knew I'd just get bored, because tennis is what I really love."
Azarenka's grandmother, who once had to work three jobs to make ends meet, delivered the most stinging rebuke to Azarenka's quit threat.
"She said I had to just shut up and stop complaining because I had a pretty damn good life," Azarenka said.
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