December 30, 2010
Maria Sharapova kept her lips zipped, while another former world No1, Dinara Safina, wasn't so shy as the big guns came out to play in Auckland yesterday.
After rain caused her to miss out on a hit at the ASB Classic venue on Tuesday, Sharapova made the most of the fine conditions by spending three hours training on centre court.
With her two coaches she practised between 11am and 1pm and then again for an hour from 4pm.
But although her preparations for the tournament have begun, Sharapova continued to give the silent treatment to the media and won't do any interviews until she's contractually obliged to on Saturday, two days out from the tournament opener.
It's disappointing that the highest-profile player to play at the Classic has chosen to snub local media because it damages the buildup for the tournament.
But Safina didn't have the same issues and chatted away after an hour on one of the back courts.
There is none of the hype around Safina that there is with Sharapova, but it's arguable she should be considered the tournament favourite. Safina may not have a serve as good as Sharapova's, but she possesses a devastating backhand and, now injury-free, has her eyes set on quickly moving from her lowly world ranking of 63 into the top 10 at least.
She currently has 986 ranking points. Winning the Classic is worth 280 points, which would push her up to about 48th.
"I'm looking forward to the start of the new season. I had a good pre-season practising, I had two months of that," Safina said.
"I want to put 2010 in the past. It has passed and nothing has happened. This is a new season and I'm here, I'm playing, I'm healthy and I'm looking forward."
Safina, the younger sister of former men's No1 Marat Safin, said the decision to come to Auckland for the first time was part of that process of starting anew for 2011.
A back injury hampered her severely this year and even when she was on court she wasn't able to play to the level that took her to the top of the rankings in 2009, when she made it to the final of the Australian and French Opens as well as the semis of Wimbledon.
"I've been on the tour for a while and I've never been here," said the 24-year-old. "When I looked at the schedule there are two tournaments, Brisbane and New Zealand.
"I've already been to the Gold Coast and although I haven't played at the new stadium in Brisbane I wanted to have a change and start the New Year in New Zealand.
"You're looking for good and strong matches before the Aussie Open and that's why I came here to compete."
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