July 02, 2011
Tearful Maria Sharapova couldn’t realise her dream of a second Wimbledon title after coming up against the greatly unfancied Petra Kvitova in the ladies singles final.
The 6ft 2ins Russian, who hadn’t lost a set in the previous rounds, struggled to find her form against the determined Kvitova who won in straight sets.
Sharapova, 24, who took the title in 2004 at the tender age of 17, seemed close to tears as she collected her runners-up trophy.
At least Sharapova’s sorrow on this afternoon, all these years later, had a silver lining. This was her first appearance in a Grand Slam final since she had surgery on her right shoulder to save her career.
Yet while the operation has enabled her to compete, Sharapova is handicapped by an ineffectual service. She lost five of eight service games and double-faulted six times.
Even so, Sharapova, who has won the US Open and the Australian Open since she won Wimbledon, claimed her fortnight had been profitably spent in spite of this failure.
‘This is a big step because my game is improving, and it’s a big step because it gives me a tremendous amount of confidence going forward,’ she said. ‘I’m determined to win more major championships. It didn’t happen today; maybe, it will tomorrow.’
Kvitova’s victory was a great result for the bookies. Almost all the money was on Sharapova to win. One punter had placed £51,000 on the former champion at odds of just 5/4, while Kvitova was unfancied at just 7/1.
In the Royal Box, Martina Navratilova led the applause as Petra Kvitova delivered her first ace of the afternoon on match point to become Wimbledon champion on Saturday.
Like Navratilova, Kvitova was born in the Czech Republic. Like Navratilova, she plays the game left-handed. And at 21, Kvitova is the same age Navratilova was when she first won Wimbledon.
Whether Kvitova will ever get close to establishing a legacy on the scale of Navratilova, a nine-time singles champion on the world’s most celebrated tennis court, is hard to imagine. Yet those who watched Kvitova dismantle the game of Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 felt compelled to forecast that a new star had risen over London SW19 on the 125th anniversary of Wimbledon.
John McEnroe, a hard-edged student of the game and not a man to distribute compliments frivolously, said: ‘You’ve a feeling we have just seen a really special talent.’
Tracy Austin, who won the US Open twice, is convinced Kvitova’s immensely powerful game will reward her with further major titles after her triumph was watched by a global audience of tens of millions. ‘I think this is the first of many for Petra,’ said Austin.
Perhaps as Navratilova watched from her privileged seat yesterday, she reflected on how she had fled the oppressive, Soviet-influenced former Czechoslovakia to start a new life beyond the Iron Curtain in the US when she defeated Chris Evert to win her first title in 1978.
Effectively, she was stateless; the country had disowned her, and she had not yet qualified to become a US citizen.
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