June 27, 2011
WHEN Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 2004, it was widely expected to be the first of many Grand Slam titles for the precocious Russian. She was not predicted to have quite the dominance in the women's game that Roger Federer was then enjoying in men's tennis - with the Williams sisters around, that was always going to be too much to ask - but she did appear to have all the ingredients for sustained success.
Seven years on, Sharapova remains one of the best players on tour, and when fully fit can swat aside most opponents with apparently effortless ease. Yet, while she has become a multi-millionaire and is one of the most famous sportswomen in the world, a central theme of her career so far has been underachievement.
She added Australian and US Open titles to her Wimbledon crown, but given her physical power, that tally of Grand Slams could and perhaps should have been greater. Injuries have hampered her progress, of course, above all to her shoulder, but as the second week of the tournament begins, there is still a feeling of unfinished business between Sharapova and the oldest major title.
She began the tournament as favourite, but the resurgence of Serena Williams combined with her own stuttering form has seen her drop to second. She should be too strong in today's fourth round for Shuai Peng, who scraped past Elena Baltacha in the second round, but after that lies a potential quarter-final against the No 1 seed, Caroline Wozniacki.
According to Sharapova herself, those who expect her to win here every year may only be reflecting the high standards she demands of herself. But, as she explained, those injuries have forced her to assess her own chances more modestly, so perhaps the rest of us have been lagging behind reality in that respect.
"I haven't really put as much expectations as maybe you guys have on me, based on the fact that I haven't been past the fourth round for a few years," she said after a straight-sets win over Klara Zakopalova set up today's match with Peng. "I'm happy at this point that I got to where I am last year, and hopefully this year I can go a step further and even more.
"When I came back (from injury], I thought you could just start from the beginning and feel like you could win everything. But at the end of the day you look back to that moment and you just know that it was going to take time. Obviously I wished I could have gotten better results earlier when I came back, but it's just not the way things go."
If Sharapova does get past Peng and Wozniacki, her old foe Serena could be waiting in the semi-finals. The younger Williams sister today faces Marion Bartoli, who was seen as a dark horse here at the start of the tournament after winning the Aegon International at Eastbourne. Bartoli has slipped down the betting, however, having been unable to maintain that high standard: she needed three sets to defeat Flavia Pennetta in the last round, and during the match sent her parents - father and coach Walter, and mother Sophie - to the stands.
"I was so tired and exhausted that really I had to express myself somehow," the former runner-up said. "I just had to let go my frustrations and express myself in some way."
Resources : http://sport.scotsman.com
|
Subscribe
