July 25, 2011
Talking about her game, tennis superstar Maria Sharapova said she sees both progress and imperfections.
Sharapova spoke to reporters Tuesday in preparation for the U.S. Open Series, a group of American hardcourt tournaments leading up to the U.S. Open.
This summer, Sharapova said she is playing Stanford, Toronto and Cincinnati.
As far her game, Sharapova likes where she's going.
The European summer produced some of the best results in Sharapova has had in years. She reached the semifinals of the French Open and the finals of Wimbledon.
Sharapova's best chance of winning her fourth major title was at Wimbledon where she was the heavy favorite over Petra Kvitova.
“To be honest, it's still nice to come home with a nice plate, so I was glad,” said Sharapova, referring to the runners-up plate from Wimbledon. “To have that moment where you're walking out in the final stage of Wimbledon, even though you didn't leave with the big trophy, gives me a great and tremendous amount of confidence that I've been doing something right in the last few months and I've been getting better.”
Since 2008, when Sharapova developed shoulder problems the required surgery, she has not been a dominant force or regularly contending for majors.
Soon after shoulder surgery, Sharapova dropped out of the top-10 and has not returned until this year. Sharapova is currently ranked No. 5.
“I feel like it's been a great progression,” Sharapova said. “I feel like I've been really improving with every tournament that I've played.
“But those little sacrifices that you make, you never quite know when the results will kick in. I feel like little-by-little, I'm getting those.”
But Sharapova knows there's still a lot of work to be done.
In fact, Sharapova joked that her fitness coach was staring her down throughout the teleconference.
“Do you understand my fitness coach is giving me a dirty look because I am sitting by the fence on the court in between my fitness workout?” Sharapova said laughing. “I'm serious. I have all these cones lined up and I'm feeling sick because I know in five minutes I'm going to be jumping over those.”
But her fitness hasn't been a problem. The questions Sharapova continues to field are about her shoulder, and how it has affected her serve.
Since her comeback, Sharapova's serve has not been the weapon that helped propel her to No. 1 in the world.
“It's definitely something I can still improve,” Sharapova said. “You know, that gives me a lot of confidence, because I've been able to win a lot of matches this year where maybe a few of those I felt like I didn't serve my best.
“But I was able to return and play really well, so that gives me a tremendous amount of confidence that I can get it even better.”
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