By Danielle Rossingh
May 30 (Bloomberg) -- Defending-champion Rafael Nadal will face his third left-hander in as many rounds at the French Open tennis tournament today, while Maria Sharapova is scheduled to complete her second-round match at the clay-court Grand Slam.
The second-seeded Nadal, also a left-hander, plays Jarko Nieminen of Finland. Nadal eased past Nicolas Devilder of France yesterday, dropping five games in his three-set win.
The Spaniard, the only past winner left in the men's draw, is seeking to become the first player since Bjorn Borg 27 years ago to win at Roland Garros four years in a row. The 21-year-old has never lost a match at the Paris tournament.
Roger Federer, chasing the only Grand Slam title to elude him, yesterday lost an error-strewn first set against Albert Montanes of Spain before recovering to advance to the third round, where he'll meet Mario Antic of Croatia.
Russia's Sharapova will finish her match against Bethanie Mattek of the U.S. Darkness caused play to be suspended last night with the top-ranked woman leading 6-2, 2-3. The winner will play Karin Knapp of Italy, the No. 32 seed.
Second-ranked Ana Ivanovic of Serbia faces Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, while Venus Williams, a losing finalist to her sister Serena in 2002, will play Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
Serena Williams, the only past champion left in the women's draw, faces Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.
Also among the men, Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic of Serbia will play Wayne Odesnik of the U.S.
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Showing posts with label maria sarobova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maria sarobova. Show all posts
Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
French Open stage is set for Maria Sharapova
Parisians like a bit of chic with their forehands and backhands, and some casual tennis fans probably think that the sparkly, spangly Maria Sharapova will go on court at the French Open wearing a pair of six-inch stiletto heels. Plus, Sharapova famously compared her movement on the Roland Garros clay courts last season to that of a "cow on ice".
But for all the talk of stilettos and skittering hooves, she goes into the tournament, starting on Sunday, wearing standard tennis shoes and with the possibility of completing a career grand slam, all at the fine old age of 21. That would allow her to join Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams in the elite club of women to have won all four majors.
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To think that, when Sharapova first emerged on the scene, a few commentators described her as "the new Anna Kournikova", another perky, pony-tailed Russian blonde starting out on an empty tease of a tennis career.
Well, Kournikova did not win much apart from endorsement contracts and mid-match offers of marriage from the stands. Sharapova was just 17 when she lifted the Venus Rosewater Dish at Wimbledon in 2004, and she has since added the 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open titles. Justine Henin's shock retirement last week did not just hand the world No 1 ranking to Sharapova; it also significantly increased the chances of the Russian winning in Paris for the first time. Henin had won the French Open four times in the past five years. In the American tennis vernacular, Roland Garros was "Justine's house".
So Sharapova could be about to make some history on the terre battue of south-west Paris. Watch out, Carla Bruni, for here comes the wannabe First Lady of Paris. "I think that even if Justine was in the draw, a lot of players would still have had a shot at the title," Sharapova has observed. "This year has been different, results-wise, from last year. I think Justine was the one dominating throughout most of last year, especially in the latter stages. This year it's been a couple of players, including myself. It's a grand slam stage. I think everybody has a chance. You know, I probably sound like a broken record player, but it all comes down to whoever takes chances. Hopefully that will be me."
Sharapova's game is better suited to slicker, quicker grass and hard courts, and trying to win the French Open "is going to be one of the biggest challenges of my career". But last year she had her best result at Roland Garros, when she reached the semi-finals, and that was despite suffering a worse shoulder problem than the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Plus, she had previously reached the quarter-finals on two occasions, in 2004 and 2005. Sharapova is no clay-smeared rookie.
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Last month, Sharapova lifted the first clay-court title of her career when she won at Amelia Island in Florida. She reached the semi-finals in Rome last week, but took the precaution of pulling out of the match because of a calf strain. Still, officials at the women's tour fully expect Sharapova to take her position at the top of the draw.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Maria Sharapova is a model competitor
Tiziana Fabian / AFP / Getty Images
If Maria Sharapova, the reigning Australian Open champion, wins the French Open, she will complete a career Grand Slam and be standing halfway to a 2008 Grand SlamTENNISTiziana Fabian / AFP / Getty Images
If Maria Sharapova, the reigning Australian Open champion, wins the French Open, she will complete a career Grand Slam and be standing halfway to a 2008 Grand Slam.
The Russian is ranked No. 1 and needs only to win the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam at the tender age of 21. She begins her quest Monday.
PARIS -- Suddenly here's Maria Sharapova, veritable supermodel, billboard babe and paparazzi magnet, only one French Open title away from a perpetual perch in the Court-King-Evert-Navratilova-Graf-Serena Williams clouds.
Win this French Open, which she begins today against fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina, and there will be one Siberian-born Floridian joining those names with all the proof of moxie that a rare achievement bestows.
Win this particular French Open, and the reigning Australian Open champion will complete a career Grand Slam, not to mention stand halfway to a 2008 Grand Slam.
It seems a good time to remind everyone of the spectacularly unfair truth that in April, Sharapova turned 21.
"To be quite honest, it's quite amazing to be 21 years old and have somebody tell you that it's the only Grand Slam that you haven't won," Sharapova said.
The just-retired Justine Henin never could quite win Wimbledon, Martina Hingis couldn't quite win the French, Lindsay Davenport hasn't won the French, the great Monica Seles didn't win Wimbledon though she very well might have had a mad idiot not stabbed her during a match in Germany in the spring of 1993. The beautifully eccentric French has denied a horde of males from Boris Becker to Stefan Edberg to Pete Sampras to John McEnroe to Jimmy Connors.
Sharapova? She can win here if her past lends any clues, both her past five years of trying and the past 12 days that featured the startling retirement of Henin, who had owned this event, winning the last three titles and four of the last five.
If Sharapova does win, it will splatter further absurdity over the fact that when she said her loud hello to the world at the 2004 Wimbledon, onlookers initially compared her to Anna Kournikova, another Russian player who spent an inordinate amount of time surrounded by photographers.
While Kournikova famously won precisely zero tournaments, Sharapova said at age 17 during the Wimbledon she won, "I never considered myself a pinup and I never will."
Win this French, and the champion will continue to obstruct the pinup.
She claims, of course, that never winning here wouldn't render her life misspent. She professes only vague interest in the all-four-Slams subject. "It would just -- it would add to what I've already achieved," she said. "I've never -- I've never felt like I had to go out on court and prove anything else. . . .
"To be honest, it would be an incredible addition to your resume or portfolio, but you know, if it's not this year, the career's not ending. I've got many more years ahead of me to try and achieve that and try to win the other Grand Slams as well."
It's clear that what's within must be sturdy stuff, perhaps counterintuitive given a person wildly famous for what's on the surface, the world's most-photographed sportswoman. It all makes the gut-testing open, the French, the ideal last frontier for her tennis trophy collection, which already includes the 2004 Wimbledon, the 2006 U.S. Open and this year's Australian.
She's certainly worthy on Parisian clay, even if she did once say it makes her feel like "a cow on ice."
She started here in 2003, at 16, as a qualifier, and she exited quickly, 6-3, 6-3, to the Spaniard Magui Serna.
In 2004, though, she lurched to the quarterfinals just ahead of her Wimbledon title, and in 2005 she repeated that Paris feat -- she was seeded No. 2 that year -- before slamming into Henin. Dinara Safina foiled her in the fourth round in 2006, and then in 2007, Sharapova made a spectacle of herself.
In the fourth round of a women's event starved for compelling matches, she held off Patty Schnyder, 9-7, in the third set of a match pockmarked with one of those timeout issues. At one point, Schnyder held up her hand for a pause, Sharapova continued serving an ace, the crowd eventually booed Sharapova off the court.
Sharapova came to the interview room and snidely reminded everyone that it's "pretty hard being a tennis player and Mother Teresa at the same time, you know."
On she went to the semifinals, where she weirdly began spraying shots all over the 16th arrondissement against first-time semifinalist Ana Ivanovic in a 6-2, 6-1 wipeout.
The insurmountable Henin would've waited anyway in the final, but now even that wall of preposterous cleverness has toppled, so that Sharapova finds herself ranked No. 1 and seeded No. 1, Henin having asked officials to delete her name because, she said, "I didn't want to see myself in the ranking anymore."
At just about the time Henin phoned the WTA with that, Sharapova had a telltale moment at the intersection of tennis and modeling. She railed at the WTA for lassoing her into a four-hour promotional photo shoot on the cusp of the Italian Open in Rome, before the sides compromised and cut it to 90 minutes.
"In the past . . . I've set a rule for myself that with all my sponsors and everybody that I work with, they know that I don't give that amount of time before such big tournaments as a Tier 1 or a Grand Slam or, as a matter of fact, any other tournament," she said. "The couple of weeks before a tournament are all committed to tennis."
This has grown rather obvious.
Win this French Open, which she begins today against fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina, and there will be one Siberian-born Floridian joining those names with all the proof of moxie that a rare achievement bestows.
It seems a good time to remind everyone of the spectacularly unfair truth that in April, Sharapova turned 21.
"To be quite honest, it's quite amazing to be 21 years old and have somebody tell you that it's the only Grand Slam that you haven't won," Sharapova said.
The just-retired Justine Henin never could quite win Wimbledon, Martina Hingis couldn't quite win the French, Lindsay Davenport hasn't won the French, the great Monica Seles didn't win Wimbledon though she very well might have had a mad idiot not stabbed her during a match in Germany in the spring of 1993. The beautifully eccentric French has denied a horde of males from Boris Becker to Stefan Edberg to Pete Sampras to John McEnroe to Jimmy Connors.
Sharapova? She can win here if her past lends any clues, both her past five years of trying and the past 12 days that featured the startling retirement of Henin, who had owned this event, winning the last three titles and four of the last five.
If Sharapova does win, it will splatter further absurdity over the fact that when she said her loud hello to the world at the 2004 Wimbledon, onlookers initially compared her to Anna Kournikova, another Russian player who spent an inordinate amount of time surrounded by photographers.
While Kournikova famously won precisely zero tournaments, Sharapova said at age 17 during the Wimbledon she won, "I never considered myself a pinup and I never will."
Win this French, and the champion will continue to obstruct the pinup.
She claims, of course, that never winning here wouldn't render her life misspent. She professes only vague interest in the all-four-Slams subject. "It would just -- it would add to what I've already achieved," she said. "I've never -- I've never felt like I had to go out on court and prove anything else. . . .
"To be honest, it would be an incredible addition to your resume or portfolio, but you know, if it's not this year, the career's not ending. I've got many more years ahead of me to try and achieve that and try to win the other Grand Slams as well."
It's clear that what's within must be sturdy stuff, perhaps counterintuitive given a person wildly famous for what's on the surface, the world's most-photographed sportswoman. It all makes the gut-testing open, the French, the ideal last frontier for her tennis trophy collection, which already includes the 2004 Wimbledon, the 2006 U.S. Open and this year's Australian.
She's certainly worthy on Parisian clay, even if she did once say it makes her feel like "a cow on ice."
She started here in 2003, at 16, as a qualifier, and she exited quickly, 6-3, 6-3, to the Spaniard Magui Serna.
In 2004, though, she lurched to the quarterfinals just ahead of her Wimbledon title, and in 2005 she repeated that Paris feat -- she was seeded No. 2 that year -- before slamming into Henin. Dinara Safina foiled her in the fourth round in 2006, and then in 2007, Sharapova made a spectacle of herself.
In the fourth round of a women's event starved for compelling matches, she held off Patty Schnyder, 9-7, in the third set of a match pockmarked with one of those timeout issues. At one point, Schnyder held up her hand for a pause, Sharapova continued serving an ace, the crowd eventually booed Sharapova off the court.
Sharapova came to the interview room and snidely reminded everyone that it's "pretty hard being a tennis player and Mother Teresa at the same time, you know."
On she went to the semifinals, where she weirdly began spraying shots all over the 16th arrondissement against first-time semifinalist Ana Ivanovic in a 6-2, 6-1 wipeout.
The insurmountable Henin would've waited anyway in the final, but now even that wall of preposterous cleverness has toppled, so that Sharapova finds herself ranked No. 1 and seeded No. 1, Henin having asked officials to delete her name because, she said, "I didn't want to see myself in the ranking anymore."
At just about the time Henin phoned the WTA with that, Sharapova had a telltale moment at the intersection of tennis and modeling. She railed at the WTA for lassoing her into a four-hour promotional photo shoot on the cusp of the Italian Open in Rome, before the sides compromised and cut it to 90 minutes.
"In the past . . . I've set a rule for myself that with all my sponsors and everybody that I work with, they know that I don't give that amount of time before such big tournaments as a Tier 1 or a Grand Slam or, as a matter of fact, any other tournament," she said. "The couple of weeks before a tournament are all committed to tennis."
This has grown rather obvious.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
maria sarobova pulled out
Maria Sharapova pulled out of tournament.
Tennis
Sharapova pulls out of Italian Open semifinals: Maria Sharapova of Russia pulled out of the Italian Open semifinals in Rome because of a strained left calf Saturday, two days before she is to assume the No. 1 ranking because of Justine Henin's retirement last week.
Sharapova said the injury would not affect her preparations for the French Open, which begins next weekend.
"I don't think so. It's a strain," she said. "They said I need maybe three days off before they test it again."
Sharapova had been scheduled to play defending champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. In today's final, Jankovic will meet Alize Cornet of France.
Cornet, 18, became the first female qualifier to reach the Italian Open final in several decades by defeating sixth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
On Friday, American Serena Williams withdrew from the quarterfinals with a back problem.
Federer, Nadal reach Hamburg Masters final: Rafael Nadal of Spain beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 to protect his No. 2 world ranking and advance to the Hamburg Masters final in Germany against the world's top-ranked player.
Nadal will face No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland in today's final, a rematch of last year's championship match in which Federer won his fourth Hamburg title and ended Nadal's' 81-match winning streak on clay — his lone win over Nadal on the relatively slow surface.
Federer overwhelmed Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 6-1.
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