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It's up to Maria to be the clay court boss
6/4/2012 12:00:00 AM
By Matt Cronin
PARIS - Maria Sharapova could just as easily win her first Roland Garros title or lose in the next week, because as WTA fans have discovered over the past nine days, no high seed is safe anymore.
On paper, the No. 2 seed should be able to muscle her way through her next three matches. But just look at how many racquet brackets been shattered with the exits of No.1 Victoria Azarenka, 13-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, and now defending champion Li Na, who played avacuous and error strewn tennis the last two sets in her 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 loss to the charged up qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova on Monday. Third-seed Agnieszka Radwanska is also gone, as are last year's semifinalist Marion Bartoli of France, and former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki.
But the simple fact that Sharapova needed over three hours to take apart the hard-hitting Czech Klara Zakopalova 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2 should indicate to the tennis world that despite her generally excellent form over the past seven weeks, Sharapova can be had if an opponent puts on rousing performance.
Sharapova certainly has the capability of crushing the rest of the field, but it's not as if the players remaining are a bunch of weak-kneed kids. Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova remains in Sharapova's side of the draw, and US Open champion Sam Stosur is lurking on the other side, along with the rising German Angelique Kerber, the fiery Dominica Cibulkova and the quick and steady Sara Errani -- all of whom are seeds.
"I think that's just a really wrong way to look at things," Sharapova said when asked about Williams early exit." If you're thinking like that, then you're at a big disadvantage, because no matter who you play - you have to play at a high level. You can't worry about if it's Serena or somebody else across the net. You have to beat them. So if somebody beat her to get to that point, then they're playing great and you have to go and try and beat them."
Despite rarely being able to hold serve against Zakopalova, Sharapova looked very good off the ground when she had her nose in front of points. She can really hustle now, but despite now understanding the value of defense, her best chance at winning her first French crown is to be dictating the majority of the time. She is returning serve ferociously and broke Zakopalova 12 times, but she herself was broken nine times. Part of that had to do with the fact that it was the first cold, drizzly and windy day in Paris, but part of that also had to do with her lack of location when serving.
"She's dangerous," Sharapova said." She can play well because first of all, she's had very good wins, so she's confident. On top of that, when she hits the ball, I think somedays she goes out there and goes for it, and it seems like everything just goes in and the ball stays so low over the net. But I came out strong in the third set, and I guess that's really what matters and it's nice to be in the quarters again."
If one looks at photos of Sharapova pre-2008 shoulder surgery and now, you'll notice how much more muscle she has put on her legs and arms. She has spent a lot of time over the past four years working on fitness, and at the age of 25, she doesn't look like a stick blowing across a clay court when she gets into long matches like she did back when Dinara Safina beat her up in Paris in 2006 and 2008.
She also has a better sense of when to push herself and when not to.
"I felt like I would always have to save myself, because knowing that it's seven matches, I never felt like I recovered that well," said Sharapova who has lost during the second week of Roland Garros on seven previous occasions. "But I think with experience and just being physically stronger, I'm much better at that."
Anyone who knows Sharapova realizes that she likes to have input on her career and is very aware of what's going on around her when it comes to issues and people she is concerned about. On this trip, she has brought along her coach, Thomas Hogstedt, her physical therapist Juan Reque, a hitting partner in Cecil Mamiit and her mother, Yelena. Everyone plays role, but at times only one person [her] can be the boss.
"I'd like to think so, but it never works," she said with as smile. "It just depends if we're deciding on tournaments or exhibitions or events. My dad is very involved with those decisions, and some things I like to be in control of. Other things, I just really don't care and they tell me what to do."
Sharapova is pretty open minded, but her previous coaches and Hogstedt have found that during matches, she can check out on what they discussed beforehand. She has become a pretty good mid-match thinker and is not the 17-year-old who won Wimbledon by just smoking the ball where they ain't, but she's not going to bring an NFL-sized playbook on court.
"I'm useless with game plans. That's probably the one thing [Thomas] just gets so frustrated with me about. I go out there and I do my own thing, and then after the match, he's like, 'Really? I mean, what's the point of having me?' But I apologized when I hired him in advance, so he's okay."
Sharapova will face Estonian Kaia Kanepi in thequarterfinals, who can rock the ball. The two have never played before and one would have like three-time Grand Slam champ Sharapova's chances based on experience alone.
Then she might have to face Kvitova, who beat her in the Wimbledon final, but whom she has taken down twice this year in the Aussie Open semis and in Rome.
She is three big wins from going around the block at the majors and winning the career Grand Slam, something since the start of the Open Era in 1968, only five others have achieved: Margaret Court, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Serena.
But to Sharapova, it's winning the world's most significant clay court title that would mean the most, as she would show herself and the rest of the planet that she is no longer a gawky girl with big feet who is bound to trip in the red mud.
"If I didn't have any Grand Slams, it would mean a lot to win on its own," she said. "I don't need all the other things. It's such a big event and one that I've always wanted to be a champion at. It's still a goal of mine and something I look forward to. But not because it's not the one I haven't won, but because it's Roland Garros and you want to win it."
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Matt Cronin is a senior writer for Inside Tennis magazine, and the co-owner of the award winning TennisReporters.net. He writes the Ticker for Tennis.com, contributes regularly to Reuters, and is a radio analyst for all the Grand Slams. He just published the book, “Epic: John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and the Greatest Tennis Season Ever.”
