Sharapova back to business

Выставил статью Wayne Heming и Darren Waltonм, потому что содержит часть ответов Марии во время пресс-конференции сегодня.

    December 31, 2012 - 4:06PM

Wayne Heming and Darren Walton

It's back to reality for Maria Sharapova after the Russian pin-up spent a refreshing few weeks reflecting on the crowning glory of her celebrated career.

Sharapova admitted to enjoying some rare and blissful down time at her Florida base over Christmas before launching her summer assault at the Brisbane International.

The most photographed women's athlete on the planet said 2013 - which featured winning the French Open to complete her grand slam sweep - was probably the most demanding year yet on tour.

"I had a really nice off-season and just time to reflect on the year that passed," Sharapova said ahead of her Tuesday clash with Australian wildcard Jarmila Gajdosova.

"Every year is such a cycle. You go from tournament to tournament and, even when you achieve something like winning a grand slam, all of a sudden back to back you're back in London and ready to play Wimbledon.

"You're not really given a chance to reflect on what you achieved.

"So it was really nice to come home and have a little bit of a break.

"This was probably the busiest year for me in terms of match play and travelling, so having that chance to really reflect on the year and what you achieved and coming back from shoulder surgery and winning the French Open as my first grand slam was really nice.

"Certainly reflecting on this gives me a lot of motivation going into this year."

The world No.2 admitted reigning on the Parisian clay may have been her greatest triumph.

"It was the grand slam that was going to take a little bit longer than the others for me," she said.

"I knew that physically I needed a few extra years to get stronger to move more efficiently on that surface, to get my body ready to recover match after match, which was something I struggled with maybe years before that."

Besides winning the French Open, Sharapova said being the first woman to carry the Russian flag at an Olympics was the other highlight of a bumper 2012 season.

The 25-year-old also reached the Australian Open and Olympics finals - but now it's back to business.

Reflection time is over.

With the depth of women's tennis probably at an all-time high, Sharapova said "a bit of a short-term memory" was required heading into a new season.

"It's a much stronger sport," she said.

"The biggest change that I see is maybe five years ago you go into a tournament and you would treat the first couple of rounds as, not as a warm-up, but you don't have to go into the first round thinking, 'Okay, this is where I really have to play my best tennis'.

"Now it's certainly much different because you can be facing an opponent that's had good results, beaten top players, but hasn't been consistent enough but is really tough, tough player."

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-sport/sharapova-back-to-business-20121231-2c2h4.html