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Brisbane 2014 Report: Sharapova and Sven are Clicking

546

By Matt Cronin

28th December 2013

FROM TENNISREPORTERS.NET’S MATT CRONIN IN BRISBANE:

Four-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova hasn’t played match since early August and arrived in Brisbane with two new team members, coach Sven Groeneveld and physio Jerome Bianchi. Sharapova split with her coach of two and half years , Thomas Hogstedt, right after Wimbledon and then had a briefly experiment with former No. 1 Jimmy Connors, which didn’t work out for a few reasons, one because they had had a different idea of which style she should play, and two, because she was so upset that her shoulder was aching that she couldn’t listen to anyone.

Groeneveld has worked with a slew of top players including Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki, and Andy Murray, among others. The Dutchman seems to suit Sharapova personality as he is calm, well mannered and smart. She is already impressed and is optimistic about their future..

“From the first time we met I really liked what he had to say,” Sharapova said of Groeneveld. “ He came in as a very experienced person, player. He started from the very beginning of the game, and one of the things I’ve always liked in a coach is when he coached against me ‑ and he’s been there for many years coaching against me ‑ and I like when someone comes in and is honest and truthful and says it like it is. He’s that. He puts it all out on the table. He’s a team player. He works with everyone on my team, something I was missing for a little bit of time.”

At the age of 26 and entering her 12th full time year on the tour, Sharapova knows what she wants out of her team. She believes she is headed in the right direction, even though she admits that last summer, when she brought in Connors, her head wasn’t in the right place because her shoulder was aching and she could all but sense that her season was over. During the off season, Groeneveld spoke to her in the right way and she has opened her mind to at least some changes.

“Ultimately it’s not always someone that’s going to come in and change something drastically,” said Sharapova, who will face Caroline Garcia in the first round. “I always thought a different person can come in and give you similar words to what the previous person says, but for some reason it just clicks differently in your mind and you go out and execute differently than before. You have to realize that when that stalls, you have to get that going again, get the engine going if you just stop and feel like you’re at a standstill. I got everything I could out of Thomas. He came in at the very right time in my career. He got me going and got me motivated. But I’m excited at the things that Sven can bring to the table as well.”

Match of the day

Aussie teenager Ashleigh Barty fought off five match points and Kiki Bertens 2-6, 6-3 7-5 to qualify for the tournament for the first time.

Injury Watch

Caroline Wozniacki’s pull out of her first tournament of the year with a shoulder injury is not good news for the Dane, even though she played it down.

The former No. 1 began to feel some shoulder pain before heading Down Under and it got worse in practice in Brisbane. She planned to head to Sydney for the Apia International on Saturday to rest and rehab and says there is no structural damage to her arm, but even if she finds her way to Melbourne, it’s possible she will be missing much needed match play. “I still feel confident about the season and want to be able to play at 100 percent when I start,” she said.

Quote of the day

Sharapova on her relationship with her boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov:

“Of course we share a lot of the same things just because we have an elephant in the room that’s called tennis. But there are so many other things to life that are besides tennis, and there are a lot more things to discuss than forehands and backhands and strings and racquets, which we share similar ideas and things of. Yeah, that’s been really nice.”

What to Watch for on Monday

World No. 2 Victoria Azarenka will return to Brisbane, where last year she caused a stir by pulling out of her semifinal against her rival Serena Williams due what she described a bad pedicure, which was nicknamed “Pedicure Gate.” Azarenka admitted to being burned out and tired during the 2013 WTA Championships and may not be 100 percent fit just two weeks before she has to defend her Australian Open title.

Men’s main draw play in Brisbane begins on Monday. Top seed Roger Federer spent his Sunday morning kissing Koalas for the TV cameras and his afternoon practicing on an outside court in front of packed house in temperatures that topped 90 degrees.

 

Sharapova says shoulder feels good; she's not mentoring Dimitrov

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2013

BY MATT CRONIN

TAGS:Grigor Dimitrov Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova say that her right shoulder injury has fully healed and that she feels fit for the 2014 season. The four-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t played a match since early August in Cincinnati and has spent the off-season rehabbing her once surgically-repaired right shoulder.

“It's been really good,” Sharapova said at the Brisbane International, where she will face Caroline Garcia in the first round. “I've had a really healthy off‑season, something quite unusual, because in the last few years I always had a little injury here and there. So that was nice, because I gave myself time to recover and get better.

“I think as a team we structured it really good. I knew from the moment I withdraw from the [U.S.] Open that I was going to give myself the right amount of time that I needed. Whether that was a week, a month, a few months, I didn't know. Nobody really knew. I've played with an injured shoulder for a while, so it was really important for me to take that time.”

Sharapova sometimes travels to tournaments with her boyfriend of more than a year, ATP player Grigor Dimitrov, who is four years her junior. Former No. 1 Sharapova says that she does not mentor the Bulgarian on court, even though he is a far less experienced player.

“He's not going to like that question,” she said with a laugh when asked whether she was tutoring him. “Maybe I've been on the tour for longer, but he's played this sport for a very long time—since he was a little kid. He knows what to do probably better than I do.”

The 26-year-old Sharapova said that that two do occasionally discuss their sport.

“Of course we share a lot of the same things just because we have an elephant in the room that's called tennis,” she said. “But there are so many other things to life besides tennis, and there are a lot more things to discuss than forehands and backhands and strings and racquets, which we share similar ideas and things of. Yeah, that's been really nice.”

 

TennisReporters.net

By Matt Cronin

FROM THE BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL: Four-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova hasn't played match since early August and arrived in Brisbane with two new team members, coach Sven Groeneveld and physio Jerome Bianchi. Sharapova split with her coach of two and half years , Thomas Hogstedt, right after Wimbledon and then had a briefly experiment with former No. 1 Jimmy Connors, which didn't work out for a few reasons, one because they had had a different idea of which style she should play, and two, because she was so upset that her shoulder was aching that she couldn't listen to anyone.

Groeneveld has worked with a slew of top players including Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki, and Andy Murray, among others. The Dutchman seems to suit Sharapova personality as he is calm, well mannered and smart. She is already impressed and is optimistic about their future..

“From the first time we met I really liked what he had to say,” Sharapova said of Groeneveld. “ He came in as a very experienced person, player. He started from the very beginning of the game, and one of the things I've always liked in a coach is when he coached against me ‑ and he's been there for many years coaching against me ‑ and I like when someone comes in and is honest and truthful and says it like it is.He's that. He puts it all out on the table.

He puts it all out on the table. He's a team player. He works with everyone on my team, something I was missing for a little bit of time.”

At the age of 26 and entering her 12th full time year on the tour, Sharapova knows what she wants out of her team. She believes she is headed in the right direction, even though she admits that last summer, when she brought in Connors, her head wasn't in the right place because her shoulder was aching and she could all but sense that her season was over. During the off season, Groeneveld spoke to her in the right way and she has opened her mind to at least some changes.

“Ultimately it's not always someone that's going to come in and change something drastically,” said Sharapova, who will face Caroline Garcia in the first round. “I always thought a different person can come in and give you similar words to what the previous person says, but for some reason it just clicks differently in your mind and you go out and execute differently than before. You have to realize that when that stalls, you have to get that going again, get the engine going if you just stop and feel like you're at a standstill. I got everything I could out of Thomas. He came in at the very right time in my career. He got me going and got me motivated. But I'm excited at the things that Sven can bring to the table as well.”...

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