25 апреля 2015, 06:47 5 мин.

Another one bites the dust: Maria Sharapova jokes about Porsches and smashing racquets

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by Ros Satar

Posted 24 April 2015

Stuttgart, Germany - It was no doubt a disappointing loss for Maria Sharapova, to exit almost a two and a half hour battle with home crowd favourite Angelique Kerber.

Sharapova was, of course, quick to acknowledge that Kerber had successfully arrested a decline in her fortunes that had started after a promising start to the Australian swing at the start of the year. Her first two tournaments saw her reach the quarter-finals of Brisbane and Sydney semi-finals before a surprising first round loss at the Australian Open. With no back to back wins until Charleston, where she won the title, Kerber had dropped from the Top 10.

By contrast Sharapova stared the year brightly with the Brisbane title and losing to Serena Williams in the final of the Australian Open. The spring hard court season was a different matter, withdrawal due to illness in Acapulco in the semi-final before losing to defending Indian Wells champion Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round. Things got worse with a second round loss to Daria Gavrilova and a leg injury that meant she could not travel back to Sochi, where Russia were playing host to Germany in the Fed Cup semi-final.

Sharapova said: “True to say that a week ago, I didn’t even know whether I was going to play here. I didn’t know where my condition or my tennis would be. I haven’t spent a lot of time on the court and that’s what I’m lacking.

“I have a lot of time in front of me to get that back and to build a good base and start fresh. I’ve always done very well when I set a good block for myself. I ran out of time a little bit, definitely for Fed Cup and maybe here.

“But I really wanted to give myself a chance. I had a Bye and asked for a Thursday start to give myself that extra day. But ultimately it’s okay. The great thing is that I’m healthy and I know once I get that time on the court, in those moments, I feel a little bit better.”

It is no exaggeration to say that Sharapova quite literally threw herself into the match, even going sprawling chasing a ball down. But despite the obvious disappointment and frustration we saw a funny side to someone who obviously felt a lot was riding on this match (and we don’t just mean a ride in a very nice car!)

“Oh, I always end up tumbling (laughter). It’s really nothing. I’m so used to it (laughs). Another one bites the dust (laughs). I’d love to sit here and talk about positive stuff in the match, but that’s never really easy. I can mention a lot of things that went wrong in the moment. I think looking at it and where I was, I’d feel that I can take some positives out of it.”

If she had been frustrated on court, she had hidden it well. As Kerber seemed to do no wrong, quickly building up a double break cushion in the final set, Sharapova took to shadow swinging her racquet which prompted a question as to whether she was more tempted to crack the hell out of the racquet instead.

She joked: “I’d like to break rackets much more often (laughs). It’s in me, I know it (laughs). I don’t know, I’m just scared for my sponsor (laughter). I think with other players they just have so many rackets and with me, I think they just have twenty for the whole year (laughs). I don’t know what they would do (laughs). No, that is not my way of getting anger out.”

The wonder of this tournament is the casual placement of any number of Porsche models, and while the rest of us happily drive less salubrious models in our real lives, we could not help but ask what was more disappointing – not getting the better of Kerber, or missing a new car – after all she already had a white one.

She said: “I know, I know. I wish it was yellow (laughs). That’s okay, I have a few (laughs). I let someone have it (laughs). I’m so nice (laughs). I would have loved a fourth one. But it’s alright. There is always next year,” adding “There is always room for another [garage] (smiles). They are not cheap those garages (laughs), more expensive than the car (laughs).”

For the tournament director Markus Guenthard though, it was a win-win on Thursday night with an almost full capacity crowd. Sure he lost the biggest star, but a German win, and an engaging new World No. 2 sets the scene for a thrilling finish.

http://www.live-tennis.com/category/wta-tennis/another-one-bites-the-dust-maria-sharapova-jokes-about-porsches-and-smashing-racquets-201504240031/