Why you can pencil in Sharapova as the favorite in Singapore
Peter Bodo, Tennis
Выставил эту статью только потому, что автор Бодо.
Я несколько раз спорил с ним, когда он выставлял статьи против Марии. Он не любит Марию давно. Если не ошибаюсь, в 2006 и 2007 году были наши самые горячие разговоры, потому что тогда он позволял себе многое против Марии.
Я прочитал эту статью, не зная, кто ее автор, и решил не выставлять ее в блоге. Но когда увидел, что ее написал Бодо, сразу изменил мое решение.
Удивительно, но факт - Бодо утверждает, что Мария является фаворитом для титула ИЧ.
Разумеется, Бодо не упускает возможность говорить о Серене и ее победах против Марии.
Бодо никогда не простит Марию за то, что она не хочет быть американкой и, зная его хорошо, мне трудно поверить в его искренность, когда он писал эту статью. Но выставил ее, и у Вас есть возможность самим оценить ее.
Why you can pencil in Sharapova as the favorite in Singapore
There's one thing no amount of absence from tennis can quench -- and that's competitive drive. In fact, having to sit idle as others soak up the rewards and accolades probably stokes the inner fires of the true warrior.
And Maria Sharapova is nothing if not a true warrior.
That's why you can pencil her in as the favorite to win the WTA Finals. True, the injury-plagued 28-year-old Russian has completed just one match since she lost in the Wimbledon semifinals. (That was Sunday at WTA finals in Singapore.) But here are three reasons why Sharapova could salvage what might otherwise have been a lost year with a big win in Singapore:
• Who's not here: It's a two-word explanation, Serena Williams. Sharapova is 2-18 against Williams, who's taking a pass on this event.
• Who is here: Only two other women in the field have won Grand Slam tournaments. Petra Kvitova is a two-time Wimbledon champion, but she's notoriously inconsistent. She already lost her opening round-robin match to Angelique Kerber. The other Grand Slam champ is Flavia Pennetta, the 33-year-old surprise winner of the 2015 US Open. Pennetta also lost her first round-robin match this week.
• Experience: This is Sharapova's eighth WTA Finals. She won once (2004) and made two other finals, most recently in 2012. She knows what an enormous opportunity this is with Williams out of the picture, and she's seasoned enough not to blow it.
But the overarching theme here is Sharapova's superiority as a competitor -- an advantage that only Williams has been able to demolish. Sharapova demonstrated her determination again in her opening match Sunday, surviving a 2-hour, 45-minute struggle with surging, match-hardened Agnieszka Radwanska to win in three agonizing sets.
That was Sharapova third win against Radwanska in a three-set marathon at the WTA Finals. Significantly, the winner played the break points better (defending as well as attacking), which suggests Sharapova had little trouble dialing in her confidence.
"This is my first completed match since July," an ecstatic Sharapova told the press after the win. "So it's a pretty big deal for me. ... I'm so happy at this point, but it's one match down. I still have a few more to go."
There's no reason Sharapova shouldn't be able to find that same mental groove in her next match, against the top finisher in the race, Simona Halep. Sharapova is unbeaten in five matches against Halep. More importantly, Sharapova seems to lift her game in exactly those same key moments, and for those same major occasions when Halep allows her own to decline.
That generalization helps explains how Halep could have lost to Pennetta at the US Open, only to rebound and absolutely crush the Italian in the first round-robin segment in Singapore, 6-0, 6-3.
The score looks awfully good. But in a way it's also a built-in rebuke of Halep as a big-match player.
Of course, anything can happen. And if Sharapova has a flaw, it's that her uber-aggressive game contains very little margin for error. On an off day, or even during a bad patch during a match she wins, she can look awful. She looks terrible far more frequently than you'd think possible for a person of her accomplishments. But she fights through even those bad patches, never giving up, always appearing to be in charge.
The round-robin format works in Sharapova's favor, as it helps any player whose standard fluctuates. You can afford to lose a match before the knockout, semifinal stage. It's a boon for Sharapova this year because she's in the weaker Red Group along with Halep, Pennetta and Radwanska. It's difficult to imagine Sharapova losing two of those three matches under any circumstances now that she's revealed the state of her game.
The most dangerous rival for her in either group could well be the one with whom Sharapova has the least amount of history, the White Group's 22-year-old youngster and WTA Finals debutante, Garbine Muguruza. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
As Sharapova told the press the other day: "To fight hard and be able to win the match in the end, it means so much to me."
Almost as much as not having to worry about an injury.
Or the specter of Serena Williams.
>
Просмотров всех постов блога на эту неделю:
Просмотров всех постов блога в октябре 2015 года:
Просмотров всех постов блога в 2015 году:
