Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova; born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player. A United States resident since 1994, Sharapova has competed on the WTA tour since 2001. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the WTA on five separate occasions, for a total of 21 weeks. She is one of ten women, and the only Russian, to hold the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist, having earned silver for Russia in women's singles...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth19 April 1987
CityNyagan, Russia
CountryRussian Federation
This is something I've dreamed of all my life, ... It's just an amazing fact to be No. 1 in world. Topping it off, I am the first Russian. I'm so excited that I could achieve it.
Oh God, I don't know what I'm doing here right now, ... I'm so excited to be in the semis, it's an amazing feeling.
A couple of points in the third set made a difference to the end result, ... When I was 1-5 down, I played very relaxed and tied the score but at 5-all, she held her serve after she had a couple of lucky points and it turned her way. I should forget this loss because I had two good weeks in Russia and will take positive things from my game today.
As a player, I want to know that line calls are as accurate as technology will allow. In that sense, today's announcement is great news for all players.
That's why I play tennis, because I want to be number one, not because I want to be number 10, ... If you don't want to be number one in the world, then there is no reason for you even to start.
Do you remember what Richard III said about wearing the crown?
Right now the most important thing to become number one is to be healthy and ready to play. When you are healthy and happy, then you perform your best, so that's very important that I'm healthy.
That's not the way I like to win matches, but anything can happen in tennis.
That's makes it even tougher but that's what it's all about. That's why we're here, for the competition. I love it when it gets tough.
You're playing a great champion, someone that's obviously achieved a lot in her career. And she's still young. Any opponent that I see across the net, I cannot think about whether they're terrible or they're great. I can't put that in my mind.
You never know what to expect in the first round. I did enough to win and I'm pretty satisfied.
You practice hard and work on a lot of things, but the actual competition is totally different. I was just trying to get in a groove.
It was very difficult, I've played Nadia in the last two Grand Slams in the quarter-finals as well and we've had such tough matches and I've been able to pull through so I'm very happy.
It was tough today, she was hitting winners off both sides and I couldn't put two points together. I was a little tired from my previous matches.