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
It was up and down. I felt a little awkward in some situations because I haven't been match tough lately. I'm absolutely exhausted.
I was moving quite well in the first set and then second set I felt a little sloppy, ... You know, played a sloppy game at 4-2 serving with the wind, made a few easy errors. But other than that, came back strong. She hits pretty flat, so it was a little different compared to the other opponents I played in previous matches.
I won the first set, and I felt like for some reason, it was over,
Obviously, I felt a little tired but that's normal after playing four straight weeks. I mean, I'm not gonna feel great. My body's not gonna feel great. That's absolutely normal. But I just have to give it all I had, and I tried. But, you know, at the end of the day, just come up short. That's all right.
I felt pretty good out there, ... I was hitting pretty solid, doing the right things, serving well, putting pressure on her.
I felt I could break her any time. I know people are hungry to beat me after I won Wimbledon but I love beating them too.
I twisted my ankle early on and I felt it a little bit. I was a little bit distracted but it got better game by game after that,
When the points started getting longer and longer, I felt that she had the advantage.
There were a lot of ups and downs. There were times when I felt like couldn't make anything.
I was in that period right after I won Wimbledon, ... The next four months, I felt like I had to win every match. It's a matter of telling yourself that it's impossible to win everything ? no matter what people say. You can't control people's actions. My big thing is to just keep working hard. Because one day, you're going to be on court and you'll win a match and realize that the hard work paid off. That's exactly what I did last year. I lost here and I worked my butt off.
I actually felt pretty good. I'm really happy about it because that's one of the first times I played a match without feeling anything. You know, I don't expect it to be that like for the whole tournament. So I'm very happy I got through that one without any pain.
I just felt like I was late and couldn't find my rhythm.
I felt really good. It feels good to get back into action. It's good to be back on the court competing. That's where I belong.
I knew it was going to be tough. I came out hitting a lot of winners. I felt like I was playing great. After the second set, I didn't feel like I was there. I felt like I was making too many errors. I managed to get it back (in the third set).