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
Ive been playing against older and stronger competition my whole life. It has made me a better tennis player and able to play against this kind of level despite their strength and experience.
You can be playing great tennis the past week, you come out and no matter how good you might have been playing, the level of tennis goes down the drain simply because of the wind.
When the matches get tougher and you're pushed more, automatically, the level of your game increases.
Women's tennis is at such a high level now that any of the top 10 or 20 players could give me a tough match. Martina is on her comeback and no doubt will reach the top again but I don't have a specific rival here.
I played great tennis this week. It was a tremendous effort for me to be able to play two really tough matches yesterday and still play a high level of tennis today. In the first set it was just one or two balls didn't go my way I guess, and then after that I was physically tired from yesterday.
I'm going to be busy these next several weeks rehabbing, training and getting healthy so that I can play my very best for myself, the fans, tournaments and sponsors in 2006. I tried my best to fight through my injuries during the season, but I now realize that I need to take some time off to rest my body and get back to being 100 percent healthy. I look forward to regaining my form and playing at the same highly competitive level that I have in the past. This has been such a disappointing year for me because I'm such a competitive person and I like to win for myself and for my fans.
The score doesn't say much about the match,
I've said this like 30 times. I feel like I'm saying it again. The physical part of my game is very important right now. It's what I'm working on. That's what's been improving. I mean, if you look at me a year ago, I don't think I was at this point physically. It didn't take five days, it didn't take a month. It took a whole year to progress and get better.
It would be amazing if I could win here as it's the toughest Grand Slam to win, just because of the traffic.
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.
It was very frustrating because tournament after a tournament, I'd be working hard, I'd be trying to get back in shape, and all of a sudden my injury would bring me down again.
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.
It was tough. I couldn't put two points together. I was tired from my previous match, and now I need some time off.