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
When I'm down or when it's close in a match, I feel like I am still in it. Mentally I'm still really, really tough.
Women's tennis players are getting as many sponsors and media coverage as men, and our TV ratings at the Grand Slams are pretty much equal to and often better than the men, so I don't understand the rationale for paying the men more than us.
When it's that hot, just mentally you've got to be so tough.
Mentally it was pretty tough, when you know you've got a very patient opponent and you know that it's really hot out there.
I feel like I'm mentally tougher out there,
I don't think the scores showed anything, it was physically and mentally so challenging to play against her today. We were fighting for everything.
I played really well in the first set but then I just got too comfortable. I wasn't physically tired but mentally I was coasting. I just had to get myself together mentally and fight for it.
In the second set, mentally I wasn't there and I didn't have any motivation. I wasn't fighting, I basically gave up.
Wow! It's absolutely amazing, I can't believe I pulled this match out today,
When I do that, it means I'm not going to miss the ball.
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.
Overall I'm happy to get through the match, but it definitely wasn't the best match I played,
Physically it was very difficult to keep up with Svetlana today. I just wasn't physically ready to run down a lot of balls.
Martina's return gives a lot of excitement to the game. Definitely she hasn't played for a long time, but I think everyone is very excited.