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 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,
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.
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.
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.
In the second set, mentally I wasn't there and I didn't have any motivation. I wasn't fighting, I basically gave up.
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.