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 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.
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.
Reaching the No. 1 ranking has been a lifelong goal of mine, and achieving it here in Los Angeles would have been a dream come true. I am eager to get back to feeling 100 percent healthy and playing as soon as possible.
That wasn't really a match for me. I was already in the semis, so I just wanted to save my energy. Obviously, she must be playing great tennis but I just need to go out there and step it up if I want to be in the semis.
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.
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.
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.
I think for tennis players it would make our lives a lot easier.
I thought I played really well, ... I was in control for most of the match.
I'm so excited to be here, to be one of the top eight girls, ... It's great to be playing where the (Los Angeles) Lakers play. You just feel the excitement. I know I went out there and played my game. I was on.
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.
She's playing pretty well to beat the No. 1 player. It will be my job to stop her.
She's played a lot of matches on clay, she feels the ball, she sees the ball well,
She played like she had nothing to lose, and it's dangerous to play those kind of players. I didn't really feel great out there today, but I did a very good job at the end.