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
I love playing in front of the New York City fans. But fighting New York City traffic is the worst.
I fell ill during the trip from Tokyo to Paris,
I just kind of ran out of gas, basically.
In the beginning of the match I wanted to dictate from the first point, I think it was very important. In the second set obviously it was very tough, but I was able to finish it off.
It's good to finish the year with a win. But I didn't want to win like that.
Not many people can say that they're No. 1 in the world, ... If I can have it for an hour, for a week, just the fact that you're No. 1 is an amazing feeling.
I'm not the biggest fan. I'd rather watch something else than tennis.
You're playing a great champion, someone that's obviously achieved a lot in her career. And she's still young. Any opponent that I see across the net, I cannot think about whether they're terrible or they're great. I can't put that in my mind.
You don't want to pull out because it's a Grand Slam, but it's hard when people expect you to win.
I do not have revenge on my mind, but I don't like losing to the same player twice in a row. Martina played some amazing tennis in Tokyo, but it is a different match tomorrow.
I wasn't fighting out there in the second set, ... I wasn't the Maria you usually see, fighting for every single point.
Oh God, I don't know what I'm doing here right now, ... I'm so excited to be in the semis, it's an amazing feeling.
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.
I focused in the third set and won it. I'll need to play better than I played today.