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 think today I played much better, especially in the first set, than in my first match on Wednesday,
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.
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.
I actually felt pretty good. I'm really happy about it because that's one of the first times I played a match without feeling anything. You know, I don't expect it to be that like for the whole tournament. So I'm very happy I got through that one without any pain.
I focused in the third set and won it. I'll need to play better than I played today.
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.
She's played a lot of matches on clay, she feels the ball, she sees the ball well,
Of course, it's a surprise, but Kim has not played in a while, and it's hard to come back and play your best tennis. I just knew I had to worry about my match.
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.
A couple of points in the third set made a difference to the end result, ... When I was 1-5 down, I played very relaxed and tied the score but at 5-all, she held her serve after she had a couple of lucky points and it turned her way. I should forget this loss because I had two good weeks in Russia and will take positive things from my game today.
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.
I knew she was a strong player and played well in Beijing but I must admit I just wasn't myself on the court today,
I just made it quick. I played very solid and took it to her from the very start.