TENNIS – Maria Sharapova crowned a fabulous week-end last Sunday when she scored a hat-trick of consecutive wins on Indoor at the Porsche Indoor Grand Prix in Stuttgart in the same day as her boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov won the third ATP title of his career in Bucharest. Sharapova celebrated the first win of the season and her third win in the Baden Wittenberg city with her new Porsche car after beating Ana Ivanovic in three sets. Sharapova has developed into the most successful player on clay, a surface over which she once felt uncomfortable. She even described her movement on clay as reminiscent of a “cow on ice”. After conquering Stuttgart she is chasing the second Stuttgart-Rome-Paris hat-trick of her career Diego Sampaolo
With her third win in Stuttgart Sharapova has confirmed her ability to play great matches on the clay surface where she has collected 17 career titles. She has become the active player with the best clay-court winning percentage on tour. Masha has won six of her last eight tournaments on clay including an impressive hat-trick of titles in 2012 in Stuttgart, Rome and the Roland Garros.
Her recent dominance on clay comes as a surprise especially considering that she did not win a single tournament on this surface until 2008 when she celebrated her first title on green clay in Amelia Island. She even described her own movement on clay as reminiscent of a cow on ice.
However that title was followed by a tough period marked marked by a serious shoulder injury which sidelined her from August 2008 until March 2009. Sharapova struggled to return to her old form for two years until 2011 when she reached the semifinal at the Roland Garros. In that tournament the Siberian star survived a big scare in the second round against Caroline Garcia when she rallied from a 3-6 1-4 deficit winning 11 games in a row. She then lost to eventual winner Li Na but she enjoyed a great 12-2 clay record in 2011. This was just the beginning of a fantastic period crowned by her first Roland Garros triumph over Sara Errani in June 2012. With her win in the French capital Sharapova completed the Career Grand Slam after her previous wins at Wimbledon in 2004, at the US Open in 2006 and at the Australian Open in 2008.
“I have had very different phases in my career. I have had one when I was young and winning Grand Slam tournaments at 17 years old. Then I had another period, going through a tough injury and climbing myself back up to the top, and then winning another Grand Slam. This year, after another injury with the shoulder, I am finding myself again in a bit of a comeback”, said Sharapova.
The keys of her most recent success on clay are her fighting spirit and her ability to recover from the verge of defeat as she showed in the Stuttgart final on Sunday afternoon when she rallied from a 3-6 1-3 deficit against Ana Ivanovic. The Serbian former World Number 1 and 2008 Roland Garros champion had a point for 4-1 in the second set before Sharapova battled back to win the match in three sets with 3-6 6-4 6-1 to clinch her 30th career title. During last week Sharapova faced a serious challenge when she managed to win a dramatic first round match against Lucie Safarova in which she was forced to three tie-breaks.
“For the first half of the final match aganst Ivanovic I thought it might not be my day today but somehow I managed to turn around the match. I had quite a slow start to the year but I have been working with my team to get in the position to win titles again and I am happy to be able to do it in Stuttgart. I feel like I am a small part of the Porsche family. It’s been an incredible few years at this tournament”, said Sharapova after the final in Stuttgart.
“Moments like this, winning in Stuttgart, are very special because that’s what you work so hard for, trying to win from the first point to the last one of a tournament. I am really proud I did that here. I just want to build on what I have started here. It’s still a long way to go into the French Open. I have a couple of tournaments. I have a couple of tournaments, but I hope to play better with each match that goes by from here on”, said Sharapova
Another factor which has contributed to her success on clay is her mental strength, especially during the long rallies and long matches.
After a relative slow start to her 2014 campaign, the third Stuttgart triumph of her career could turn around Sharapova’s season ahead of big clay tournaments on clay like the Mutua Open in Madrid, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and the Roland Garros in Paris.
