TENNIS WTA Stuttgart – M. Sharapova d A. Ivanovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. An interview with Maria Sharapova.
If you could give your 17-year old self a piece of advice now, after what you have achieved today, what would it be?
That’s a tough question.
I spent three sets thinking that up.
Well, as always whether you’re 17 or 20 or 27 I think the journey is never ending and you always have to commit your best efforts to everything that you do. I’ve had very different phases in my career. I’ve had one when I was young and winning Grand Slams at 17 years old. Then I had a period going through a tough injury and climbing myself back up to the top and then winning another Grand Slam. Now, after another small injury with the shoulder I find myself again almost in a little bit of a comeback. You know, these moments are very special because that’s what you work so hard for when you try to win from the first point on until the last one of a tournament. I’m really proud that I’ve been able to do that.
That’s what Andrea Petkovic said when I asked her. Do you appreciate the wins more now simply because of everything you’ve gone through?
Definitely. Because you are given a time and a chance to think about what you’ve accomplished but also it hits you that from a very young age everything is on a role and you train, you practice, you go to a tournament, you play and then when you have a kind of a stop sign in front of you when you’re faced with an injury or other things that don’t allow you to play the sport anymore, that gift of just playing becomes a pretty important detail in your life. I’m certainly not taking anything for granted, even more so after what I’ve gone through.
Great match.
Thank you.
You probably played the best third set. Your serve improved during the match?
Yes, I think it was a combination of a few things today. I felt like in the beginning I was up in a lot of games and I had game points in a few games, I was up 30:0 and just wasn’t able to execute those games. And then you suddenly find yourself down 5:0 and then a set and then a break and more chances for her to break. I was always trying to get myself back up and trying to find that energy because even though I had chances in the first two games I didn’t feel that my energy was there, my level was there. I was making too many errors and she took advantage of that and played extremely well from the beginning.
After this week how do you feel because you had so many tough matches?
I’m really happy that I came through. I don’t think I would have been … I mean in Australia if you saw after those tough matches, I was just physically not able to recover. And that’s from not playing because there is nothing that replicates going out and playing these types of matches. You know I was down and out in that first match in the tournament and I came through that one. It was a very physical match. Thankfully the others were bit shorter. Although maybe I wasn’t at my full energy capacity, today I was able to bring out the best that I could on this given day.
The atmosphere on court was amazing with the crowd. You always say, in the morning when I wake up and it’s raining …
These are much better moments.
You live for these moments?
I much prefer these moments. But you don’t just wake up and get to that moment. I know that many people show up and they sit in the stands but it’s the years and the days and the hours and the work that you put in for that moment.
Is the side slice you used a new weapon? It’s almost like Jimmy Connors’?
I don’t think I used it that much. I don’t think I’ll be using it too much in the future. It worked for me a couple of times today but that’s because she came up with some really good short slices and that was really my only way out of the point because the ball was quite low.
We have to ask you about the garage now?
I know. I was thinking about that when I was losing. I was like ‘this car is too sexy to give up’ (laughs). I’m not going to let my opponent win that car. I don’t have this one in my collection, so I really want it.
