Maria Sharapova is through to the second round as she defeated Anastasia Pivovarova 6-1, 6-0, it doesn’t get much more convincing than that. She was recently runner up at the event prior to Wimbledon at the Aegon Classic held in Birmingham which was won by the now world No10 Li Na of China!
June 22, 2010 – United Kingdom – Tennis – Wimbledon – All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon, England – 22/6/10..Russia’s Maria Sharapova celebrates victory in her first round match.
Maria is currently ranked at No16 in the world but it looks like she has given the signal that her shoulder injury that she has been suffering from is no longer affecting play, she says she is back, the numbers in this first round speak for themselves even more impressive than the Serena Williams victory in her first round. She loves the grass court and Wimbledon has plenty of that. A player we are watching particularly closely as she is definitely coming on form, she has a massive following, she is burning very badly for a Grand Slam victory, she’s a fighter, she’s been there before, there’s no reason that she can’t be there again.
The media seem to be getting behind her which will help her confidence no end some sample headlines below:
Maria Sharapova fires title warning to rivals
Wimbledon 2010: Maria Sharapova fighting fit at last and ready to reclaim her SW19 crown
Only thing(s) stopping her we think are the two comeback queens, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin from Belgium they are very good, of course the Williams sisters Serena and Venus, the recent French Open winner Francesca Schiavone could get lucky again and the player that really caused a lot of noses to go out of joint at the French Open that being Samantha Stosur of Australia who was runner up at the 2010 French Open although this is a different surface and she does love clay. Jelena Jankovic could be in the running and one to keep an eye on as is Zheng Jie, Totally unpredictable but deadly when she gets her act together. Finally Elena Dementieva the world ranked No5 did very well at Wimbledon last year and again is one to watch. Li Na the recent Aegon Classic winner also could be in contention.
Our only concerns with Maria are we get the impression she tries to steam roller her opponents by sheer force, it works with some but as Justine Henin proved at the recent French open it doesn’t work with others and could be her undoing in the later stages. She is physically now there, it’s the mental side of things and patience and pacing lots of it we think are the order of the day here and save something for that final. She’s got the strengths to win this thing but she also needs to look at those weaknesses which we think are more important…… but hey what do we know! Regardless she has the backing of this site 100%.
Interview below to get the low down post match of what is going through Maria Sharapova’s mind at this very moment in time.
