2005 Italian Open News
By Alix Ramsay | May 10, 2005
It cannot be easy being Maria Sharapova. There are perks,
of course, not least of which is being stonkingly rich
and stupendously famous by the time she had turned 18,
but even so, it cannot be easy.
As she arrived in Rome for the Italian Open, her every
move was photographed, filmed and recorded. Tall blondes
stand out in a crowd around these parts, and tall famous
blondes stand out even more. And this particular blonde
is within touching distance of the world No.1 ranking.
Last week in Berlin, she was hounded about the possibility
of her overtaking Lindsay Davenport at the top of the tree.
All she had to do, as everyone kept pointing out, was win
the title and the No.1 spot was hers. As a result, she
lost in the quarterfinals to Justine Henin Hardenne who,
as a former French Open champion and world No.1, knows
a thing or two about playing on clay and dealing with pressure.
Here in the Eternal City, the media circus has been at
it again. If she wins the title, she will become No.1 on
Monday. If she loses in the final, she will take over at
the top as the French Open begins. No pressure, then, Maria.
Sharapova grew up playing on the red dirt but she has
only played seven professional tournaments on clay in her
life. Her best results so far are a quarterfinal at the
French Open last year and the quarterfinal in Berlin last
week. With that sort of record, reaching the No.1 spot
during this part of the year is going to be a struggle.
Sharapova, though, is not daft and while the fans and
the media work themselves into a lather of excitement,
she is taking things as they come. She is used to handling
the hype even if she is not quite so adept at dealing with
the clay court specialists.
As one pushy television reporter tried her luck, Sharapova
put her foot down. "No, I will not hold your microphone
and publicise your channel every time I speak," she
said, waving away the hack politely but firmly. The rest
of the press pack giggled and then edged a little closer.
"I definitely think you guys are making a big fuss
out of it," she said, chuckling at all the attention. "I
appreciate the fact that everyone is really excited to
see if it happens or not but I'm not getting too anxious.
I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself because I
feel that it will come. If it doesn't come then it doesn't
come. I got to No.2 without thinking that I wanted to be
No.2 next week. It just came with hard work and winning."
"As long as I'm winning I know that I'm in good shape
to be No.1," Sharapova said. "If I keep losing
then I'm definitely not going to be No.1. It's impossible
to win everything but hopefully I can perform well and
do my best."
But winning on clay is not easy for Sharapova. She began
her challenge against Anabel Medina Garrigues and, while
she was far from her best, she came through 6-4, 6-2. With
11 breaks of serve in all, it was not a pretty match but
at least Sharapova was on the winning end of it.
"I was just trying to get my timing out there," she
said. "I was making way too many errors in the beginning
and it was only as the match went on that I felt any better
with my strokes. Overall I didn't think I played great
but first matches are never easy."
Svetlana Kuznetsova, the US Open champion, thought much
the same. She never found her feet on the Court Centrale
and was trounced 6-2, 6-4 by Paola Suarez. The No.5 seed
had been due to meet Sharapova in the quarterfinals so,
in theory, her removal from the draw should make Sharapova's
run to the final a little easier. Not that the Wimbledon
champion was daring to look that far ahead.
"All I'm worried about is my next round," Sharapova
said. "I can't worry about who I am going to play
in the final - that's too far away. I can only focus on
one match at a time."
The next match to focus on will be against either Mary
Pierce, who eased past Suai Peng 6-1, 7-5 or Sanda Mamic,
a qualifier from Croatia, who thrashed Daniela Hantuchova
6-1, 6-2.
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