Maria Sharapova Deserves More Respect
Posted on | September 3, 2010 |
NEW YORK — She’s the most glamorous star on the women’s tennis circuit and a three-time champion at Grand Slam tournaments, yet sometimes it seems like Maria Sharapova is under-appreciated.
Yes, the young woman with the world-class athletic ability, stuffed trophy case, megawatt smile, her own fashion line and lucrative endorsement deals. That Maria Sharapova.
Allow me to be clear here: no one is saying woe is Maria. The 23-year-old Russian with the dazzling beauty and groundstrokes, who won 6-1, 6-2 over Iveta Benesova on Thursday night to advance to the third round of the U.S. Open, lives quite the charmed life. She has been the best-paid female athlete in the world, and in January signed an $80 million deal with Nike. She loves her adopted town of Los Angeles as much as it loves her.
But in tennis circles, such as the real-time capital — the U.S. Open in New York, N.Y., with its National Tennis Center filled with players, coaches and commentators from all over the globe — Sharapova is written off as a movie star instead of a deeply respected talent. Angelina Jolie more than Meryl Streep.
Fact is, she’s more than a little bit of both.
In a sport in which Anna Kournikova serves as the poster model for fame over ability and achievement, Sharapova is the rare combination of all of the above. If she chooses to pass on a photo shoot on any given day, it sure isn’t for a lack of suitors. As for Sharapova’s achievements on the playing surface, the list is topped off by the trio of titles at majors: 2004 at Wimbledon, 2006 here and 2008 at the Australian Open. Among her colleagues on the WTA Tour, only Serena and Venus Williams and Justine Henin have more. She has advanced to the semifinals of slam events six times — at least once at each of the four majors. Sharapova has won 19 additional tour titles, and only a major shoulder injury that sidelined her from August 2008 to May 2009 broke up a five-year run in the top 10.
The original article and other great content can be found at this URL: http://tennis.fanhouse.com/2010/09/02/maria-sharapova-deserves-more-respect/
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