Fuente : Wimbledon
http://www.wimbledon.org

WIMBLEDON: Maria Lifted By Memories

/noticias.info/ Tuesday, 21 June, 2005

Wimbledon's golden girl captured the hearts of Centre Court, and earned herself a standing ovation, as she needed less than an hour to brush aside the challenge of the sturdy Spaniard, Nuria Llagostera Vives. It was a glittering, golden occasion too, as the tall, pony-tailed Russian teenager set about the defence of the title she won so spectacularly a year ago.

In addition to the dangly gold earrings and necklace, Sharapova sported a white dress trimmed in gold, but the piece de resistance - you might call it the showpiece de resistance - were her shoes, bearing 18 carat gold insets. These days the girl who looks like a million dollars is clearly worth that much and more.

Sharapova, who won Wimbledon in 2004 as the 13th seed, has risen in the past 12 months to second-best player in the women's game, steadily building towards the peak she hopes to scale here over the next two weeks. The 18-year-old has won three of the nine events she has played this year which preceded Wimbledon - Tokyo, Doha and Birmingham - and has reached the quarter-finals or better in the other six.

Being a perfectionist, however, she would have been less than content with the manner of her victory, clear-cut though it was. Her game needs sharpening for the sterner challenges which lie ahead. She made more unforced errors than her opponent (16 vs 15) and she also stressed that she needs to improve the consistency on her serve. "But I can get a lot better from here, obviously," she said. "I did enough to win, so am pretty satisfied."

Sharapova was also pretty satisfied with the welcome she received as she walked out to begin the defence of her crown. "It was so amazing. I was just smiling, and I don't usually smile when I go out on the court. The people are clapping, you're remembering last year. This is where magic happened. So it was really good to feel that again."

Sharapova also acknowledges that the stronger elements in her game are due to the extra work she has been putting in at the gym. "I'm a tall girl and I grew really fast in a short period of time, two or three years ago. It took me a while to get used to my body. I still have to move a lot better. Strength-wise, sometimes I feel like my arm is like a swan's neck, it is so weak. But I'm getting there, I'm working on it. I'm trying to find as much time [for the gym] as I can."

However, Sharapova needs to do no extra work on her personality. After closing out the match with a forehand struck so hard that it flew off the frame of Llagostera's racket into the crowd, she blew extravagant kisses to her fans before autographing posters and programmes.

Perhaps the golden shoes helped. "I just need some wings and I feel like I can fly," she smiled afterwards. "They're great shoes, I've been getting a lot of compliments."

As for the sterner challenges being offered in view of her higher world ranking these days, Sharapova claimed she welcomed it. "It's absolutely normal. I love the competition. I love it when people want to beat me or when they underestimate me. I love that because I love the challenge."


Written by Ronald Atkin notas_de_prensa_archivo