|
Maria
Sharapova is a teenage tennis-phenomenon with the potential to be
the best in the world. Her on-court presence is reminiscent of my
all-time favorite player Monica Seles, with her powerful, early
groundstrokes, her extreme on-court intensity, focus, determination
and fearlessness, and yes - her grunting! Off court she is one of
the most charming and charismatic lady.
At
six feet tall, Maria has a huge serve. Her groundstrokes are
powerful and heavy - similar to Lindsay Davenport's, but much more
flairsome as her power comes from natural timing rather than muscle.
She takes the ball on the rise, which means that her opponents are
constantly off-balance. Her shot-production is excellent, her technique
having been honed by such experts as Robert Lansdorp and Nick Bollettieri,
and she has a relatively long take-back on the forehand. She hits
many brilliant winners.
Tall
players often don't have the best mobility, but this cannot be said
of Maria. Movement has a lot to do with attitude, and Maria is a
very hungry player at this stage in her career. She would run over
broken glass to reach a shot, and this hunger is also reflected
in her fist-pumping, thigh-slapping, grunting intensity. She genuinely
craves success on a tennis-court (rather than fame or money), and
she wants it now.
Maria
plays without fear, and has a sixth sense for competition. She's
not the type of person to choke when things start going wrong -
she has shown impressive mental toughness and self-belief so far.
Whether she will be able to maintain this fearlessness as her career
progresses, when the pressure will be on and she'll have much more
to lose, only time will tell.
Maria
is also an intelligent tactician, able to adapt her game to different
styles of opponent, and to work out a rally as it unfolds, regardless
of what her game-plan going into the match might be. And she had
this combination of power and brain-power when she was ten years
old.
Her
coach Robert Lansdorp said, in 2002, "This teenager is just raw
talent. Maria is an amazing player. She has no fear. She goes for
every shot; she almost plays from instinct. She came from a background
of adversity, and that is what drives her."
Maria's
interviews entertaining and refreshing, because she always asserts
her own personality, and gives her own unique views rather than
answering the usual questions with the same old clichés with which
most players answer them. She mixes mature answers with lighthearted
ones. Although English is not her mother-tongue, she is impressively
fluent and articulate.
Maria
has already won two WTA titles: the Tokyo Japan Open in October
2003, and Québec shortly afterwards. She has also won four ITF challengers
in her early career, as well as enjoying considerable success in
junior-tennis, as detailed below. Her highest ranking has been #31,
in November 2003, although if the 2004 season is underway by the
time you read this, it will probably already be considerably higher!
She has already demonstrated an ability to compete with the top
players, taking sets off Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne
in 2003, both of whom were world number one at the times.
Maria
is a phenomenal talent, and she's only going to get better an barring
unforeseen misfortunes such as injuries, it looks like Maria has
a brilliant career ahead of her.
|
