LONDON — At first glance they are just the same. Wimbl
edon finalists Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova are prototypical Big Babe, first strike tennis stars. Broad shoulders, great height (over six feet si vous plait), blonde hair, strong (better on the backhand wing) groundies, mean unkind serves, suspect wheels, Eastern European heritage, disappointing French Open losses to the eventual French Open champ Li Na and surnames that end in “ova.”
But then again the Czech and Russian natives are so different. One came to America early to train and speaks American-English like a million other 24-year olds chatting at any Starbucks.
The other, Kvitova, stayed with her Old World base, is understandably not that expressive when speaking in English, her second language. One has a world class grunt, the other is quite silent.
One, Sharapova, who has a little free-flowing pony tail, is the “old lady” of the tournament, a right-handed veteran of the grinding realities of the often brutal circuit; a player who survived shoulder surgery, a taxing recupertaion and a slow, arduous climb back to the top of the game.
In contrast, Kvitova is a just emerging as young southpaw, 21, who still seems to be just a tad wide-eyed, has a ponytail that is well-braided and actually has had some physical setbacks. She’s withdrawn from three tournaments with hip, stomach and back tweaks.
Of course, there are other vast differences between Sharapova and Kvitova. After all, Sharapova (who according to Donald Trump intimidated Serena Williams with her supermodel good looks when she won Wimbledon in ’04,) has an international crossover resume like no other tennis player. She’s been on hundreds of magazine covers from Korea to Columbia, has about $125 million in endorsements, wears Audrey Hepburn-like dresses and Tiffany earrings, once had a contract for an American exhibition that called for eight security guards.
In stark contrast, young Ms. Kvitova could stroll through Prague’s Wenceslas Square with barely a stir.
Still, over the years, Sharapova – a web star who has her own stamp in Japan – has drawn her share over skeptics. Martina Hingis once erroneously predicted that Sharapova would “screw it up, not personally, but she’ll screw it up the way [Jennifer] Capriati did and [Anna] Kournikova did. Phenoms tend to get their lives screwed up, whether they want to or not.”
Of all the statuesque Sharapova, Billie Jean King once quipped. “It’s the cutie-patooties, no matter what, that always get the most.” No kidding. Sharapova’s take on the subject is simple: “Beauty sells, I’m not going to make myself ugly.”
We once noted that after the ’08 Aussie Open final, Sharapova “out-grunted” Ana Ivanovic: 209 to 151 and Mary Carillo once claimed Maria was “not hitting as hard as she’s sounding. She’s over grunting.”
Maria herself gets in with some self-criticism. She once said she moved on clay “like a cow on ice.”
In a similar vein, the London Times’ Simon Barnes asserted, “There is a strange kind of awkwardness about Sharapova, she’s a rare mixture of grace and clumsiness, like a young horse that forgets how to count up to four in legs”
In the end, Sharapova, though at times imperious, deserves huge kudos. Her family escaped the Chernobyl disaster. Her Dad brought her to Flordia when she was seven with $700 in his pocket and would take her to her tennis lessons on a bike. She’s navigated her (full of ‘tude) relationship with her incredibly intense papa Yuri (who once told IT she was “born to be a champion” and actively guides her tennis.) She survived tricky coaching changes from Nick Bollettieri to Robert Lansdorp to Micheal Joyce to her current coach Swede Tomas Hogstedt. And she fought hard, worked diligently and suffered many losses as she overcame the very serious shoulder injury she suffered in ’08.
While other Russian champions have faltered, retired early or had in and out results, or (with the exception of Kournikova) did not cross over to the American audience, Sharapova has captured three Slams and sustained her “ova” the top popularity and her notable on-court results. It’s little wonder, The Wall Street Journal contended that Sharapova was the “most public face of the new Russian woman—talented, self-assured, ambitious and independent. Until recently, there were almost no such women in Russia.”
Now Sharapova will go into the Wimbledon final with a ton of experience on her side. Yes, on rare occasion it can be just fine to go out and play your first final like Kvitova – nothing to lose, hit free. Plus, the big-serving Czech who has now played two Wimbledon semis, must sense if she wins this first title she will be instantly considered to be the best of her young twenty-something generation that has long sought a champion to break out of the (Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka et al) pack.
Still, Sharapova – bending low on her groundies, her new stance on her serve in place – was hitting beautifully. She attacked Sabine Lisicki’s second serves, overcame her usual slow start and too frequent double faults. In Saturday’s final you would think, should be able to call on her experience.
“[It’s] an incredible asset,” she told IT, “because you feel like you’ve been through many different situations, and at certain stages, whether it’s a smaller tournament or, a semifinal of a Grand Slam. At the end of the day you really have to deliver.”
We think she will – three sets. Maybe then she’ll get a stamp, not only in Japan, but maybe in Russia or even America.
OF WOBBLES AND WHIFFS, WONDERS AND WISDOM AND THE MAGICAL MAZE THEY CALL TENNIS: REFLECTIONS ON NOT SO SIMPLE QUESTIONS
A NOT SO SIMPLE QUESTION I: Should the large viewing area behind Wimbledon be called Henman Hill or Murray Mount.
A NOT SO SIMPLE QUESTION II: He once ruled alone and above all other mortals atop the mountain, but not any more. But because the Alpine gent from Switzerland no longer looks down from the summit, is almost 30, hasn’t won a Slam in a year and a half, OMG has a crooked ranking number, lost to his arch rival clay-meister Nadal in Paris and fell to a red hot Jo-Willie Tsonga at Wimbledon, doesn’t mean he’s now a bum, washed up and doesn’t have any game.
Okay!
But this still begs the question: just how much is this fine fellow Federer – who’s still not such a wretched player – in decline?
AN EMBARRASSING LITTLE HITCH: Frank DeFord noted that “an embarrassing little hitch [has] developed in tennis.” Unlike the GOAT in any other sport, the greatest player of all time, Roger Federer kept losing to his prime rival, leaving us with the twitchy question, “How can you be the Greatest of All Time if you’re not even the greatest in your time?”
Deford explains that, “Federer’s GOAT defenders point out that the reason Nadal has a better head-to-head record is because Nadal is fabulous on clay, but Federer is terrific on all surfaces, so he gets to the clay-court finals, where Nadal beats him. But especially when Federer was at his peak, Nadal would lose in earlier rounds on other surfaces, so Federer didn’t get to sweeten his head-to-head score against his rival.
Besides, Federer has set records for superior consistency that are unreal: making 18 of 19 Grand Slam finals in a row and making 23 straight Grand Slam semis, and 28 quarterfinals and still counting.
That’s sort of combining the best of the streaks of Joe DiMaggio and Cal Ripken.
But, wait: Nadal is five years younger and if his body holds up, he could easily pass Federer’s record for most Grand Slam victories.
So, … we know the greatest tennis player of all time … [played this week] at Wimbledon. We just don’t know who he is.”
HEADLINES
FEDERER ERA ENDS
FEDERER MASTERCLASS RAPIDLY BECOMES A LESSON IN DEFEAT
NOT THE GENIUS OF OLD, BUT FEDERER WILL STILL BATTLE BACK NEXT YEAR
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I’VE SEEN FEAR ON FEDERER’S FACE
TSONGA FINDS A WAY BACK WITH SERVE AND VERVE
NADAL BATTERS FISH BUT MURRAY CAN REEL IN SENSATIONAL WIN
FOOT FAULT PROVES NO HINDRANCE IN NADAL’S MARCH
TSONGA HAS LONG HINTED AT BEING A HEAVYWEIGHT
CRAZY JO WALKS ON THE WILD SIDE
TSONG AND DANCE
TSONGA DANCE MAN
WHO’S RUNNING THE COUNTRY? WHO CARES WHEN THE TENNIS IS GOOD
FISH IN BEST SHAPE EVER AFTER CUTTING OUT THE CHIPS
OBVIOUSLY: In anticipation of his semi against Andy Murray, “The atmosphere will be a little bit more for Andy.”
DJOKOVIC AIDS BAN THE BOMB INITIATIVE: It wasn’t the first time a prominent player had been involved in a kind of peace initiative. When Boris Becker first was emerging, the papers dubbed the powerful young kid with the perfect nickname — “Boom Boom Boris Becker.” Great – it was a flowing alliteration and reflective of his power game. But the young German, sensitive to his country’s history, felt it was politically incorrect and insisted they ban the bomb: i.e. he effectively insisted they drop the nickname.
After Pakistan’s Muslim doubles whiz Aisam Qureshi and Israeli Amir Hadad played doubles in 2002 they won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award. Last year Quereshi and Indian Rohan Bopana created the Indo-Pak Express whose mission is to “Stop War, Start Tennis.” And yesterday, after Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (who as a kid would go out to practice tennis as NATO bombs were falling) downed rising Aussie Bernard Tomic, Radio Wimbledon cleverly noted that Djokovic just “has defused the Tomic bomb at Wimbledon.”
