OT- Maria Sharapova (French Open) | The Boneyard

OT- Maria Sharapova (French Open)

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alexrgct

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Just dispatched with Kvitova to make the French Open finals against clay court specialist Sara Errani. In so doing, she has captured the world #1 ranking, win or lose Saturday.

But I certainly hope she wins and have a tough time imagining how anyone could root against her.

I can imagine how someone might have rooted against her in the past. Sure, she dispatched with Serena Williams easily in the 2004 Wimbledon finals, but you could argue she was given the world more because of her looks than her play. She wasn't another Kournikova, but she wasn't any Justine Henin either. Despite those whispers, she's always been a competitor, someone who's cared more about the game than she had any intrinsic need to once she was given all of that endorsement money and celebrity.

And after being #1 in the world four years ago, she fell off the map, not because of the mental weakness that seems to plague the women's game but because her body gave out on her. She was out of the game for nine months, and came back with a continuing shoulder problem that rendered her serve not just ineffective, but embarrassing. She took it in stride and kept chipping away. This is her third major final in four events, and if she can win here, she will have completed a career grand slam. That's something that Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, and Monica Seles, all failed to do, not to mention lesser champions like Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, or Mary Pierce. In fact, only five women have won all four slams in the Open Era: Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams (Billie Jean King just missed the cut, having won her Australian championship the last year it was not open to professionals). That's pretty heady company, and she may never have a better opportunity to join the club.

To me Maria's career most reminds me of Andre Agassi's. A lot of early success, a dropoff during what should have been their respective primes, and a resurgence that many of their peers wouldn't have had the humility to complete. Heck, if she wins Saturday, Maria will have won her first four slams in the exact same order Andre did (Wimbledon, US, Aussie, French). The key difference is that Andre's drop-off was self-inflicted, whereas Maria's body betrayed her.

In the past, it may have been just a little too easy to root for the leggy blond bombshell with the perfect posture and zillions of dollars in endorsement deals. Not now. She had the opportunity to ride off into the sunset an icon, a three-time major champion, a former world #1, and exceedingly wealthy, and she chose instead to dig in and pay the price to get back to this point. And as hard as she's worked, it feels simply easy to pull for her now.
 
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A beautiful reflection on the career of a very special young woman. Thank you!
 

meyers7

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Just dispatched with Kvitova to make the French Open finals against clay court specialist Sara Errani. In so doing, she has captured the world #1 ranking, win or lose Saturday.

But I certainly hope she wins and have a tough time imagining how anyone could root against her.
Well if one is Italian, or likes the underdog or just likes Errani.
 

alexrgct

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Errani earned her place in the finals, having defeated plural grand slam champs along the way, but it would be a cruel fate for Maria to blow this opportunity.

Underdogs winning can be fun, but sometimes it's more fun for the favorite to accomplish something great when they have reached a moment in their career where they can.

The Italian part I can sort of understand, but she will have other chances. Plus the Italians had schiavone- they can wait. :)
 

wire chief

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Errani earned her place in the finals, having defeated plural grand slam champs along the way, but it would be a cruel fate for Maria to blow this opportunity.

Underdogs winning can be fun, but sometimes it's more fun for the favorite to accomplish something great when they have reached a moment in their career where they can.

The Italian part I can sort of understand, but she will have other chances. Plus the Italians had schiavone- they can wait. :)

Italians are not patient. When Michael Chang beat Stephan Edberg, that very thing he said to himself --that he'd have other chances.
Never happened, at least at the French. And it isn't like Sara is just coming up as a 19 year old. She's already a QUARTER CENTURY OLD.;)
 

alexrgct

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Pish posh- 25 is young for Italians- just ask Schiavone. :)

Chang did seize the moment in 1989 and never won another, but he had several other opportunities. Just off the top of my head, I recall the 1995 French (lost to Muster), the 1996 Aussie (lost to Becker, who knew this really was his last best chance to win one more), and the 1996 US Open (lost to Sampras). Chang was really good, but not good enough.

All I can say is if Errani tries to serve underhanded, I hope for her sake it goes the way of Chang in 1989 against Lendl...and not Hingis 10 years later against Steffi.
 

alexrgct

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And for the record, there's a difference between rooting for Errani (the organic byproduct of which is that Sharapova has to lose) and actively rooting against Maria. :)
 

wallman

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Thanks for the recap Alex, looking forward to it, loved watching Agassi and Graf and hoping for their offspring to have some magical talent.
 

wire chief

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Pish posh- 25 is young for Italians- just ask Schiavone. :)

Chang did seize the moment in 1989 and never won another, but he had several other opportunities. Just off the top of my head, I recall the 1995 French (lost to Muster), the 1996 Aussie (lost to Becker, who knew this really was his last best chance to win one more), and the 1996 US Open (lost to Sampras). Chang was really good, but not good enough.

All I can say is if Errani tries to serve underhanded, I hope for her sake it goes the way of Chang in 1989 against Lendl...and not Hingis 10 years later against Steffi.

Actually, Alex, I was writing of Stephan, who never won the French.
 

alexrgct

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Actually, Alex, I was writing of Stephan, who never won the French.
Ah, gotcha. Well, he did win six majors total, so that's not too shabby. A lot of guys couldn't pull through in Paris, or at had their struggles. Connors missed the tournament entirely in 1974 when he was banned from playing. He won every other major that year. McEnroe lost one of only two matches in his glorious 1984 campaign in the finals of the French- an epic chokejob to Lendl. Agassi had a horrific loss to Andres Gomez in the 1990 finals before getting redemption ine years later. And of course Pete Sampras never could figure out the French. Only contended once seriously, 1996: an unseasonably hot and dry fortnight which caused the clay to bake and play more like a hardcourt.
 

alexrgct

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Thanks for the recap Alex, looking forward to it, loved watching Agassi and Graf and hoping for their offspring to have some magical talent.
I think any red-blooded tennis fan hopes their kids are imbued with the perfect combination of Andre's natural ability and Steffi's intractable focus and mental toughness. Regression to the mean states the more likely scenario is that they're both far better than the average person at tennis, but not hall-of-fame caliber players. But we can dream. :)
 

alexrgct

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Maria did it!!!

Errani just didn't have the firepower. She's a human backboard, but Maria did a good job hitting the extra shots Sara made her hit and getting some really spectacular winners.

So happy for Maria today. She earned this one the hard way.
 

Icebear

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Maria did it!!!

Errani just didn't have the firepower. She's a human backboard, but Maria did a good job hitting the extra shots Sara made her hit and getting some really spectacular winners.

So happy for Maria today. She earned this one the hard way.
Go Maria! Congrats.
 

EricLA

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Congrats to Sharapova. but i have to say I'm glad it wasn't Sharapova/Azarenka. Listening to the worlds loudest shriekers would have required putting the sound on mute. It's really unwatchable when the two of them go at it, and as 2 of the best players in the world, i'm betting we see a lot of them in the future...
 

alexrgct

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I vaguely remember writing this post about Maria a couple of years ago, and after re-reading it, I gotta pat myself on the back. I stand by every word I wrote in advance of 2012 French Open women's final.

Felicitations a Mlle Sharapova et bravo! What a gal, and what competitor. She has never rested on the laurels of what she's done and what she has ("quite a bit" and "everything", respectively), and she's fought through the adversity to keep on accomplishing great things.

And congrats as well to Simona Halep, who was terrific in this 2014 tourney. I hope she manages a major championship (at least one) of her own in her career.
 

DaddyChoc

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Alex... Tennis for $400.00 (geesh you know your history, are you really Pete Sampras?)
 
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