French Open 2011: Williams sisters have made Paris an open goal for Maria Sharapova, says Martina Hingis This French Open is a great opportunity for Maria Sharapova to complete a career grand slam.
By Martina Hingis
Maria Sharapova’s greatest strength has always been her mental toughness – she gives opponents nothing – and she will believe in herself even more after winning her first title for a year with victory at Rome’s Foro Italico last weekend.
Sharapova is undoubtedly a great competitor, so strong in the mind, and that is often key in Paris, as it is the most mentally draining of the grand slam tournaments. When Sharapova is playing well, she just never lets go. I suppose that could be seen as being mean on the court, but I have always viewed it as professionalism.
From the very first time I saw Sharapova play, which would have been when she was 14 or 15 and she was still in the juniors, I have always thought how professional she is. You always know what you were going to get with her. She is pretty straightforward. It has not always been good enough, but she has always given everything.
It is fantastic for Sharapova, and for women’s tennis, that she is winning again. With the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, both missing the French Open, the women’s game needs some big names and faces.
Sharapova exploded on to the scene when she won the 2004 Wimbledon title at 17, and she went on to win the 2006 US Open and the 2008 Australian Open.
Completing the career grand slam would show everyone just what she is capable of. No one can ever say after you have done the career slam that you cannot play on one particular surface. I came close to completing the career grand slam, as I won three Australian Open titles and Wimbledon and the US Open once each, and for me it is a great pity that I threw away the second of my French Open finals, when I played Steffi Graf in 1999.
It would mean a lot to Sharapova to have won all four grand slams, though at this stage of her tennis life, after coming back from a serious shoulder injury that could have ended her career, I would imagine she is motivated simply by the possibility of winning any sort of tournaments and titles again.
Winning matches and titles tends to be even more satisfying after returning from an injury, than it was before, as you have had to deal with so many obstacles to get back to where you were.
The clay courts at Roland Garros almost play like hard courts, as the sand on them is very fine. The surface in Paris is much faster and has a much truer bounce than at the other clay-court tournaments around Europe, and that is to Sharapova’s advantage, as her game is better suited to quick conditions.
Much could depend on the weather, though. If it stays hot and dry in Paris, that will help her. But if it is cold and rainy, and the balls and the clay both become heavy and wet, that could harm her chances.
There is no real reason, though, why Sharapova, whose victory in the Italian Open in Rome came against last year’s French Open runner-up Sam Stosur, cannot also win this year’s title at Roland Garros.
The key with Sharapova has always been whether she stays healthy or not. She is still young, just 24, so she has many more years left in her if she can avoid injury, and her shoulder is OK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/fr...ina-Hingis.html
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