Sharapova seeks redemption on Roland Garros clay

By Daily Sports on May 24, 2018

When Maria Sharapova last played the French Open in 2015, she did so as defending champion.

Denied a wildcard by Roland Garros organisers last year on her return from a 15-month doping ban, the Russian was dogged by injury and controversy as she tried to get her career back on track.

Now 31, it would have been understandable had the five-times grand slam winner hung up her rackets to focus on her ever expanding business empire.

Not Sharapova, one of the game’s toughest competitors.

“That’s why I still continue to do this, because I have that passion of figuring things out and getting it done, whether it’s a tough day, or whether it’s a great day,” Sharapova said in a phone interview earlier this year.

Although Sharapova was the world’s top-paid female athlete for more than a decade and has earned close to $300 million on and off the court according to FORBES, nothing comes close to competing for the sport’s biggest prizes.

“You are very much in the moment,” said Sharapova, a three-times finalist in Paris. “Your team just hands you over, literally on to the stage, onto your universe for the next hour, hour-and-a-half, two or three, and you have to find a way to deliver.

“Everything that you put into it previously, you have to pour out onto the court, every fear that you’ve faced before, you have to bring out onto the court. You have to be powerful, but yet you have to handle being vulnerable at moments when things don’t go your way.”

STRUGGLE FOR FORM

Having ended 2017 outside the top 50, Sharapova endured one of the worst periods of her career as she lost four straight matches.

In March, she ended a four-year spell with Dutchman Sven Groeneveld and brought back her former coach from Sweden, Thomas Hogstedt, with whom she won her first French Open title in 2012 as she completed the career grand slam.

Now, after strong performances in Madrid and Rome this month, Sharapova is back among the seeds and beginning to believe that she can win the title for a third time.

Finally fully fit, Sharapova reached the quarter-finals in Madrid and beat reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko to reach the semi-finals in Rome, a huge boost of confidence as she returns to the scene of her most successful grand slam.

After losing a close three-set match to world number one Simona Halep in Rome, Sharapova called her progress “a step in the right direction”.

“After losing those matches, you still have to put yourself on the line and show up and deliver, and do it with authority,” she told reporters at Rome’s Foro Italico.

“What I’m most proud of is (that) I had a lot of opportunities in the last few weeks in Madrid and here to just back down, to let little things bother me. But I got through them.

“I set up real good situations for myself; a lot of court time and match play. All good things that I wanted.” (Reuters)

•Photo: Sharapova

Source Daily Sports

Posted May 24, 2018


 

You may also like...
Keita Faces Uncertain Liverpool Future

Oliseh’s Super Eagles Class of 1994 Narrative, Gov....

Woman Accuses Ex-Eagles Star Sani Kaita of Child...

2019 AFCON: Warning Signs for Super Eagles

Marcelo Bielsa: Bournemouth hold talks with former Leeds...

Tammy Abraham on Fire, Grabs Treble as Chelsea...

 

Latest News With adequate training, Falcons will reclaim WAFCON title – Monday Nigerian athletes jostle for NCAA Division One indoor titles Anambra school sports gets date, N15m prize award Drug Use and Abuse: A Serious Issue Affecting Communities - Gumel Teams Recorded Victories As JOF Kids Cup Hots Up In Lagos Enabulele hails Insurance win over Remo Stars Lawal’s brother demands justice after player’s tragic death in Uganda Gbadamosi to compete in first-ever Boxing World Cup Falcons retain Africa’s top spot, 36th in global rankings 16 schools for second Athletics School Games Nigerians demand apology from Carragher for controversial AFCON statement National lightweight title win thrills Adebayo

 

Most Read Rangers International going, going . . . (55,353 views) Amaju Pinnick: A cat with nine lives (46,498 views) Second Term: Amaju Pinnick, Other NFF Heavyweights Home to Roost •How Pinnick Broke the Jinx (44,524 views) Missing $150,000 IAAF Grant: Solomon Dalung’s Hide and Seek game (44,160 views) Sports Development: Zenith Bank on the zenith (44,127 views) Current issues in Nigerian sports: Matters arising (44,117 views) Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje’s solid footprints, commitment to sports development in Kano State (43,931 views) NFF Presidency: Pinnick, Maigari, Ogunjobi, Okoye in Battle for Supremacy (43,476 views) Olopade, BET9A wave of revolution in NNL (42,565 views) Commonwealth Games 2018: Shame of Muhammadu Buhari, Solomon Dalung (41,223 views) Ibrahimovic’s Man U exit: Whose decision is it? And in whose interest? (39,657 views) John Mikel Obi: Segun Odegbami’s Outrageous Call! (39,085 views)

 

Phone numbers

Tel: +234(0)8066020976
+234(0)8055068145
+234(0)7013416146
+234(0)8094272884

Email addresses

info@dailysportsng.com
support@dailysportsng.com
publisher@dailysportsng.com

Office address

No 3, Adetoun Close, Off College Road, Ogba, Ikeja Lagos.
Website: www.dailysportsng.com

Social Media