Sharapova, the Up-and-Coming Veteran
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| Maria Sharapova celebrates after her quarterfinal victory over Dominika Cibulkova on Tuesday. |
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know what happened in the match. I don’t know how I won. I don’t know what the tactics were. I was just out there. I was just playing. I could really care less what was going on outside me. I was in my own little world—I don’t know what world that was, really.”
Recognize these words? Maria Sharapova said them, but not after her latest dialed-in drubbing at Wimbledon, where she beat Dominka Cibulkova 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals in exactly an hour. No, this was Sharapova back in 2004, age 17, fresh off her first Wimbledon title, a 6-1, 6-4 beating of Serena Williams, the two-time defending champion. That match remains the most memorable upset in the last decade of women’s tennis.
Seven years later, Sharapova has that look again at Wimbledon, a look of invincibility, the look of a woman who can’t miss no matter how hard she swings. In five matches so far, Sharapova hasn’t lost a set and hasn’t lost control of her often-shaky serve: She has 19 aces and 19 double faults.
“Haven’t been at this stage in Wimbledon in a few years, so this feels great,” she said.
When Sharapova won this title in 2004, she seemed more in the mold of Monica Seles or Steffi Graf than Jennifer Capriati. Here was a prodigy who would win Wimbledon again and again, and lots of majors in between. She has become more remarkable for what she hasn’t done.
In the years since that first major title, Sharapova has won two majors and never returned to the Wimbledon final. As well as Sharapova hits the ball, she’s not nearly as good a mover as the women who have kept her down: the Williams sisters, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters and even Li Na, whose athleticism was too much for Sharapova at the French Open earlier this month. Sharapova has had some bad luck, too, like the shoulder surgery that derailed her after a brief return to No. 1 in 2008.
No one will be surprised to learn that Sharapova is the oldest woman left in the draw. Still, she’s only 24, a month younger than Novak Djokovic, who is seen as a No. 1 player in waiting and perhaps a future one-man dynasty. Steffi Graf won 10 majors after she turned 24. Serena Williams has won six. Venus Williams has won three.
“If I achieved big things when I was a little bit older, not 17, maybe I wouldn’t be seen as more of a veteran,” Sharapova said. “I’d still be considered young.”
Sharapova’s semifinal opponent is the untested — and up-and-coming — 21-year-old Sabine Lisicki. Lisicki ended the entertaining Wimbledon run of Marion Bartoli with a 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1 victory.
Lisicki, known for her booming serve, showed off more of her talent in this match than any of her previous ones. Her forehand is deadly, and she hits quite well when on the run. She’ll be the rare Sharapova opponent who has more power. She has 48 aces so far this tournament and hit 52 winners against Bartoli, who is rarely on her heels—literally (she’s always bouncing) and figuratively (she’s a great attacker).
Lisicki, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals as a 19-year-old in 2009, needed a wild card into this year’s tournament because she missed five months of the 2010 season to ankle injury that had been misdiagnosed, she said. Earlier this tournament, she said she had so little muscle left in her leg after her initial recovery that she had to learn how to walk again. She hasn’t climbed as high as Sharapova, and hasn’t fallen as far, either. Still, she knows what it’s like to lose your grip on a sport that seems so easy when all is going well.
“Two years ago it was different. I was more nervous. I couldn’t sleep so good,” she said. “After the injury, it’s so nice to be back. I know how fast it can be gone, so I just try to enjoy myself even more.”
Wimbledon 2011
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