Is there a curse on first-time Grand Slam champions? – Part Five: Sharapova & Kuznetsova
Current number two, Maria Sharapova of Russia, won her first Grand Slam event at Wimbledon Championships in 2004 to become the third youngest women tennis player to have won a Wimbledon singles title, after Lottie Dod and Martina
Hingis.
The Russian beauty was merely 17 years old when she outplayed the then world number one and defending champion, Serena Williams of the United States, in her first ever Major final. Sharapova stunned everyone to defeat the in-form
Williams in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, to lift the prestigious Wimbledon trophy at the Flushing Meadows.
Sharapova was ranked at number 15 at that time and entered Wimbledon after winning a WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) title in Birmingham. It was unanimously anticipated that the 17-year-old won’t stand a chance against the furry
of Williams in her first ever Major final but she beat all the odds to bag the gold. Sharapova made a place in the Top-10 for the first time, clinching the eighth spot and was well on her way to the top spot in women’s rankings.
The Russian took part in a WTA tournament in San Diego, immediately after her successful Wimbledon campaign, but was dumped by Anastasia Myskina in the quarter-final round. She further suffered second and third round exits in Montreal
and New Haven before reaching new York for the last Grand Slam tournament of the season, the US Open. Sharapova was among the hot favourites for winning another Major title but she disappointed her fans in the third round, losing to 27th seed, Mary
Pierce, to end her voyage at the US Open.
Sharapova then went on to reach the semi-final round at Beijing and then bagged singles titles at Seoul and Tokyo but lost in the final at Zurich. She went on to win the prestigious WTA Tour Championships as well and finally topped
the women’s ranking in August 2005. She went on to win the US Open in 2006 and then the Australian Open in 2008 to extend her Grand Slam title count but continued with her dips after winning a Major every time.
The other Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova, also won her first Grand Slam title in 2004 and went through the similar pattern of losing in the tournaments to follow immediately. Currently ranked at number 19, Kuznetsova has bagged 13
WTA championship titles in to date, including two Grand Slam victories to her name.
The Russian was running a decent form in 2004, with some brilliant performances against top class contestants. She took off the year as the world number 36 but by the end of the season, Kuznetsova had broken into the Top-5 for
the first time in her career. The Russian was ousted in the third round of the Australian Open and then in the fourth round at Roland Garros. Kuznetsova claimed a championship title in Eastbourne before entering the Wimbledon, where she was ejected in the
very first round at the hands of the unseeded French, Virginie Razzano.
Kuznetsova’s bad patch continued in the events to follow and she entered the US Open as the ninth seed. The Russian annihilated every opponent she faced in her Grand Slam campaign to book a final with sixth seeded fellow compatriot,
Elena Dementieva. She outplayed the fellow Russian in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, to win her first Major title at the US Open. The Russian followed her success by winning the final in Bali but lost the title match in Beijing, followed by more early round losses
in the WTA events she took part in.
Kuznetsova seized the French Open title in 2009 but her performance has never been consistent for a long time. The Russian is still battling hard with her form at the age of 26 but it appears that there is less in her to grab another
Grand Slam title
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