Maria Sharapova and her 2010 run
Maria Sharapova, former World Number 1, has dropped several places on the WTA rankings to end up at World Number 17, as of October 25, 2010. Her fall from grace has bewildered many fans and critics, especially her 2010 performance, which may arguably be
her worst year yet.
Sharapova kicked off the year with two exhibition tournaments in Asia, warming up before the actual season began. She started playing officially at the Australian Open in January, only to be knocked out in the first round by compatriot Maria Kirilenko. This
is the first time that she lost an opening Grand Slam event match since 2003.
Her next tournament and first victory of the year was the Cellular South Cup, where she returned to form to win her 21st career title. She also played at the BNP Paribas Open, dropping out to Zheng Jie and suffering a bruised elbow through the
match. The injury caused her to drop out of the Sony Ericsson Open and the Family Circle Cup.
However, Sharapova returned to the game at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, only to lose in the first round to Lucie Safarova. She continued to prepare for the Major at Roland Garros by winning her first red clay title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg.
She lost the French Open itself to Justin Henin, whom she has defeated only thrice in ten meetings.
Sharapova then began training for Wimbledon, by making it to the AEGON Classic for the fourth year in a row. However, she lost the final to Na Li, and was seeded 16th at Wimbledon. She progressed to the fourth round before being knocked out by
World Number 1 and eventual Wimbledon champion, Serena Williams, despite three-set points in the first set. However, the tournament was considered an overall positive performance for Sharapova, with critics feeling that she might still be able to win some
more Grand Slam titles. Sharapova herself shared this opinion, saying that she felt as if she was “in a much better spot than I was last year”.
For this Russian player, the US Open series campaign began in Stanford, where she won opening matches against Zheng Jie and Olga Govortsova in straight sets. She reached the quarterfinals to defeat World Number 6 Elena Dementieva, in a match which lasted
2 hours and 47 minutes. She also defeated Number 11 Agnieszka Radwasnka to advance to a final against Victoria Azarenka, who defeated her in straight sets.
Her next performance was her debut at the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open. She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets in the first round, and then won the second round over Andrea Petkovic in straight sets. She also beat Agnieszka Radwanska,
Marion Bartoli and Anastasia Pavlyvuchenkova to reach the final of the event, which she lost to Kim Clijsters in three sets. She dropped out of her next tournament, the 2010 Rogers Cup, citing a heel injury sustained during the final against Clijsters.
At the last Major of the year in Flushing Meadows, Maria Sharapova defeated Jarmila Groth in the first round, Iveta Benesova in the second, and scored a 6-0, 6-0 score (also known as a double bagel) against American Beatrice Capra in the third round. She
drew Caroline Wozniacki for the fourth round, and lost in straight sets, although she scored more winners, she also committed many unforced errors.
Her next tournament was the Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she was the defending champion. However, she played mediocre, and lost in the first round to 40 year old Kimiko Date-Krumm, the local favourite. At the China Open, she defeated Tsvetana Pironkova
in the first set only to fall to Elena Vesnina in the second.
While the 23-year old may still stand a chance for a Grand Slam win, the odds seem against it. She is capable of winning smaller tournaments, but the pressure of a Grand Slam becomes too much for her. Luckily for Sharapova, she has always been in favour
of an early retirement, in a couple of years she may no longer be on the courts.
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