Maria Sharapova can win Wimbledon and Olympics, thinks Pundit – Tennis News
Alex Metreveli, the 1973 Wimbledon runner-up, believes that Maria Sharapova will be the player to beat at the Wimbledon Championships and Olympic Games this summer.
Metreveli said, “Most of all you can expect success from Maria at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games, because grass suits Sharapova better than any other surface.”
Both events will be held at the grass courts of All England Club. Wimbledon Championships are held there every year but tennis event of Olympic Games will be held there for the first time. This gives a rare opportunity to all the
grass court experts to do well at the Olympic Games on the fastest surface.
Grass courts are faster and suit aggressive players. Sharapova’s style of play is perfect for this surface, as she is a hard hitting player with powerful serves and fiery ground strokes.
Least number of tournaments in the tennis calendar are held on grass courts which give quite less advantage to the experts of this surface. Moreover, Olympics is an event which is held once after every four year, which means that
every player has few chances to achieve glory at the biggest sporting event of the planet.
Sharapova grabbed her first Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships in 2004. She was also the runner-up in 2011, losing to another energetic player, Petra Kvitova, in the final.
The Russian has won two other WTA Tour titles on grass courts and has lost two finals, all of them at the AEGON Classic in Birmingham.
However, she does not have the ability to adapt, which sometimes turns into a disadvantage.
Metreveli added, “Maria has a one-dimensional game. Other girls are capable of offering something else on the court, but Maria can’t. She was taught to play powerful tennis, and she does. It’s hard for her to change something in
her game.”
Sharapova will be participating at the Olympics for the first time. She missed out in Beijing due to a shoulder injury.
The Russian said in an interview that Olympics are huge for her. She added, "It will be extremely interesting to see that transition of how it will feel coming from Wimbledon and then a few weeks later competing in the Olympics
at Wimbledon."
Sharapova has not won a title but she has got a good start to the 2012 season. The Russian had been the runner-up at all three big tournaments so far, including Australian Open, BNP Paribas Open and Sony Ericsson Open.
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