Maria Sharapova on the brink of some colossal achievement in 2012 – Tennis Special
Former world number one, Maria Sharapova, is fuming in with confidence on her remarkable comeback after a lengthy injury lay-off. She was suffering from a chronic career-threatening shoulder injury earlier on; later she also faced
a severe ankle problem forcing her to stay out of action for quite some time.
All these thoughts feel like an eternity ago because the slender-legged Russian is back and squashing her opponents to all parts of the court. This year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, is a live example of her
emphatic return to the courts. She has always been a heartthrob for millions and a comeback like that is always a treat to watch.
She was ranked world number one in May 2008 after winning her first title of the Australian Open, defeating the Serbian tennis beauty, Ana Ivanovic, in the finals. Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t enjoy the flare of that rank
for a longer period of time; soon injuries surrounded her to deplete her ranking. 2004 was a year when the teen flabbergasted everyone with her ability to oust the then-world number one, Serena Williams, in the Wimbledon final. It was the start of the a remarkable
career that witnessed several off-court manoeuvres as well especially the illustrated swimsuit photo shoot in 2006 that rocked the world.
The world number three won the US Open title in 2006; ousting the Belgian tennis icon, Justin Henin, in the final. The only missing titles are the French Open and the Olympics gold. She is eyeing both of them this year and her
form can certainly help her attain her goal. The Australian Open campaign clearly set the tone for her; losing just five games in the opening three rounds of the contest and dropping sets against Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round and Petra Kvitova in the
semi-final shows that she is out there and means business.
Although, she was bullied in the final by the reigning world number one, Victoria Azarenka, the script still favours her. She was returning from a lengthy injury lay-off and such a remarkable run in the Grand Slam is miraculous
for any player. Continuing her blistering form, she entered the Fed Cup and dropped just three games in the match against the Spanish contestant, Silvia Soler-Espinosa. The victory helped her team to win the tie with a tight margin of 3-2.
At the present, she is playing in the Open GDF Suez tournament; contested in one of the most beautiful cities of the world, Paris, France. She got a bye to the second round and faced the South African tennis ace, Chanelle Scheepers;
plonking her in straight sets, dropping just four games on her way. She is warming up to face the ninth seed German, Angelique Kerber, in the quarter-final contest.
Kvitova is not playing any tournament at the moment so Sharapova will climb to the second spot in the rankings, next week. She is back in form crushing her opponents. There is no doubt that she has the best odds to win the missing
titles especially the Olympics gold because her focus is mainly on that. If her form stays the same, there is no woman on the earth who can stop her achieving that goal.
It seems like ‘Maria Mania’ has just begun!
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