Maria Sharapova has won the Australian Open title without losing a set.
Photo: AP, AP
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Sharapova Wins Her 3rd Grand Slam Title
Russia’s Maria Sharapova on Saturday beat Ana Ivanovic in a straight-set Australian Open final to add a new title to her two Grand Slam wins at Wimbledon and U.S. Open. The only Grand Slam the 20-year-old yet has to win is Roland Garros. On Sunday, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to take the men’s title.
Big wins are no news for Maria Sharapova. Back in 2004, the 17-year-old Russian won a stunning victory at Wimbledon. In 2006 she took the U.S. Open. Sharapova, a proud owner of trophies for her wins at the season-ending Masters events in 2004, became Russia’s first ever world number one and book her place among the world’s top tennis players. She won this year’s Australian Open without losing a set, which makes her Russia’s best player ever. No Russian has belted three Grand Slam titles before. Evgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin have two, and Anastasia Myskina and Sveltana Kuznetsova have one each.
Fans may be used to Sharapova’s wins, but this week’s success is special and probably very much anticipated after her crushing defeat to Serena Williams in the Australian Open’s final last year.
At Wimbledon four years ago Maria Sharapova was a clear underdog. Players would not prepare for matches against her as theirfor last game. In New York in 2006, Sharapova was showing great play but she was immensely lucky with the draw. In Melbourne this year, the draw was not very favorable for the Russian. The fifth seed could have hoped easier opponents at least before quarter finals. But in round two Sharapova had to play Lindsay Davenport. The mighty American in her 31 is still able to put up resistance to anyone. However, Sharapova eliminated her with ease. Next came wins over Elena Vesnina and Elena Dementieva. All tennis players know how psychologically difficult it is to play countrymen. Finally, Sharapova was up against Justine Henin who had been on a 32-match winning streak. No one had any doubt that Henin would be too much for Sharapova to bite. But the tables have turned. The Belgian number one was down 0-6 in set one, something that had not happened to her since 2002. This was the crucial match in the Australian Open that finally gave Sharapova the confidence she has been looking for. After that, wins over Jelena Jankovic in the semi-final and Ana Ivanovic in the final did not seem problematic, which Sharapova showed. She did not demonstrate perfect play in the showdown, and Ivanovic had some chances to try to take the match. But Sharapova’s another strong point was that she has proven she is able to control her emotions and bounce back from very tough situations.
Maria Sharapova was elated after the win, the award ceremony and congratulations. She was running around the area facilities as happy aas a five-year-old. “I can’t even understand what I’m saying,” the beaming champion said. “They’ve just told me that I gave a brilliant speech two minutes ago. I can’t remember that.”
Sharapova was actually saying very mature things that you would not expect from a 20-year-old girl. “Maybe it’s because I won Wimbledon at 17,” she said. “People started to look at me as at someone older. It was hard to deal with. Everyone was expecting wins from me, they wanted more. It puts pressure on you. You know Billie Jean King sent me a text before today’s match. It said: ‘Real champs don’t let chances slip, and pressure is a privilege for them.’ And it’s true. Even outside the court I sometimes catch glances that say: oh, it’s another dumb 20-year-old that got a Range Rover from her daddy. But I know that I bought it with my money, and I know what I had to go through for it. Last year was really tough. I was haunted by injuries, and I wasn’t able to play my level. I had to prepare for the Australian Open as intensive as I’ve never had.”
Maria Sharapova also spoke about her plans – both immediate and long-term. She is planning to make a debut on Russia’s squad in the Fed Cup against Israel in Tel Aviv on February 2 and 3 and play the Olympics in Beijing. “Playing at the Olympics is very important for me,” she said. “I think I would even trade a Wimbledon for an Olympic gold.” As for long-term plans, Sharapova hopes to have “a good husband and children”. She is planning to finish her professional career “no later than in 2018”. So, the Russian has plenty of time to get more trophies for her collection
The men’s competition brought a real sensation which was not about Novak Djokovic’s win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga but it was the fact that the men’s tennis has actually changed generations. In semi-finals, Djokovic and Tsonga beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who have been considered the only possible Grand Slam winners until recently. Four Grand Slam titles last year were claimed by Federer and one by Nadal. But now Djokovic has come to their level now that he will be regarded not only as a one-time wonder but as someone who can win any title at any tournament.
Djokovic really played his best. The speed of his progress is truly impressive. The Serb reached the U.S. Open final last year but he was not ready for real challenges then, which Federer proved in the showdown. Last Sunday, Djokovic was not playing a jester (although his imitations of Maria Sharova, Rafael Nadal and others are much appreciated by the audience) but he was a powerful and confident player who does not expect an opponent to make mistakes but make them err. And Tsonga was not there to give Djokovic an easy ride. Quite on the contrary, the French looked very good at some point. But he evidently lacked experience. If Tsonga keeps on playing the solid tennis he has been showing for the past two weeks, tennis will have another leader.
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Australian Open Attracts a Record Crowd
This year’s Australian Open has set a new record in the number of viewers, the organizers said. 605,735 people visited Melbourne courts during the past 14 days, against the previous record of 554,858 in 2007. This year also broke records of a day audience with 62,885 people visiting day four, 1,000 up from the record of U.S. Open in 2007 with 61,083.
Russian Wins in Grand Slam Finals
1996 Roland Garros Evgeny Kafelnikov – Michael Stich (Germany) 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 7- (7-4)
1999 Australian Open Evgeny Kafelnikov – Thomas Eqvist (Sweden) 4-6 6-0 6-3 7- (7-1)
2000 US Open Marat Safin – Pete Sampras (USA) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
2004 Roland Garros Anastasia Myskina – Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-2
2004 Wimbledon Maria Sharapova – Serena Williams (USA) 6-1 6-4
2004 US Open Svetlana Kuznetsova – Elena Dementieva 6-3 7-5
2005 Australian Open Marat Safin – Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4
2006 US Open Maria Sharapova – Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) 6-4 6-4
2008 Australian Open Maria Sharapova – Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 7-5 6-3
Afsati Dzhusoiti
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 28, 2008
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