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Sport

Sharapova reigns supreme

Nirmal Shekar

Ana Ivanovic beaten in straight sets

Melbourne: As she sank to her knees and then bent over on the warm plexi-cushion court at the Rod Laver Arena on Saturday afternoon, awash in emotions and tears of joy welling up in her eyes, Maria Sharapova knew that she had left her annus horribilis behind.

And, judging by the red-hot form and the hunger that she has displayed over two weeks in the Australian Open championship, Sharapova, a 7-5, 6-3 winner against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia in the women’s singles final, can hardly be accused of rash, unjustified optimism if she were to be looking forward to an annus mirabilis.

Because of its very nature, sport, which exaggerates and dramatises life, can offer life-changing lessons to its practitioners, if only they are intelligent enough to learn.

Sharapova, whisked out of Russia as a nine-year old by her ambitious father Yuri Sharapov — with a princely sum of $500 in his weather-beaten wallet — to Nick Bollettieri’s tennis academy in Florida, has always been a willing learner.

Handed a humiliating defeat in the final here last year by Serena Williams, then world ranked 81, struggling with injuries all season and emotionally drained because of an illness in her coach Michael Joyce’s family, Sharapova turned mild melancholia into career-turning education.

“I gained a whole new perspective on life [last year],” said the 20-year old Russian diva who makes upwards of $23 million a year in endorsements alone. “If someone had told me in the middle of last year that I’d be standing here now with the big one [the winner’s trophy] in my hand, I would have thought it was a joke.”

On a mission

Then again, from the moment she arrived at Melbourne Park for her opening match, it has been obvious that Sharapova was on a mission. And by the time she moved into the second week, she was seeing the ball like a football and it was hitting the sweet spot almost every single time.

It was Sharapova’s first Australian title and her third in Grand Slam events. She won Wimbledon as a 17-year old in 2004 and added the U.S. Open to her collection two years later.

“This one is very special. Today is my mother’s birthday. With this fat cheque, I am going to send her a bunch of flowers,” said the fifth seed who did not drop a set in seven matches.

On Saturday morning, Sharapova received a text message from one of the all-time greats of the women’s game, Billie Jean King. “Champions take chances. Pressure is a privilege,” the message read.

Sharapova did take her chances over the two weeks and she dealt with pressure as only champions can, although this was a championship in which she was never really pushed to the brink.

Test of character

Against Ivanovic, who was playing in her second Slam final after last year’s French Open, Sharapova started confidently and the only time she lost her way was in the eighth game of the first set. She sent down three double faults, two of them in a row, to hand back the break.

That was a test of character, especially because in her next service game, Sharapova was down 0-30. But she came through in style, going for her shots and bringing them off in crunch situations.

The Russian broke to 6-5 and then served out the first set. In the second, Sharapova upped the ante in her service games — she lost just two points on serve in the whole set — and Ivanovic was clearly outplayed.

Serving to stay in the match in the ninth game, the Serb double faulted to 0-30 and the Russian hit a forehand pass to earn herself three championship points. Sharapova failed to convert the first two but when Ivanovic’s forehand flew wide, it was all over.

“When you are going through tough moments you never know when you are going to get good moments. This is amazing,” said Sharapova.

THE RESULTS

(Prefix denotes seeding)

Women’s singles: Final: 5-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt 4-Ana Ivanovic (Srb) 7-5, 6-3.

Men’s doubles: Final: 8-Jonathan Erlich / Andy Ram (Isr) bt 7-Arnaud Clement / Michael Llodra (Fra) 7-5, 7-6(4).

Boys’ singles: Final: 5-Bernard Tomic (Aus) bt 10-Yang Tsung-hua (Tai) 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0.

Girls’ singles: Final: 14-Arantxa Rus (Ned) bt Jessica Moore (Aus) 6-3, 6-4.

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