Posted on 02/16/2006 6:40:36 AM PST by beyond the sea
Maria Sharapova is featured in the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, which hit the newstands on Tuesday. Sharapova is making her first appearance in what is billed to be the most widely read issue of any magazine in the world.
The former world No.1 and current No.4 graces the cover of the swimsuit edition, on the lower right hand corner with the headline "Tennis Ace Maria Sharapova, As You've Never Seen Her."
She is the only athlete pictured in the magazine, along with 26 supermodels, including Rebecca Romijn, Petra Nemcova, Rachel Hunter, Elle Macpherson and Heidi Klum.
The photo shoots took place in eight locations around the world, with Sharapova conducting her photo shoot in Turks & Caicos.
The 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue features over 500 photos of the 27 swimsuit models. Readers are treated to a 250-page whirlwind journey to some of the most exotic locations on the planet.
Click here to view photos of Maria in Sports Illustrated
Very sorry ......... I must have forgotten to remove you. God knows you should be (removed).
Game, set, match.
When I look at her,
I see a tennis player
skipping and singing
down the gold-paved road
to the Emerald City of
Oz-Kournikova.
Sharapova had
an awful year last season,
and this year has been
not just awful but
embarrassing. Remember
Hingis beat her bad . . .
Sharapova should
declare moratorium
on everything but
tennis practice and
workouts and sleep. Imagine
how fast it will be
before announcers
stop making excuses for
her losing early,
and start laughing at
Sharapova for really
becoming Anna.
...... keep trying.
Were the results of that IQ test a little miserable when you were tested as a youth?
Do you think the photo op for Sports Illustrated has helped to destroy Maria's game?
Baloney.
I think even if she does bad she'll be a top ten player for the next 5 years.
"Stacy's mom has got it going on..."
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I think the main thing, I didn't really have a lot of preparation going into the tournament. I wasn't able to serve as normal as I usually would, you know, speed‑wise and amount‑wise. Usually I practice my serve more. But I'm not ‑‑ coming off an injury that I had for six months, I'm not just going to go out there and bang every serve, you know. I have to be logical about that.
[Maria after losing at the Australian in January]
--------------------------------------
"In December, the 18-year-old is planning on embarking on a Maria Sharapova Japan Tour, where she'll play a series of exhibitions during tennis' alleged off-season. How smart is that for a player who has only played a handful of contests since the US Open due to injuries? How fresh is she going to be when she has to travel to Australia in January and try to fight back the chocking demons that seized in her titanic loss to Serena Williams in the '05 Australian Open semifinals? Maybe not very, which may have her regretting the Japan tour idea much of next year."
[If Sharapova is to become a dominant player, tennis must always come first, Other top women say full-time commitment is necessary]
Sharapova whined
in Australia that she
was coming off of
an injury, so
she hadn't prepared the way
she would have wanted.
But that was a lie.
She was coming off four weeks
of exhibitions
including serving
against Japan's ace hitter. [!]
Everything other
than tennis distracts
from her concentration and
hurts her tennis play.
Whether it's vaudeville
in Japan or fashion shoots
for the magazines.
Do not ping me for
your threads any more. Even
by cyber standards
you're a little too
bipolar for posting with.
Have fun with tennis.
Your body type is of a salamander.
you're off........ well off!
;-)
Hingis ............ ping
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