Posted on 09/10/2006 1:32:15 AM PDT by beyond the sea
NEW YORK - Maria Sharapova began the U.S. Open with as much buzz about her sponsorships as her strokes, as much talk about her getups as her game.
She's long insisted she's more about substance than style, though, and now she owns a second Grand Slam title to prove it.
Better on the biggest points all night, the third-seeded Sharapova beat No. 2 Justine Henin-Hardenne 6-4, 6-4 in the U.S. Open final Saturday to add a follow-up championship to her breakthrough title at Wimbledon in 2004.
"I experienced it two years ago, and I knew that I wasn't done," Sharapova said. "I had a lot more in me."
What Sharapova had on this night was a lot more force on nearly every shot, from groundstrokes to serves to returns. She faced only one break point all match, broke Henin-Hardenne three times, and compiled a 20-15 edge in winners.
"She's been a real fighter tonight," said Henin-Hardenne, who would have moved up to No. 1 with a victory. "The better player won tonight."
Quite a concession from the Belgian, who leads the tour this season in matches won (54), Grand Slam matches won (25) and tournament titles (five). She was the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1997 to reach a year's four major finals.
"She didn't give me a lot of opportunities," Henin-Hardenne said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
;-)
Bravo Maria...well deserved victory. A superb tennis athlete.
LOL
Yes......... I never saw her play that well. Good for her.
> We throw change-ups, forkballs, screwballs and other off speed pitches in baseball (and they are hard to hit). Why not in tennis?
I have done it maybe 3 times in 30 years. Throws your opponent completely off guard. My point.
And props to Federer!
yep, there is an old guy that can make like 99.something% of his free throws and he shoots them "granny style"
"granny style" --- that's funny!
yea thats the guy, he made like over 1000 in a row or something.. :), thats what we always called it when we were kids, "granny style"
Take it easy.
granny style ........... LOL!!!
lol! ;) hehe
Q: I have a friend and doubles partner who plays high school tennis with me and he has an amazing and consistent first serve (100+ mph). His serve usually forces our opponents to back up way behind the baseline while returning his serves. However, on occasion when he sees that our opponents are pushed far back behind the baseline, he'll throw in a soft underhand serve with plenty of underspin which usually dies after crossing the net. Since our opponents are well behind the baseline they're unable to reach it. On several occasions our opponents have complained about his trick serve and asked him to stop. We've even had a high school coach tell us that it's illegal. However my friend believes that it's perfectly legal and continues to do so, despite the loud objections of our opponents. My question was whether or not this type of serve is legal or not? And what to do if we're accused of cheating during a match?
Rufus - Salt Lake City, UT
A: As long as the ball is hit out of the air, and not after a bounce, then an underhand serve is perfectly legal. In olden times, players always served underhand. In fact, Tim Henman’s grandmother was the first woman to serve overhand at Wimbledon. In a more recent era, Michael Chang, who was suffering from severe cramps, used the underhand serve tactic to startle the seemingly invincible Ivan Lendl during a crucial stage of their match at the French Championships in 1989. So, yes… while it is uncommon, it is certainly legal.
- Bill
.......... see post # 213
Woa... Somebody cloned Geddy Lee and left out a chromasome...
Not any more. Lindsay, over the past five years or so, has become quite the thinking player to go along with her height and shot making. But she was never too quick on the court. (By the way, you know her family has a great tradition playing badminton.)
But her back is beginning to be a problem more often than not. I've always liked her because she's a good girl too.
But, she's a little past her prime because of her health.
Sharapova is just getting smarter and better with each month that goes by. She can only get better in the future, and she wants to.
****
Her game is built largely around her groundstrokes, which are considered to be among the most powerful and cleanly struck in the history of women's tennis. Lack of court speed is perhaps her greatest weakness, mainly because of her size. At slightly over 6 ft 2 in (1.89 m), she is the tallest woman ever to win a Grand Slam singles title. However, she has worked to overcome this by losing weight, overhauling her conditioning program, and becoming mentally stronger. She is an advocate for the mental game, as evidenced by her comments on the cover of "Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Davenport
Thanks, one of the smartest things Agassi ever did was to marry Steffi and have kids with her. How good are THOSE kids going to be able to play tennis?!
There is a GREAT picture of Mary Pierce somewhere on the net of her in a long black dress, with a slit up the side, sitting on a bench on a tennis court with her hair, long and combed back, wearing heels, that is just,...WOW! If you could find it and post it here, all the people that thinks she looks like a man would forget that idea forever.
No kidding .......... and, Steffi's father was a world class sprinter.
I'll look for that pic.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
