Maria Sharapova’s road to recovery hit a major speed bump as she was knocked out of Wimbledon’s second round today.
The 24th seeded Russian glamazon, who lost out in the same round last year, was defeated by Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 and was the victim of 9 double faults, 27 errors, and a determined opponent. Shrieka had her chances but was only able to convert on 4 of 11 break chances. In any case, a great win for Gisela who will now face Nadia Petrova for a spot in the Round of 16.
Even though she’s only two months into her return after a 10-month shoulder injury absence, this loss will be a tough pill to swallow for the 2004 champion who considers grass her best surface. In fact, she performed better at Roland Garros making the quarterfinals on her least favorite surface. But she's still lacking match toughness and still seems to be getting comfortable with her shortened service motion, as evidenced by her DF count and low MPH on the delivery.
Shrieka revealed she still thinks about the injury during practices and matches in her post-match presser:
It's tough to put it out of your mind completely. I sometimes do, you know, find myself in the middle of the match, even sometimes in practice, just, you know, just before a return or before a serve thinking, Wow, it's amazing what I've been through. Here I am playing a match. I sometime have to knock it out of myself a little bit.
But that will go away in a while. I think there was such a big change in my life, such a big layoff, that it's hard.
Clearly, it'll take some time but she'll need to get her serve in gear. I mean, let’s face it: an ill-serving Shrieka is no Shrieka at all.
(images via getty)
Tough loss for Maria! She fought her heart out, but is wasn't enough...
ReplyDeleteIt's somehow funny that she did better on her least fav surface than on her favorite surface.
I think the reason is not that she played better on clay. Her movement was just as bad, but she had more time to reach the balls and get more of them back into the court. Another reason is the choking from her opponents in RG. She should have lost against Petrove (2nd round?), but hung tough and Nads folded under the pressure.
Today, Gise managed to choke a 3-0 lead and 7 games in a row away, but then she found back to the security in her shots and Maria's level dropped again.
Also, you can say what you want, but I do not believe that her shoulder is "healthy" again.
Kudos to Gisela though!
It seems a lot of people don't like Maria but I think the women's game is poorer without her. She brings game, guts, and glamour to a tour that desperately needs it. I do wish her shoulder would heal quickly.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if Maria would shut her pie hole I would feel differently about her. All that shrieking is seriously unbearable. Good riddance.
ReplyDeleteshe seems even louder now; maybe she's threatened by the younger, louder girls?
ReplyDeleteif a player shrieks or grunts i'm automatically on their opponent's side - unless they're both shriekers and in that case i don't watch
in short: shut up, ladies
Gisela just keeps drop-shotting her. I feel so bad for Maria. Win the US Open series and the US Open to shut up your detractors, MaSha.
ReplyDeleteyeah I agree rich, I hope that maria takes this very lightly and appreciates that she is able to still play and not take it so hard, even though her competitive spirit still rages on....She needs a lot more time to really get back to tip-top shape, she was out for 9 months, I give her another 9 months from the time she came back to get back into form....hopefully this summer, she'll win a title to help her confidence.....
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