An interview with MARIA SHARAPOVA after her semi-final win against Jelena Jankovic, 6-2 6-1. Sharapova is meeting world no. 1 Serena Williams in the finals.

Q.  Did you feel like you could take advantage of Jelena because she got off the court so late last night and the turnaround was tough?  You jumped on her right away.
MARIA SHARAPOVA:  Unfortunately I’m selfishly not really thinking about that when I’m out on the court, because it is my job to try to win the match as well as I can, and I did have a late one, as well.  Not a late one but a long one yesterday.
So it was important for me to physically and mentally be there because I didn’t feel like I played my best tennis yesterday.  But it was really important to go out and, you know, change a few things, just have a better mentality, be a bit more positive, and I felt like I did a few things better today.  That’s why the result was a shorter one. Read more »

At this year’s Roland Garros Kids’ Day, my five-year-old daughter and I left the main entertaining show with Novak Djokovic and other stars on the center court, and started checking the side courts to hunt for some autographs for my daughter. We spotted American Andy Roddick practicing on one of the side courts, and decided to wait until he finishes it to ask for an autograph.

(Hoping for an autograph from Andy Roddick.)

Then, I see David Nalbandian getting ready to start his practice after Roddick. I have been a huge David Nalbandian fan for years, don’t know how many sleepless and frustrating nights I have spent because of him. Read more »

Today Serena Williams lost in the first round of the French Open, for the first time ever at a major. Her  record was 46-0 in first-round matches at Grand Slam tournaments. Unbelievable accomplishment. She fell to 111th-ranked French Virginie Razzano. Read Jon Wertheim’s comments about this entertaining match where Serena saved seven match points.

Below is the post-match interview with Williams.

Q.  I know you just finished the match and it’s hard to describe.  Just kind of talk about from 5?1 in the second set breaker on, what kind of happened there?

SERENA WILLIAMS:  Well, I just started making a lot of errors.  I mean, the whole match, I just didn’t play at all the way I have been practicing.

So, yeah, I just made ?? I don’t know how many errors I ended up making, but I haven’t been playing like that in the past.

Q.  Do you want to talk about the last game?  You climbed back to 5?3.  I think five or six break?point opportunities.  Couldn’t get over the hump?

Read more »

Sovetskiy Sport has published an in-depth interview with a Russian tennis player Alisa Kleybanova. Kleybanova talks candidly about her health condition and her tennis future. She thankfully mentions Ekaterina Makarova and Vera Zvonareva who actually took time to visit her in Italy where she was undergoing treatment for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The interview is in Russian, but you can Google Translate it.

I finally got my Roland Garros tickets. For the first time, I will also be there on the kid’s day. My five-year-old daughter is excited to visit the French Open with me and hopefully to see some tennis superstars. Of course she is going to make me buy one of those huge souvenir tennis balls. I strongly hope to see David Nalbandian play.

Meanwhile, check out the photos that I took of Roland Garros grounds during my last visit.

Novak  DJOKOVIC defeated Rafael Nadal to win the 2012 Australian Open.

5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5

NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Many of you stayed this late.  Thank you.

 Q.  We have to.  

NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  I know you have to, but make it look like you want to.  (Laughter.)

 Q.  Was that the greatest win of your life? 

NOVAK DJOKOVIC:  Ah, yes.  Right now, yes.

Probably Wimbledon because Wimbledon is right up there next to this one because it’s just the tournament that I always dreamed of winning.

But this one I think comes out on the top because just the fact that we played almost six hours is incredible, incredible.  I think it’s probably the longest finals in the history of all Grand Slams, and just to hear that fact is making me cry, really.

I’m very proud just to be part of this history, part of the elite of the players that have won this tournament for several times, and I was very flattered to be playing in front of Rod Laver, in front of the alltime greats, and in front of 15,000 people that stayed until 1:30 a.m.

It’s incredible, really.  Read more »

Bleacher Reporter has an article discussing why Russia’s Maria Sharapova is so popular with fans.  Sharapova has been consistently ranked as one of the most searched atheletes online. The article gives four major explanations with which I mostly agree. I have added the fifth reason  to explain mostly her popularity with sponsors:

1) Sex appeal. No comment here. Whether we agree or don’t, like or don’t like. Sex sells. Period.)

2) Successful tennis career. With three grand slams, 24 WTA titles and $16 million in prize-money, Sharapova continues to be a top-5 player. She is no Anna Kournikova. Her next mission is to win the Olympic Gold this year.

3) High-profile personal life. She is engaged to NBA player Sasha Vujacic for about two years already. However, Maria has managed to keep her personal life private. Good for her.

4) Nice personality.  She was likable when she won the Wimbledon in her late teens, and she’s still likable now, especially after taking a career break to recover from injuries.

5) Intelligent businesswoman. Not many talk about her intelligence, but make no mistakes. Maria is smart. At age 24, she remains the top-earning female athlete in the world. She renewed her Nike deal in 2010. The new eight-year contract is worth up to $70 million. She receives royalties from her own tennis line and a line of bags and shoes through Cole Haan. She has endorsements with Canon, Prince, Tiffany, Tag Heuer and Land Rover. Of course she has agents and business advisors, but I have seen  many interviews and appearances of her, where she exactly says what she is supposed to say. Nothing more, nothing less. When Nike signs an eight-year multi-million dollar contract, they must have some trust in the person who is going to represent them. She is not going to surprise us with Tiger-Woods-style lifestyle, or she is not going to have Serena-style outbursts on the court. Maybe it is somewhat dull, but I would call it simply “smart.”

In this interview Maria Sharapova talks about how she feels going up against Petra Kvitova in the next semi-final match.

Q.  How do you feel going up against Kvitova in the next match?MARIA SHARAPOVA:  It will certainly be tough.  I’ve lost to her the last couple of times ? obviously the big one in Wimbledon where she played really well.  I think she’s the one to beat right now, playing the best tennis in her career.  Coming off of so many wins last year, I’m looking forward to the matchup.  I don’t like losing so many times in a row.  So I’ll certainly be going out there and trying to play my best.

 Q.  Out of that Wimbledon final, what do you take from that?

MARIA SHARAPOVA:  Yeah, she played quite deep and hard, served extremely well.  The chances that I had, she just came up with better shots in that match.  She was certainly the better player.  Yeah, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow and see how that goes.

 Read the full interview here.

Oh David… David…David Nalbandian lost to John Isner today 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 at the 2012 Australian Open. The match was full of drama and controversy.  Here is a nice summery of what happened.

And here is David’s post-match interview:

Q.  It’s never nice to lose in very controversial circumstances, but clearly it was a pretty dispiriting end to the match for you.  

DAVID NALBANDIAN:  Yeah.

 Q.  What do you make of the umpire’s decision in that 8All point? 

DAVID NALBANDIAN:  I asked for HawkEye and he make an overrule.  Because the lineman call out.  He overrule it.  Was a lot of noises, so I asked what happened, because the lineman called out.

He told me he overruled it.  And I say, Okay, I see the mark.  I say challenge.  Not a big deal.  He don’t want to do it. Read more »