One from the Archives

As Maria is playing in the upcoming tournaments in Tokyo and Beijing we thought we would share this video of Maria taking part in a special event in Tokyo in 2006.

Maria featured in new AW77 Nike Campaign.

Maria has taken part in a campaign to promote the AW77 hoodie from Nike SportsWear, one of the brand's most iconic pieces.

The campaign was shot over four months in three different cities and featured 7 of Nike's most promenent athletes, shot by world renowned photographer David Sims and  styled and directed by Karl Templer. Each athlete brought their own style, personality and attitude to the shoot to tell the story. 


Maria Sharapova: "My sport involves fashion. So I get to express my individuality through what I wear on court. But, I also must feel comfortable for competition. This also transmits to off the court." "Compared to what we have to do on the tennis court, photo shoots might be considered an easier task. I think at these photo shoots and being around many people, it's all about just focusing on yourself and just being comfortable. It's actually a little similar to tennis games. When you go inside the court, there are so many people around and talking and having opinions, but it's just you and the opponent and that's it." 


Watch the Video for the AW77 Hoodie here:





Thanks to Freshness Mag for the video.

With the amount of errors I made from both my groundstrokes and my serve, to be able to get it to three sets is not bad.

Unfortunately, by Maria's own admission, the amount of errors she made in her 3rd round match against Melanie Oudin cost her the match. Maria claiming "So if I didn't make those errors, those double faults, I certainly would have won the match." 


Both players had a nervy start to the match on serve and it was difficult for either player to hold. However Maria managed to hold at the key moments and her return game was much stronger, allowing her to take the first set 6-3. 

However Oudin lifted her game and with Maria's level decreasing and serving becoming increasingly more difficult for her, Melanie soon raced to a 5-1 lead. Although Sharapova rallied and got it back to 5-4 Oudin managed to serve out the second set, taking it 6-4.

The third set was full of drama and momentum shifts and both players were having difficulty holding their serve. However Maria, playing at well below her best and at times looking frustrated and uncomfortable was unable to fight off the feisty American and with a mounting error and double fault count surrendered the set 5-7 to Melanie Oudin.

Melanie Oudin is having a breakthrough US Open this year, having all ready defeated Dementieva and now thwarting Sharapova's chances of her first Grand Slam since her return to the tour.

Sharapova's is scheduled to play only two more WTA tournaments this year in Tokyo (end of September) and Beijing (start of October) and after which will have time to recover and sort out any issues with the serve and her new abbreviated motion. Having had a relatively short time to work on her new serving motion it is understandable that there has been relative problems and inconsistency with it.

Nevertheless Maria is going to have to sort out those problems in order to allow the confidence in her serving to grow. If she can't find some sort of happy medium with the serve then the question may be asked; will Maria ever return to the kind of form that saw her capture her 3rd Grand Slam in Australia early 2008. Only time will tell if Maria has the answer.

Maria's Round 3 Match preview!

After Maria thwarted the chances of an all-american round 3 meeting by defeating Christina McHale under the lights on Thursday evening, 6-2 6-1, she progressed to meet Melanie Oudin. Oudin being the surprise winner who took out #4 ranked Elena Dementieva in what was arguably the shock of the women's draw so far.

The upset proving Melanie Oudin of the USA is a big stage player (she also defeated Jankovic at Wimbledon this year) and could be a dangerous opponent given the fact she runs everything down, and makes her opponents play alot of balls. Oudin's game is solid with no obvious weakness and she can mix it up relatively well.

Maria will need to focus in order to come through this match up unscathed. Maria will need to adjust quickly not only to the different conditions of playing a Day match compared to a Night match, but also to the varying pace of shot Oudin will present her with. Look for Melanie to play alot of sliced backhands to try and throw Maria off her rhythm and open the court. She can also move the ball around the court well which could prove a problem for Maria if she's unable to get time on the ball. Melanie is definitely a step up from Maria's previous opponents and she will be full of confidence after putting out the #4 seed.

Nevertheless, Maria having won the US Open title in 2006 and having a wealth of experience on the Grand Slam stage should be able to pull through the match, her groundstrokes proving the deciding factor wearing down Oudin in both pace and consistency. However it will no doubt be less straightforward than her first two matches and Maria will need to serve well to keep the pressure on Melanie Oudin.

Maria talking to Jimmy Connors

Maria talking before this year's US Open



Video courtesy of tennis-channel.tv

Maria's 2nd Round Preview

Maria has been improving with each match and each tournament since she exited Wimbledon in the 2nd round. She reached the quarters in Stanford, progressed to the LA Semi's and arrived in her first final since her comeback in Toronto. Don't be looking for Maria to repeat her early 2nd round exit here at the US Open.

Maria's back under the lights to face young American Christina McHale, and if Sharapova can build on her punishing groundstrokes and fierce returning from the first round she should have a relatively easy passage through to the 3rd round.

However McHale can hustle, and should keep the match interesting enough to provide a challenge for Maria but nothing more substantial. Maria will need to use this as an opportunity to fine- tune her serve ahead of her tustle with 4th seed Elena Dementieva, assuming Elena can overcome the challenge of Melanie Oudin.

Look for Maria to produce more schorching groundstrokes and try attacking anything short from Mchale. We should also expect Maria to be approaching the net more behind her powerful forehand and backhand.

Maria starts her US Open Campaign with a Win!

After just 1 hour and 13 minutes Maria Sharapova pummels Tsvetana Pironka into submission with a 6-3 6-0 win, and looked every bit the fierce competitor, both in her tennis and in debuting her US Open night match outfit.

To give you an idea of the story of the match there was 2 long deuces on Maria's serve, she broke Pironkova's serve 6 times, served 52% first serves in and had only 4 double faults.

Definitely a feature of the match was how well Maria started both sets, establishing herself as the driving force in the match. She played a little in-and-out in the middle of both sets with her serve being tested in two long deuce games, but came through successfully, playing the crucial points better than her opponent.

Sharapova was never really pushed by Pironkova, tested more by her own ability to find consistency and to find the execution needed to apply her attacking gameplan.

If there was one thing Sharapova would aim to work on as she progresses, other than hitting more first-serves, it would be her play at the net. Although, according to the match statistics she won 15/20 net points her volleys and overheads could definitely have been better played. Maria seemed at times reluctant to close the net, electing to back off after many of her first volleys.

Nevertheless Maria can only improve as she continues through the draw at New York and you never want to play your best tennis in the first round, you want to gain momentum and improve with each round. Her next opponent should be relatively straight forward, facing Christina McHale of the USA in the second round.

Interestingly Maria dropped only 3 games in progressing, the same amount of games as her possible third round opponent, Dementieva, and at the moment there's nothing to pick between them.

Maria is undoubtedly one to watch at this year at Flushing Meadows.

Maria Sharapova Unveils Cole Haan Collection

With the US Open just days away Maria took some time out from practicing to unveil her new line of shoes and bags for Cole Haan at the Rockerfeller Centre in New York. Maria came up with all the designs herself when she was out of the game recovering from shoulder surgery. The designs are all very chic and fashionable but at attainable prices, so everyone can get that bit of fashion luxury.

Also at the event were young tennis fans from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centers Junior development program, who got to meet Maria.

Maria also talked of her love of the game and how she enjoys playing in-front of the New York crowd as the "crowd really energizes you and brings out your best level".

Maria's US Open Draw

The draw for the US Open  has been released today and there are some interesting matches to be played out over the 2 weeks at Flushing Meadows.

Hopefully Maria will go far within the tournament but there are some tough matches ahead if she plans to do so. In the first round Maria will face Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL) who Maria has played once before in Istanbul, 2007. Maria won this match in straight sets and should be able to repeat the performance at US Open.

Maria then goes on to face either Christina McHale (USA) or Polona Hercog (SLO) which should prove relatively easy for Maria as neither player is seeded at the USOpen and McHale recieved a wildcard into the tournament.

Maria's 3rd round opponent is a re-match of the 2009 Toronto Final where Maria came up against fellow Russian Dementieva in a match which proved closer than eventual scoreline  of 6-4 6-3 to Elena showed. This match should be the first real test for Maria in the tournament.  Out of the previous 11 meetings with Dementieva, Sharapova has won 8 of them. If Maria can produce her A-game on the day, Dementieva will prove a tough test but Sharapova should come through. However anything less than her best and it could swing the way of Elena.

If however Maria does make it through she could face Nadia Petrova (RUS) in the fourth round, who maria has defeated 3 times already in her comeback, including a three set thriller at the French Open. However there is a real chance for Jie Zheng (CHN) to get to the 4th round with Petrova's form being questionable of late.

Following this Maria, if the seeding holds true, could face Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) in the quarter- finals. The head-to-head between the two currently stands at 4-4. The last time Maria won was at the Sony Ericsson Championships 2007, and she won comfortably after dropping the first set taking the next two 6-2 6-2. However their last meeting was in Indian Wells in 2008 where Svetlana took the win 6-2 in the 3rd set and ending Maria's perfect record for the start of 2008. So if it gets this far this could be a tough match for Maria and she would need to show some good form to win, although since winning the French Open this year Kuznetsova has not been playing her best tennis, so anything is possible.

The top players seeded to meet Maria in the semi's if she goes that far are Jelena Jankovic (SRB) and Dinara Safina (RUS). Maria stands a good chance with a 4-1 head-to-head against Jankovic, last beating her in straight sets in Australia 2008. Jelena's only win has been a walk-over in Rome in 2008 when Maria withdrew with a leg strain. Against Safina, Maria also has a good chance, although they are tied 3-3 in the head-to-head. When Masha has won it has been in straight sets winning 6-2 6-3. However when Dinara has taken the match it has proved more difficult with the matches going 3 sets all times. With the nervy play Dinara has been showing recently on the big occasions Maria would stand a good chance in a match against Safina.

There are many contenders for the final, if Maria can somehow get this far, that could make it through their side of the draw. Not least Serena and Venus Williams (USA) and Kim Klijsters (BEL).  However Maria is going to have to be stringing together consistent play, scorching groundstrokes and steady serving to stand a chance of going deep in New York. Arthur Ashe Stadium has witnessed many amazing matches over the years and under the lights at Flushing Meadows anything can, and probably will happen.

Maria in Toronto

Maria Sharapova records her best result since returning to the tour in Warsaw in may this year, reaching her first WTA tour final since Amelia Island in 2008.

In the early rounds Maria dispatched her opponents with relative ease and by the quarters had started to exhibit some outstanding form and shot-making, however Maria's real test was to be the Final.

Maria faced Elena Dementieva also of Russia ( the 6th all Russian WTA final this year) in what proved to be a nervy match in tricky conditions, with both players struggling to hold serve in the opening set. It was Dementieva though that steeled herself to take the first set 6-4. Maria fought hard in the second and showed flashes of greatness but it wasn't to be. A somewhat fatigued and lackluster Maria (by her own standards) eventually folded 6-3, giving Elena her 3rd WTA title this year.

Maria's performance over all was encouraging and stands her on good grounds for the USOpen which starts on the 31st of August. Maria will be seeded as her world ranking jumps to #30 as of Monday 24th August. Maria is also placed #19 on the race to the Sony Ericsson Championships and finished a respectable #4 in the USOpen series after reaching the quarter's and semi's of Stanford and LA respectively before her Final appearance in Toronto.

Whether or not Maria can pose a real threat at this year's USOpen remains a question only she can answer, but if she can produce some of the stunning shot-making and serving she showed this week, there is every chance she will go far.