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Cross Posted At Megan’s Minute.
You all know Maria Sharapova is not my favorite tennis player. I freely admit, a lot of that is not her fault. Much of my dislike lies in the fact that she became the "Great Blonde Hope" after she won only one grand slam, Wimbledon in 2004.
Simply because she's got blonde hair and long legs, you would have thought she was the second coming of Rod Laver as a woman, the way the sporting press fell at her feet. She was the new Anna Kournikova, except with talent. This also at a time when the tennis press did nothing but rake Venus and Serena Williams over the coals. Something that annoys me no end.
Her "Come on's" are excessive and annoying, and as for her screeching, it's so loud, when I saw her at the US Open, my ears hurt from the sound even though I was sitting in the highest part of the nosebleed section of Arthur Ashe Stadium.
My other problem with Maria. Her father, Yuri. Like all tennis fathers, he's too visible and too involved. One of these days I expect him to actually stop his heart with those aggressive first thumps to his chest.
My feelings for Maria thawed a little after she won the US Open in 2006. She played very good tennis and she also proved she wasn't just a one slam wonder. But Daddy was still around and the "Great Blonde Hope" publicity machine hyperventilated even more after that win.
Well yesterday Maria won the 2008 Australian Open. Not only that, she did it the hard way. She beat a solid comeback kid, Lindsay Davenport, she kicked out the number one player in the world, Justine Henin---breaking the win streak Henin's had since last summer---she dumped Jelena Jankovic in the semis and yesterday she knocked off Ana Ivanovic to win the title. After all that, even I have to respect she's the real deal and she's proved it once again in convincing fashion.
However the reason she just might get me to like her is because of her speech. Usually those little trophy acceptance speeches are lame and boring. But today Maria had me almost choking up when she spoke so eloquently. One of her coaches lost his mother last year and evidently it had a great impact on Maria and her team. She dedicated her win to her coach's mother and then spoke from the heart about how she learned last year that tennis wasn't everything. She also said she got a text from Billie Jean King before the final saying, "champions take chances" and "pressure is a privilege," and how much those messages meant to her.
So I still don't quite like her, but I'm much further away from disliking her.
Other Aussie Open Observations:
*Novak Djokovic should send a nice Harry and David Tower of Treats to Janko Tipsarevic and James Blake. Why? Because his semi-final against Roger Federer would probably have been a lot tougher if Blake and Tipsarevic hadn't softened Roger up. That's not to say that Djokovic wouldn't have beaten the greatest player ever born, we all know he's capable of it, it just means he might have had to take five sets to do it. Then who knows how much he'd have had left in the tank to face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. As it was, he played the final well enough to earn his first grand slam title. I don't think it will be his last. Congratulations Djok.
*Speaking of James Blake. He can leave the Aussie Open with his head held high. He played not only solid tennis but smart tennis. Riding the wave of that big Davis Cup win he had the confidence to take on the number one player with a winning attitude. The problem was, Roger kicked up his game like only Roger can, and James was out of it after that. Good on you James.
*Serena Williams' loss to Jelena Jankovic was a big disappoint but it's obvious Serena had some kind of injury going on. I think she didn't talk about it because she remembers how much legitimate heat she took after last years US Open loss to Justine and her "she got lucky" comment. Notice how in her post match press conference, she made sure to give credit to Jankovic? Anyway between her loss and Venus', they should both go after Patrick MacEnroe, 'cause no sooner does he predict that the sisters would
