Great Tennis Photos

Photos: Masha shows off the ring!!

Posted by Lana On October 24 2010

Newly engaged couple Maria Sharapova and Los Angeles Laker Sasha Vujacic were looking lovey in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday as they walk hand in hand while out for lunch. Sharapova could be seen wearing a rather large engagement ring while out and about with her future husband.

Serena Williams on the Cover of August 2010 Harper Bazaar

Posted by Lana On July 04 2010

Serena Williams is featured on Cover of August 2010 Harper's Bazaar, which hits newsstands July 20th. In the photo spread, Serena showcases her stylish self in a Fendi dress and sports a swimsuit by Eres. Inside the monthly magazine, Serena talks about how she came to accept her body, about the difficulties, and importance, of accepting her own physical differences, and dating, revealing the reason behind breaking up with rapper Common.

Photos: Shakira Attends Nadal vs Mathieu Match

Posted by Lana On June 29 2010

Shakira was spotted out at the All England Club in London on Monday afternoon watching Rafael Nadal and Paul-Henri Mathieu during their fourth round match for the Wimbledon Championships. Here are the photos, enjoy!

Photos: Brooklyn Decker, Kim Sears, Bec Cartwright and Mirka Vavrinec on Day Seven at Wimbledon

Posted by Lana On June 29 2010

Here are the photos of Brooklyn Decker, Kim Sears, Bec Cartwright and Mirka Vavrinec supporting their husbands/boyfriends on Day Seven of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on June 28, 2010 in London, England. Enjoy!

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Maria Sharapova - Roland Garros 25. May Interview

Posted by Lana On 5/26/2009 09:24:00 AM

M. SHARAPOVA/A. Yakimova
3‑6, 6‑1, 6‑2


Q. How encouraged were you by your performance today?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I started pretty lousy. You know, even though I was up a break, I was just not doing the right things and, you know, letting her play really well. She got a lot of balls back. She made me hit a lot of balls. I was just a little sloppy.
But I totally changed it around, and I started playing a lot better and more aggressive. The match kind of changed after the first few games of the second set.

Q. Must be a different feeling this year than last year when you were still the No. 1. Can you express your feelings? Where is your level now?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, it's a very different ‑‑ very different time in my career, as well, because I've only played a couple of tournaments since I played here last, actually two, only.
So, you know, I feel like I don't have as many matches under my belt as I had coming into this tournament last year, where, you know, I was No. 1. You know, I won a few titles, I was playing really good tennis. This year it's obviously different after having a long layoff.


Q. Tough to find yourself back here, at the No. 128, being the No. 1 like you were last year.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: At this point in my career, I don't think ‑‑ it certainly doesn't bother me, doesn't change the way I think. Many of the girls that are, say,are in the top 10 or top 20 when I was top 5 or 1 in the world, I used to play them second or third round, anyways. Now I just kind of change around and I've been out of the game. I've always made a point about not really caring who's on the other side of the net and knowing that I have to go out there and just compete and try to win the match.

Q. Serve is a big part of your game. How would you describe your relationship with your serve today and, say,the last little while trying to get back to it?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: It's interesting, because we're on clay, so I don't feel like ‑‑ I've never hit 20 ace in a match, per se. I've always been a solid server, so I think especially on clay it's just so important to have a good percentage of first serves, you know.
Make the opponent hit a return, make the opponent hit a good return. Make them get back in the point. That's kind of what I'm working on here, you know. After shoulder surgery I'm not going to come out and hit Mach 50 and try and hit aces left and right.

Q. Seemed like the first set maybe a little bit of nerves. You were hesitating a little bit. Didn't have your normal anticipation. Is it just coming ‑‑ I know you played more ‑‑ coming back to the big stage. I know it's a Slam. You have some expectations of at least playing well.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, well, I don't really have expectations,to be honest. I think this is the first time in my career where I can really say where I don't have any expectations, I don't know how things are going to work out.
I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, how my shoulder is going to feel. Obviously I haven't played competitive matches in a long time. That's a big factor for my body and for my shoulder, and, you know, tennis‑wise, competing and playing, you know, getting all that back.
I think that's just so important right now just to ‑‑ I mean, it's definitely ‑‑ it's tough coming out and thinking of the things you have to do in order to win the match, because at the end of the day, you have to focus on yourself and, you know, you have to focus on what you do well, but you also ‑‑ you don't want to come out making too many errors, and that kind of hesitation today, you know, force me to make more errors than I usually do.

Q. Do you see this as sort of a second career now? It's almost been a career since you've been comfortable.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, in a way. Definitely. It's the first time in, you know, in my life where I couldn't practice for such a long period of time. I think it was three months where I didn't touch a tennis racquet. I mean, everything about it was just bizarre. It was some things were just taken away from your life.
In a strange way, it's kind of, I don't know ‑‑ it was a little calming, you know. Even though it's obviously stressful because you don't know if you're ever going to get the chance to be out here again and playing again and you always have to be positive. I mean, don't get me wrong, there are many days where I was really hesitant, and, you know, you try to do the best things,but there are so many different paths and so many voices and so many opinions,and at the end of the day you have to try and choose the right one.
You know, I've been grateful to have a wonderful team around me that's been able to, you know, support me and help me in making those right decisions and is leading me to the right paths.

Q. What do the doctors say long term about your shoulder? Do you expect to get completely back to where you were before?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: They say I should be fine.

Q. You've spoken before how fortunate you are.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yes.

Q. When you were out this length of time, did you have time to reflect on what a tremendous experience, what a tremendous life you've had and the possibility that you might not have it again?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Oh, absolutely.

Q. Could you reflect on that, please?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, absolutely. Every single day. You know, no matter where I was, I was obviously ‑‑ it seems like I was, you know, home for the whole nine months, but I was spending a lot of time in Arizona so I wasn't exactly home, home.
I did have an opportunity to have a normal life and I think when you're traveling 11 months out of the year, always on the go, and you never have the time to actually settle down and appreciate the very little things that you have in life, and,you know, the No. 1 thing is your family. Your support system, and, you know, the people that are sending you positive vibes every single day. And then just the opportunities that you've had, that you've gained in life from your tennis career, you know.
Everything, tennis and, you know, in my career and when I go out on the court, drives everything, drives myself, drives my business, drives everything that I do.
You know, you realize that, you know, you sit back and you're like, you miss it, you want to be out there, and,you know, doesn't ‑‑ it's from the hour you're in the locker room and putting your dress on, you know, to the 15 minutes before your match where you're warming up and you're pumping yourself up and, you know, you're going to get out there in front of 20,000 people. You miss that. I certainly missed it.

Q. And the one piece of advice that you got during all this period, what was the best advice that you got?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, many. Definitely many. All that I'm very appreciative of. You know, one thing is that you have to ‑‑ what I had to realize from the beginning was that it was going to be a long road. As an athlete, you try to anticipate your comeback. You try to figure out when you're going to be back. Oh, there are so many times I thought, oh, I had I'll be back in Australia, or, oh, I will be back in a few weeks. Every single time it was disappointment after disappointment because you couldn't achieve that goal. So that's when it kind of becomes a little bit frustrating.
I think another thing is many people think that you have surgery and you wake up and you're completely fine. There's a lot of work that goes on, especially after being out of the game, not only getting your shoulder right and getting your strength back after shoulder surgery, but also getting back on the court and training and trying to be where you were before and even better.

Q. You will play Petrova. How do you consider this match?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I've had pretty good success against her. I haven't seen her recently,especially in the last year or so, so I don't really know how she's playing,but I think my coach watched a little bit of her match, and I'm sure I'll get a few pointers. She has a very aggressive serve. She plays a pretty big game. You know, I'm just excited that I gave myself another opportunity to play tomorrow ‑‑ not tomorrow, but the day after.

Q. If this is act 2 of your career, given that you've had a lot of time to think about things, is there anything you feel like you'll approach differently?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think my losses, you know, because I was ‑‑ I am still and I was a big competitor. The losses are very tough to take and no matter what brave face you put on, it's always difficult, especially the next day or so, but I think after going through this long process with the shoulder,you know, stuff, I think ‑‑ I don't think I'll treat those losses that emotionally bad.

Q. You think you'll try to put them behind you faster and process the lessons?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think I just have more perspective on those things. I've always really had good perspective, but I'm a competitor, you know. So is everyone else here in the draw. Everyone wants to win, and unfortunately there's only ‑‑fortunately because that's what makes it so exciting. There's only one winner in the men's and women's field. You want to be that one person.
When you're not, you know, you're always thinking of how you can be.

Q. You're known as a fighter. It's practically attached to your name. How difficult was it to encounter a situation where really fighting did not help?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: To be honest, it really did. I think if I was ‑‑ if I was a mentally weak person or individual, I think I wouldn't be here today. I'd be on some island. I mean, sounds good to me, probably sounds good to everyone in this room. You know,with a nice cold Pina Colada and a nice cold towel they hand around at the pools.
But I love being here,and there's no better feeling than waving to the crowd after you've won. There's no better feeling than going on court when they call your name, and, you know, there's a job in front of you and, you know, especially in these days, to know that you have an opportunity to go out and play and have a job.

Q. Your serve, you've obviously had to work a little bit on it and a little different service motion. Can you talkus through that a little bit and where you feel it needs to be, the adjustments on that, Maria?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think I'm just trying to do everything I can. Work on my shoulder, make it easier. Not just looking for the next five or six months. I'm looking down the road. I want to be playing for as many years as my body can, as long as my body can hold up, and I think these little changes, I mean, little or big, I think whatever I can do in order to help my body and to help my shoulder in this particular case, I will do.
In this point in my career where I've already achieved things way beyond that I expected when I was a little kid, I think if I can adjust and make these changes, it will help my body, then I'm totally up for it.


(via www.rolandgarros.com, photo/Reuters Pictures)


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