Sport

Sharapova gives Smashnova no chance

Nirmal Shekar

London: At the highest levels in sport, sometimes you have to forget who you are to become who you want to be. A sort of self-inflicted temporary amnesia helps when your self-identity itself turns out to be mental excess baggage.

Whether you can actually switch on such a changed state of awareness at will is debatable; but if it were possible at all, Maria Sharapova would certainly like to give it a go.

In a way, for Sharapova, rather than act as a springboard, a glorious slice of history has become something of a burden. After all, when you have beaten Serena Williams at age 17 to win the most coveted title in tennis, self-expectation can soar to stratospheric levels.

How much pressure the Russian teenager has put on herself is hard to know, but it is clear that she will be much better off relieving herself of the burden that Wimbledon-2004 has turned out to be.

"I never have big expectations from myself. I don't have anything to prove to the whole world,'' said Sharapova, on Wednesday, after beating Anna Smashnova of Israel 6-2, 6-0 in 52 minutes in the first round of the 120th Wimbledon championships.

She may not have anything to prove to the world but what about herself? Whether the young woman is living in a state of denial is hard to say; what is self-evidently true is that in the last 23 months she has failed to scale the heights of July 2004.

On Wednesday's evidence little can be said confidently about Sharapova's chances of regaining the title; for her opponent, Smashnova, has won three matches in 13 attempts at the All England Club.

Leading contender

But the superstar with the most marketable face in women's sport — a face that has launched dozens of advertising campaigns — is certainly one of a handful of women who are the leading contenders for the title now owned by Venus Williams.

Since winning here two years ago, Sharapova has failed to get past the semifinals in any of the four majors — that is eight Slams in a row without a shot at the title.

She says that she is now trying to "take my chances" and showcase an aggressive game. To be sure, this is not going to hurt her; it was her nerveless display of attacking tennis that overwhelmed Serena two years ago.

That was a kid living out her deepest fantasies. But, in sport, there are no fairy tales. It is a business where greatness is not trivially achieved. And one Grand Slam title is a long way from genuine greatness.

Sharapova's progress from a precocious 17-year old wonder-girl to a mature woman of substance, through all the quotidian dramas of life and sport, was never going to be easy, given the stiff price she's had to pay for fame.

Her game has often seemed to lack a necessary element of flexibility and in the last two years, in the business end of the Grand Slams, it has been marked by vulnerability rather than invincibility.

"The only reason I am here is to hold that plate at the end of the two weeks,'' Sharapova said on Wednesday.

Full circle

Life would have come a full circle if she does that; but it is not something that is easily accomplished, especially given the fact that some of her chief rivals — Amelie Mauresmo and Venus Williams, to name only two — came out of the stalls in impressive style and galloped even faster on Wednesday.

Three-time champion Venus, seeded No.6, needed 51 minutes to race past Bethanie Mattek, who is not exactly a household name in Rochester (Minnesota), her hometown, while Mauresmo, the top seed and Australian Open champion, played a brand of serve-and-volley tennis not witnessed on these hallowed lawns since the peerless Martina Navratilova was in her prime. The Frenchwoman beat an over-awed and over-matched Ivana Abramovic from Croatia 6-0, 6-0 in 39 minutes.

Three first round matches involving three title contenders together lasting two hours and 22 minutes! Where does this leave the equal prize money debate?

"My defence and the rest of the women on tour also is that we aren't arguing the time spent on court, sets played,'' said Venus. "What it's really about is being treated equal as a human being.''

How about playing best of five sets, then, as do the men?

"I will definitely need an ambulance by the court,'' said Sharapova. "It won't be pretty, I'll tell you that.''

Whatever the politically correct position, the truth is this. A huge majority of the men's early round matches in the Slams are wonderfully competitive. The opposite is true in the women's championship. Ultimately it is not about five sets or three sets; it is about quality.

For the record, the difference in prize money between men and women (open singles winners) is exactly £30,000. The men's champion gets £655,000 while the women's champion takes home £625,000.

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THE RESULTS

Prefix denotes seeding

Men: Second round: 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Tim Henman (GBR) 6-4, 6-0, 6-2; 4-David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Arnaud Clement (Fra) 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; 14-Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Xavier Malisse (Bel) 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-1; 24-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) bt Roko Karanusic (Cro) 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3. First round: 3-Andy Roddick (US) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-2; 5-Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Feliciano Lopez (Esp) 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 11-9; 6-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt Filippo Volandri (Ita) 6-1, 6-1, 6-3; Alejandro Falla (Col) bt 9-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(8), 6-3; 15-Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4; 16-Gaston Gaudio (Arg) bt Jean-Christophe Faurel (Fra) 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Mardy Fish (US) bt 17-Robby Ginepri (US) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; 18-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Alan Mackin (GBR) 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2; 22-Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Marcos Daniel (Bra) 6-2, 6-4, 7-5; 23-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Simon Stadler (Ger) 6-1, 6-4, 6-4; 27-Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) bt Danai Udomchoke (Tha) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2; Justin Gimelstob (US) bt Christophe Rochus (Bel) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Women: Second round: 2-Kim Clijsters (Bel) w/o Viktoriya Kutuzova (Ukr); Zheng Jie (Chn) bt Eva Birnerova (Cze) 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-3. First round: 1-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Ivana Abramovic (Cro) 6-0, 6-0; 4- Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Anna Smashnova (Isr) 6-2, 6-0; 6-Venus Williams (US) bt Bethanie Mattek (US) 6-1, 6-0; 7-Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 7-6(5), 7-5; 9-Anastasia Myskina (Rus) bt Cara Black (Zim) 6-0, 6-4; Melanie South (GBR) bt 11-Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; 16-Flavia Pennetta (Ita) bt Sandra Kloesel (Ger) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; 19-Ana Ivanovic (Serb) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Sui) 7-5, 7-6(4); 20-Shahar Peer (Isr) bt Yuliana Fedak (Ukr) 6-2, 6-1; 25-Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Stephanie Foretz (Fra) 6-0, 6-2; 26-Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Esp) 6-3, 6-4; 29-Tatiana Golovin (Fra) bt Mariana Diaz-Oliva (Arg) 3-6, 6-2, 9-7; Amy Frazier (US) bt 32-Mara Santangelo (Ita) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Lisa Raymond (US) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus) 3-5 (retd); Martina Muller (Ger) bt Kaia Kanepi (Est) 6-4, 6-4; Laura Granville (US) bt Maret Ani (Est) 6-1, 7-6(3); Peng Shuai (Chn) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 6-4, 6-4; Vania King (US) bt Julia Vakulenko (Ukr) 5-4 (retd); Nicole Pratt (Aus) bt Jarmila Gajdosova (Svk) 6-2, 6-3; Meghann Shaughnessy (US) bt Alona Bondarenko (Ukr) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

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