Pamela Pamela

Thursday, June 16, 2005 5:22 AM PDT
pamela anderson

Rediff.com, Thu, 16 Jun 2005 3:08 AM PDT
Sharapova poised for title defence http://www.rediff.com/rss/redirect.php?url=http://www.rediff.com/sports/2005/jun/16wimb.htm
The 18-year-old with the looks of a model cat-walks back to the scene of her triumph having acquired the poise of a champion.

Sharapova poised for title defence

Bill Barclay | June 16, 2005 15:40 IST

When Maria Sharapova shook up the world of tennis a year ago by beating Serena Williams to win Wimbledon, she did not even have a decent mobile phone with which to relay the news.

The sight of the pretty, long-limbed teenager trying vainly to call her mother using her father's mobile on the Centre Court was one of the enduring images of an endearing triumph that transformed Sharapova's life permanently.

The art of communicating the Sharapova success story has since been honed to perfection.

A year later the 18-year-old with the looks of a model cat-walks back to the scene of her triumph having acquired the poise of a champion and a clear understanding of her financial potential both on and off the court.

"I've no butterflies yet, just a lot of excitement," Sharapova told a telephone conference call this week. "Being back here brings back all the great memories.

"This is where it happened, this is where I won my first Grand Slam. It's really exciting."

Born in Nyagan in Siberia, Sharapova journeyed from Russia to the United States as a nine-year-old with her father in search of a tennis career.

INTERNET SEARCH

Last year's victory marked the completion of her road from rags to riches and today she is the most marketable sportswoman in history.

Anyone poring over her WTA handbook profile will be rewarded with the revelation that, last October, she was the top search on the KaZaZZ internet search engine ahead of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson, among others.

Sharapova has long been able to walk the walk and now the teenager who used to read prepared statements at post-match news conferences talks the talk perfectly.

"A lot of things have changed on and off the court," said the world number two who revealed last week that she will be launching her own eponymous brand of perfume in September.

"I feel like I'm a more complete player than I was a year ago.

"Off the court I've got to meet amazing people in different industries, I've got be associated with great companies and I've also been able to give back charity-wise. That's also very important."

In fact Sharapova's progress on court has not quite matched her success off it.

After winning Wimbledon she reached the third round at the US Open and, this year, the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the quarter-finals of the French Open.

UNDER PRESSURE

She has won three tournaments in 2005 -- at Tokyo, Doha and last week at Edgbaston in England, where she repeated her 2004 win in the low-key Wimbledon warm-up event.

Given the relentless glare of publicity, those are creditable results achieved under considerable pressure.

"It's very difficult knowing that people are always expecting you to win," she said. "But it's impossible to win everything. People just have to realise that.

"Your fans obviously want you to win all the time but I think they respect the fact that you're just simply a human."

One of the biggest threats to her defence at the All England Club will be resurgent Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, who exposed the weaknesses in Sharapova's game in winning their last-eight clash at Roland Garros two weeks ago.

Stretched thinly over her 1.83m frame, Sharapova's high centre of gravity means that, against a wily opponent who makes her run, she can look more like a giraffe on stilettos than a future world number one.

On grass, however, her increasingly strong serve and clubbing groundstrokes down both flanks are usually more than enough to compensate.

"I'm not worried about playing her," Sharapova said. "I played Justine on her favourite surface [in Paris].

"She had a little bit of an advantage on that but obviously on grass everything is faster, points are shorter. If you're serving well and returning well, those are the keys on the grass."

See more news stories that match your keyword at:
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=&p=pamela+anderson