Maria Sharapova Loses Number One Ranking At Indian Wells
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Mar 13, 2007 | Print
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It is after midnight in Monaco, but when Justine Henin wakes up, I’m sure someone will be more than glad to tell her that she is the new world number one.
Justine Henin, who skipped the entire Australian season because of her separation from her husband Pierre-Yves, returned to the Tour successfully last month with titles at Dubai and Doha.
She lost the number one ranking to Maria Sharapova after failing to defend her ranking points Down Under, but because of Sharapova’s not-so shocking defeat to Vera Zvonareva today at Indian Wells, she will automatically assume the top spot when the new rankings come out Monday.
As sad as it was for the Pacific Life Open to lose both of their top seeds before the quarterfinals, I can’t say that I was surprised by Sharapova’s loss. After looking at the draw ten days ago, I suspected that Zvonareva would give Sharapova a tough work-out.
A work-out indeed was given to the top seed today and her fellow countrywoman helped her out of the Pacific Life Open in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Sharapova had a chance to serve out the match in two sets at 6-4, 5-4, but her serve caused her to self-destruct. As Brant noticed here, Sharapova produced thirteen double faults - six in the second set alone.
Her pathetic serve helped her lose the match, but Sharapova agreed that it was not her only problem.
“There was a lot of wrong things going on today,” said Maria. “That was just one of them - especially in the third set. But like I said, it was more of a snowball effect than anything else.”
Maria Sharapova’s serve has not been the same since the Australian Open and if she continues to produce this many double-faults, she’s going to be confused for another one of her blonde countrywomen.
The most disparaging thing about Sharapova’s defeat is that she hardly counts the loss of the number one ranking as a big deal. Unlike other players that cherish the top ranking as a big aspiration and goal to be cherished, Sharapova only said that the top spot loss “doesn’t mean too much to her.”
Thankfully, we will now have a world number one who will be proud to hold onto the top spot.
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Brant | Mar 13, 2007 | Reply
Every match today has been an upset except for Vaidisova’s win.
I think Vaidisova will win the title over Peer. (AW! Repeat of Aussie Open Junior girls title… haha yes I do remember the match!)
Nick | Mar 14, 2007 | Reply
Sharapova’s serve has been so horrible that it’s painful for me to watch her when she serves. What is going on with that serve? She has shoulder problem, but I don’t think it was her shoulder…time to visit 2003 when she won Wimbledon with her serve…
Even last year at the US Open she outplayed Justine with her serve…Maria already has enough trouble playing against players like Justine and Amelie, Serena, the last thing she needs is her serve going Dementieva on her.
Aaress | Mar 14, 2007 | Reply
Maria’s not talking - or making any excuses - about her serve right now. Originally, it looked like just a bad day, but she’s been suffering from this since the AO and it is not getting any better.
I’m no tennis coach, but I seem to remember one of the tennis commentators at the AO saying that it looked like she was having problems with her toss. That could account for her rhythm being off, but I’m not 100% sold on the fact that it may not be an injury of some sort. She has been suffering from a hamstring injury for the past several weeks, but surely, that wouldn’t be related?
Maria’s game is far from multi-dimensional and without her serve, she’s hardly a threat to Justine, Amelie, Kim, or the Williams Sisters.