TOM TEBBUTT May 5, 2009
ttebbutt@globeandmail.com
With tennis heading into the heart of its season, here's a question for fans of the sport to ponder - when will Maria Sharapova or Roger Federer win another Grand Slam title?
Better yet, will Sharapova or Federer ever win another one?
For the record, she has three Grand Slam victories. He has 13.
The unknown with Sharapova, who turned 22 last month, is whether she can regain her form after a right-rotator-cuff problem that has bothered her on and off since 2006 and required arthroscopic surgery last October? Now ranked No. 65, she has not played singles since withdrawing after winning her opening round at the 2008 Rogers Cup in Montreal.
With Federer, 27, it is more a matter of whether he has lost his edge faced with the challenge of a trio of younger rivals, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, against whom he is on a combined 0-11 losing streak - Nadal (5), Murray (4) and Djokovic (2).
And those numbers don't tell the story of how he has struggled through patches of painfully inept play against all three at crucial stages in matches this year.
There is no similar reference for Sharapova, whose only match since last August was in doubles in Indian Wells, Calif., in March. That was viewed as a prelude to an imminent return, but last week she pulled out of all major events leading up to the French Open, which begins on May 24.
After the doubles loss with Russian compatriot Elena Vesnina, Sharapova said, "the hump I have to get through right now is coming out to the court and playing two or three sets every day, and doing that for seven or eight days in a row."
She still appears incapable of that and, despite strong denials from her camp, there are inevitable murmurs about her career being in jeopardy.
It is not unheard of in modern women's tennis for a player to fade at an early age - Martina Hingis did not win a Grand Slam after age 18, Monica Seles and Kim Clijsters after 22, and Jennifer Capriati and Justine Henin after 25.
Sharapova is keeping busy these days dating Charlie Ebersol, son of NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol and actress Susan Saint James, and also with showbiz endeavours like doing a makeover of recent NFL top draft choice, quarterback Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions, for an ESPN The Magazine cover shoot. Fervent fashionista Sharapova is less than a year older than Stafford, a self-avowed jeans and T-shirt guy before the 2004 Wimbledon champion took charge, sprucing up his hair and wardrobe.
But for all her glamour and dilettantish sidelines, Sharapova is essentially an athlete who thrives on the competition of tennis and will make every effort to come back to the tour.
As for Federer, 2009 has been a humbling time. His uncontrollable tears after losing to Nadal in the Australian Open final and subsequent ineffectual play in losses to Murray and Djokovic suggest he may have lost his nerve.
Following a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 semi-final loss to Djokovic in Rome last Saturday, he was less morose than after other recent disappointments. A locker room source told The Globe and Mail that he was actually in a playful mood.
That is a positive sign, as was his postmatch analysis of Djokovic's performance. "I thought he came through with a bit more energy after the rain delay [in the second set]," Federer said. "Before that, he was pretty flat."
Frank, realistic appraisal of his main rivals, and giving credit where it is due, could be significant steps in his finally coming to grips with his new (non-dominant) status in the game.
So, who wins a Grand Slam first, Sharapova or Federer? To start, Sharapova must return to action. If she does, Wimbledon could tell the tale. Both she and Federer excel on grass and it will provide them with a golden opportunity to prove that the game has not passed them by.
But Federer, the more structurally sound of the two at the moment, has a better chance to be the first to return to the winner's circle. A player of his singular talent and accomplishments is surely destined, at some point, to rise again.
0 comments