Sharapova's Australian Open Prep...
On Monday, Maria Sharapova walked onto Rod Laver Arena to play the first match of the 2010 Australian Open as the "defending champion”... albeit a year removed. The last time Sharapova had set foot in Rod Laver Arena, she had walked away with the trophy as the 2008 Women's Champion. Now "two years and one shoulder surgery and 10 months off the Tour last year" later... Sharapova is clearly not the same player. After
almost 3 and 1/2 hours of tennis on Monday afternoon, Sharapova was the loser against another 22 year old blonde Russian named Maria (Kirilenko). It was a big win for Kirilenko of whom much was expected when she first arrived on the Tour several years ago. It was also the first time Sharapova had lost in the first round of a major since 2003…
Sharapova last played a tournament match in Japan in October. Since then, Maria has practiced a lot and played a few exhibition matches. Sharapova was asked in her post-match press conference why she hadn't played a warm-up tournament, e.g. Brisbane where Justine Henin returned to the Tour after an 18 month retirement. Sharapova's response was that she never had in the past... that mindset is something that may need to change if Sharapova is to regain her confidence, results and ranking. Maria is not playing the way she played in the past or she would not have lost a 4-2 first set lead or five points in a row in the first set tie-breaker after also leading 4-2.
Kirilenko deserves a lot of credit for playing very well, retrieving a lot of balls and especially for holding her nerve in the tight moments. However, Sharapova can definitely play much better and she needs both practice AND much more match play to develop that confidence again. Repetition in practice helps a player develop the belief to allow him/her to try to play in matches as he/she has in practice, but it is only by repeatedly executing shots in matches, especially in tense moments, that a player develops real confidence and becomes “match tough”. Playing through many tight situations in matches helps a player learn what he/she needs to do to execute under pressure, i.e. what breaks down and how to fix it "on the fly". Practice helps, but there is no substitute for real matches and Sharapova needs more of them...
Sharapova last played a tournament match in Japan in October. Since then, Maria has practiced a lot and played a few exhibition matches. Sharapova was asked in her post-match press conference why she hadn't played a warm-up tournament, e.g. Brisbane where Justine Henin returned to the Tour after an 18 month retirement. Sharapova's response was that she never had in the past... that mindset is something that may need to change if Sharapova is to regain her confidence, results and ranking. Maria is not playing the way she played in the past or she would not have lost a 4-2 first set lead or five points in a row in the first set tie-breaker after also leading 4-2.
Kirilenko deserves a lot of credit for playing very well, retrieving a lot of balls and especially for holding her nerve in the tight moments. However, Sharapova can definitely play much better and she needs both practice AND much more match play to develop that confidence again. Repetition in practice helps a player develop the belief to allow him/her to try to play in matches as he/she has in practice, but it is only by repeatedly executing shots in matches, especially in tense moments, that a player develops real confidence and becomes “match tough”. Playing through many tight situations in matches helps a player learn what he/she needs to do to execute under pressure, i.e. what breaks down and how to fix it "on the fly". Practice helps, but there is no substitute for real matches and Sharapova needs more of them...
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