“At this point, especially not competing for a long time, it’s not about proving, it’s about going out and competing and playing and doing what I missed for those months.”
That’s how Maria Sharapova describes what’s driving her this week in Singapore, and so far it’s working. The Russian has been the story of the tournament. After not playing a full match since Wimbledon, she has started the week by beating Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets and Simona Halep in straight sets. Sharapova may not be guaranteed a spot in the semifinals just yet, but she seems to be well on her way.
“I think I’m quite pleased to be able to beat the No.2 player in the world,” Sharapova said after her 6-4, 6-4 win over Halep. “I found myself on the defense many times and was able to win a lot of the long points.”
Coming into this event, I wondered if we could be seeing the beginning of Sharapova’s career eclipse. She’s 28 now, has been on tour for half of her life, and has suffered more than her share of injuries. She has also spent a decade in the ever-lengthening shadow of Serena Williams. How many one-sided losses to her could she take? For much of 2015, Sharapova has been more visible at the corporate events that surround tournaments than she has been at the tournaments themselves. And it has been 12 years since she won her only title at the WTA Finals.
Yet in the early going in Singapore, Sharapova has wiped all thoughts of decline away. In Serena’s absence, it has been left to Maria to show the rest of the field what a former No.1, a five-time Slam champ, and a future Hall-of-Famer looks like and plays like. There’s still something about Maria, after all. In fact, there are many things about Maria that make her unique, and a few that go against the grain of her reputation. Here are three that she’s shown in Singapore so far.
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Contrary to popular belief, she’s not one-dimensional
Someday, a commentator will watch Sharapova hit a drop shot and not say, “She’s really worked hard to add that to her game.” While it’s true that Sharapova has always worked hard, its not true that the dropper is new to her; she’s been using her underrated touch to finish points for years. It’s only logical. Sharapova’s primary goal is to pin an opponent behind the baseline, but once she has her back there, the front court is often wide open. Maria’s ability to drop the ball in it is one of the things that elevates her above her fellow “ball bashers,” and it was one of the shots that elevated her above Halep on Tuesday.
It's not about proving. It's about going out and competing and playing.
Sharapova doesn’t win big points, she creates them
In each of her matches so far in Singapore, Sharapova has won a game that has lasted roughly 10 minutes. Against Radwanska, it came at 0-1 on the third set; against Halep, it came at 1-0 in the second. Normally, games that early in a set aren’t considered crucial—they don’t contain the “big points” we hear about so often, which are supposed to happen later. But in outlasting her opponents in those games, by fending off multiple break points, by continually getting the score back to deuce, and by never caving in, Sharapova transforms those games into tests of will, and thus makes them more important than they would otherwise be. After holding for 1-1 in the third against Radwanska, Sharapova soon opened up a 5-2 lead; and after breaking for 2-0 in the second against Halep, she opened up a 5-1 lead.
Like another WTA star, Sharapova may bend, but she doesn’t break
More than once in 2015, I’ve marveled at Serena’s ability to succumb, temporarily, to her nerves, before relaxing again and winning anyway. It’s not easy to ignore or fend off anxiety once it has its hooks in you. Maybe Sharapova has been watching Serena, because she has pulled off the same trick in each of her first two matches in Singapore. Both times she was broken while serving for the match; against Halep, it happened twice. Yet Sharapova was still able to find her way through the final game.
How did she do it? According to Sharapova, it only took one well-struck shot to get her confidence back, and remind her of who she is. She has always said that playing her own, aggressive game is what matters, not the number of errors she makes when she does. Even if her shots aren’t clicking, she’s not going to play it safer.
“Obviously, it was great to come back at love-15 in the last game to hit a backhand winner down the line,” she said of the shot that lifted her over Halep at 5-4 in the second set. “I think I’ll think about that this evening. That gave me the extra energy to get that game.”
Letting the errors go, and dwelling on the winners: That sounds like a champion’s recipe for success to me. No wonder she missed this.