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Post by Admin on Jul 26, 2014 21:13:30 GMT
When Maria Sharapova takes to the courts of Wimbledon, she does not smile. She chases balls with the aggression of a Doberman Pinscher, grunts like a hyena in heat, and blasts rocket-like serves at her opponents. During intense matches she’s pure terror—a leggy, blonde monster ready to obliterate the person on the other side of the net. But on the evening of June 18, the Wednesday before the start of Wimbledon, she’s more beauty than beast as she sits inside the Sugarpova Candy Lounge—a pop-up shop in Wimbledon village promoting her eponymous line of gummy bears, gumballs and soft chews. Sharapova wears a white V-neck t-shirt with a plunging neckline; the Sugarpova logo—a pair of cherry red, puckered lips—sits just south of her breasts. She’s fielding questions from Laura Robson, an injured British tennis player who is reporting on Wimbledon for the BBC. “What made you go into sweets?” Robson asks. “When I was a little girl I loved sweets, whether it was a little piece of candy or a lollipop that I got after practice or an English lesson,” Sharapova says. “Two years ago it just hit me: ‘Why not do something with candy and create a business of my own?’” Robson suggests that gorging on liquorice-flavoured rainbow swirls with a marshmallow center may not fit with Sharapova’s training regimen. But Sharapova, seven years Robson’s senior and ranked 86 places above her, simply laughs. She navigates the conversation back to her core message: she is a hands-on businesswoman. “I’ve visited the factory,” she says. “It was a cool experience seeing how it was made. It’s pretty much a colorful rainbow liquid that is turned into a liquorice or gummy bear.” The players smile at each other. The conversation winds through a series of banalities. We learn that Sharapova puts on her left shoe before her right. She has a pudgy, eight-year-old dog, who is currently in summer camp. She loved the Spice Girls when she was younger. Eventually Sharapova guides Robson—and the BBC camera crew—past racks of Sugarpova tank tops, available for £16. Meanwhile, children and grown men have lined up outside. It’s fitting that the sound of cha-ching emanates from Sharapova’s candy shop on Wimbledon High Street. In 2004, ten years ago this week, Sharapova upset Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final, catapulting Sharapova, then 17, onto the cover of Sports Illustrated and turning her into the world’s most marketable female athlete. Lucrative deals with Cole Haan, Evian, Honda, and Samsung followed, all capped off with a Nike deal that guaranteed her $70 million. The four Grand Slam titles that have followed have activated millions in bonuses.
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Post by Admin on Aug 13, 2014 22:45:40 GMT
Tennis: Former World No.1 and 5-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova has said that she feels much better than last year and she wants to repeat the feat of winning the Cincinnati title in 2011. Last year Sharapova had lost in the second round to American youngster Sloane Stephens. The year before, she had withdrawn to due an injury in 2012. "I feel much more refreshed then I did sitting in this chair a year ago," Sharapova said Monday at a press conference. "I feel much more mentally excited to be playing healthy rather than going on a court worrying if I'd be worse. I'm very happy to be here," Sharapova said. "It's been an interesting last 12 months. Obviously it wasn't great having to miss so many tournaments at the end of last year, but turning that around and winning a Grand Slam this year." Sharapova is on the top of Race to the year end championship this year after winning the French Open and Madrid title. "Putting in a bit more work effort into the physical aspect of my game," Sharapova said. "Trying to work more on my weaknesses, which I felt like I did." Sharapova was looking for a slight infusion of confidence after a fourth round loss at Wimbledon and a third round loss at Montréal in her last two events. Cincinnati would seem an appropriate place for that, considering her history here includes a title in 2011 and runner-up showing in 2010. As for Keys, she looked in good form in her straight set first round defeat of Alizé Cornet on Monday. The WTA's highest-ranked teen came into this clash already with three Top 10 wins under her belt. Sharapova raced out to a 5-0 first set lead, eventually yielding just one game. But Keys showed resilience and twice broke Sharapova en route to taking the second set. However, Sharapova seized the momentum right back in getting out to a 3-0 third set lead. It was all holds from there, which was enough for a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 Sharapova victory. "Against Madison, someone who serves really well, it's always one or two moments that are really crucial in the match," Sharapova said. "In the first set I returned quite well and broke her a few times. She got a bit more consistent on her groundstrokes in the second set and there were some moments at the beginning of that second set where I felt that I could have taken the lead and broken her. I didn't do that, and she stepped it up and was able to break me a couple more times. But ultimately I was happy with the beginning of the third set. That was really crucial. I don't think I played my best, especially the first set," Keys said.
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Post by Admin on Aug 15, 2014 21:10:37 GMT
Maria Sharapova will clash against World No. 3 Simona Halep in the 2014 Western and Southern Open quarter final, which will kick off at 23:05 GMT on Friday 15th August being played here on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. Five-time Grand slam champion Maria Sharapova has defeated her fellow country mate Pavlyuchenkova in Cincinnati Masters third round with a 6-4, 7-6, while thrashed American Keys in three sets with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Sharapova has been struggling with her form from last month, where she is looking very aggressive to clinch 2014 Western and Southern Open crown ahead of the US Open. Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova had the greatest time of their season during the clay court spring in Europe. Maria won her 5th Grand Slam tournament, Simona reached for the first time a major final. Their stories interweave and bring us to the quarter-final clash that will take place today at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. It will be the third meeting this year between the two. In 2014 Halep and Sharapova faced one another in two finals, both on red clay, in Madrid and at the French Open in Paris. The Russian edged the Romanian in both occasions, but it never was a dominance show from the loud grunting blonde. Three sets in Spain and then three sets again in France, with the Romanian that in both occasions could have turned the match around in her favor. "On this surface it will be a different match, even though we know each other, having played against only few months ago. Simona is living the best season of her career, and for sure reaching the World No.2 is a great achievement. It will be a very tough match" are the kind words of the Russian. "I want to play against her again. We'll see if she will beat me on hard courts too. I have to stay aggressive, open up the angles as I usually do, but most importantly I will have to stay focused, because she likes to take a lot of time between points. In Paris that made me nervous, it distracted me, but now I have more experience and I will be ready to face it" it's Simona's counterpart.
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Post by Admin on Aug 16, 2014 21:48:29 GMT
Tennis: Former World No.1 and 5-time Grand Slam champion kept her winning run going against the World No.2 Simona Halep in another close 3 sets win in the Quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Sharapova had earlier edged Halep in two very close 3 set encounters in the finals of the French Open and Madrid Open earlier this year. Like Madrid, she dropped the first set here and won next two sets to go through to the semifinals. The reigning Roland Garros champion will play Ana Ivanovic after the Serb ninth seed defeated Ukrainian teenager Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-3 in less than an hour on Friday night. Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, has won eight of 11 meetings with her former world number one opponent. Ivanovic claimed their last meeting in the third round at Rome in May. Sharapova had to make a great escape against world number two Halep, who has burst into WTA prominence over the past year. Sharapova won her fifth match against Halep without a loss. The Russian, who tends to play well under pressure, recovered after a tight opening set to finally secure the victory — her 38th of 2014 — after two and a half hours. “It was a pretty poor first set from my end, a lot of unforced errors,” said Sharapova. “I think it was some of the lowest first serve percentages I’ve had for a while. “Nothing really was going my way. So I definitely needed to do a few things differently to be a bit more consistent but maintain that aggressiveness that works against her. The court is like a battlefield. It’s my job. It’s where I’m supposed to perform.”
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Post by Admin on Aug 17, 2014 21:09:55 GMT
Ana Ivanovic won a dramatic three-setter against Maria Sharapova at the Western & Southern Open to set up a blockbuster clash with Serena Williams in Sunday's final. With Williams already waiting in the final, it was going to be one of two of the game's other best power players who was going to join her - and if history were anything to go by, many would have probably suspected it to be Sharapova, who had not only won eight of the pair's previous 11 meetings, but who had also won this very tournament before, conquering the Premier-level event back in 2011. Beyond the match stats, Ivanovic continued to creep towards becoming the first player to 50 wins on the season, this being her WTA-leading 47th, and by virtue of her performance so far this week she will rise from No.11 to No.9 on the WTA Rankings on Monday - and she will go to No.8 with the title. The significance of that ranking rise is big - with Li Na, the World No.3, out of action until the fall with a knee injury, Ivanovic will now be guaranteed a Top 8 seed at the upcoming US Open. "I really got a little tight," Ivanovic admitted about her second set collapse. "I wasn't moving my feet forward enough and played a little passive. But she's a champion and was fighting so well. "I just had to regroup in the third set, and I'm so glad I could win this match tonight." With Sharapova serving at 0-1 in the final set, Ivanovic pulled up after a point at 15-all and called for a medical timeout due to nausea. "I was really feeling nauseous," Ivanovic said. "I think I ate something bad today. When my coach was coming out, I kept telling him I don't feel good, like my stomach is really upset. Then, it really build up in the third set, and I was not feeling fine."
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