[新聞]Sharapova unleashes tennis craze among Russian teenagers
btw,莎娃應該已退出下週的比賽
(不過德國媒體說是背傷？先前在北京貼膏藥的是大腿跟右胸...
不曉得該不該希望只是純粹寫錯...Orz)
MOSCOW (AFP) - Glamour girl Maria Sharapova's meteoric rise to world
number one is inspiring a new generation of Russian teenage girls to
head for the courts hoping to emulate her sporting and financial success.
"The phone has been ringing around the clock for registrations since
mid-August," says Igor Volkov, a coach at Moscow's famous Spartak
tennis academy.
The academy now has 190 places compared to around 30 in 1994 but,
since Sharapova became the first Russian woman to top the WTA world
rankings last month, they've had to turn eager teenagers away.
"I would like to become as good as her and earn as much money as her
," said 15-year-old Yuliya Livotova.
Sharapova, the blonde tennis star with the top model looks, won Wimbledon
last year aged just 17. Since then her advertising contracts have
netted her over 18 million dollars (14.7 million euros) and by many
accounts she has become the biggest earner in women's sport.
Sharapova, who was born in Siberia but has been living in Florida
since she was eight, is not the first Russian player to popularise
tennis.
Former Russian president and tennis enthusiast Boris Yeltsin restored
the image of a sport once considered too bourgeois by the country's
Communist leaders.
Anna Kournikova, another blonde tennis star with spectacular looks,
then added the glamour.
Russia now leads women's tennis, with seven players in the top 20 global
rankings compared to just three for long-time top-dogs the United States.
More success came their way last weekend when a team inspired by Elena
Dementieva successfully defended the FedCup defeating France 3-2 in the
final in Paris
"The reason we are the best lies in the Russian character, we are more
resilient," said Volkov.
Coaches at the Spartak academy, where the buildings have seen better days
and the fences are left to rust, earn just 200 dollars (163 euros) a month.
Many promising teenagers leave for Europe and the United States to look
for better facilities.
"It's a pity the (Russian tennis) federation does nothing against this,"
said Kournikova's former coach, Larisa Preobrazhenskaya, 78, who fears
Russian tennis will lose momentum.
Russian parents realise the problems but also know the opportunities
that tennis offers and are prepared to put everything into developing
their children's careers.
"At first, we had to force our grandson a bit - it's an investment,"
says Tamara Chikina.
She wants to spare the boy "the fate of Russia's young people, who
drink too much beer and swear in the streets."
Mikhail Svintsov is putting his 10-year-old daughter Yevgeniya, who
started playing when she was five, through two hours of training a day,
five days a week.
"We are demanding with her, we want her to be somebody," says Svintsov,
sounding stressed.
Svintsov hopes to start signing his daughter up for international
tournaments from next year and send her to train in Europe in the next
two to three years.
"When she's 15, she will be in the WTA rankings and when she reaches 20 she wi
ll be world number one," he said.
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