[新聞]Sharapova Unstoppable at Australian O …
貼一些文章，看有沒有人要認領翻譯。
不然我跟阿更有空應該都會挑些特別的文章來翻。:)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/sports/tennis/26women.html?ref=tennis
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: January 26, 2008
MELBOURNE, Australia — Nothing could stop Maria Sharapova
at the Australian Open this year. Not her usual nemesis,
Serena Williams, who was beaten by someone else in the
quarterfinals. Not her fragile right shoulder, which
remained loose and pain free.
Not the summer heat, which peaked at 93 degrees in
Melbourne during Saturday’s final, and not her opponent,
Ana Ivanovic, who pushed the powerful, deeply motivated
Sharapova harder than anyone else in this Grand Slam
tournament, but still could not manage to win a set.
Sharapova’s 7-5, 6-3 victory gave her a third Grand Slam
singles title to go with those she won at Wimbledon in 2004
and the United States Open in 2006. But this victory had a
different flavor for Sharapova than the others, largely
because it came after a frustrating period in her career in
which her shoulder problems and self-doubt knocked her out
of the No. 1 spot
She failed to advance past the fourth round at either
Wimbledon or the United States Open and finished the year
ranked fifth, great news for some young tennis players but
not for a diva who despite all the millions she makes off
the court remains, at heart, a ferocious competitor.
She was beaten in the semifinals here in 2005 by Williams
after holding three match points. She was overwhelmed by
Williams in the final last year. But Sharapova’s appetite
for the title was palpable from start to finish at this
Grand Slam, which required her to hit and think her way
through a difficult draw that included two former
Australian Open champions in Lindsay Davenport and Justine
Henin and two other opponents who had reached Grand Slam
singles finals.
Serving well and moving very well, she was never even
pushed to a tie breaker, and though Sharapova will remain
No. 5 in the world in Monday’s new rankings, nobody who
saw her performance here will put much stock in that number.
“If somebody had told me in the middle of last year, I’d
be standing on this stage in front of all you guys with the
big one, I’d probably say, ‘Forget it,’ ” Sharapova
said in her poised, wide-ranging speech to the crowd in Rod
Laver Arena.
Sharapova, 20, dedicated her victory to the memory of her
coach Michael Joyce’s mother, Jane, who died last year of
cancer. “Every single day, every time when we went on the
court, Jane was the word that came into our minds,” she
said. “I just gained a whole new perspective on life and
my injuries and how to treat life with respect.”
Ivanovic, who is the same age and nearly the same height as
the 6-foot-2 Sharapova, is still waiting for her first
major trophy. Although she delivered a more poised
performance than the one she produced in last year’s
lopsided defeat in the French Open final to Justine Henin,
she was still too erratic to mount a serious challenge to
Sharapova. Ivanovic finished with 33 unforced errors and
only 14 winners and later broke down in tears as she spoke
to the crowd, which had tilted her way during the match.
“This morning I got a text from Billie Jean King saying, ‘
Champions take chances’ and ‘Pressure is a privilege,’ ”
Sharapova said. “And I think as an athlete that’s what
Ana and I and everyone who plays wants to achieve. We all
want to take our chances, and I’m just so fortunate I took
mine today.”
Sharapova, seeded fifth, and Ivanovic, seeded fourth, had
split their previous four matches, but had never faced each
other in a final, much less a Grand Slam final. They both,
as is their wont, came out swinging with gusto. For
Ivanovic, who has often looked tight on big occasions in
the past, it looked like a tactical move to help her work
through her nerves. But Sharapova did a better job of
controlling her power in the early stages.
She broke Ivanovic in the fifth game and swept through her
own first three service games without losing a point. At
that stage, it was easy to imagine this match accelerating
toward a finish that had the resurgent Sharapova holding up
the trophy after little more than an hour.
But with Sharapova serving at 4-3, the momentum abruptly
shifted. Sharapova played her worst service game of the
tournament, serving three double faults, two of them on the
final two points of the game. It was Ivanovic’s turn to
ride the wave, but with a 5-4 lead and with Sharapova down,
15-30, on her serve, the Serb decided to hit a backhand
drop shot instead of capitalizing on her fine court
position to slug a ground stroke. The ball never came close
to clearing the net, and Sharapova evened the score at 5-5
before breaking Ivanovic’s serve in the next game as the
Serb’s forehand kept breaking down under Sharapova’s
shriek-infused pressure.
“That was a tough moment, two points from losing the first
set, but I just kept going,” Sharapova said.
Ivanovic held firm early in the second set, but she still
had to fight much harder to hold her serve than Sharapova
did to hold hers. The Russian finally broke her again in
the seventh game, getting some help from an Ivanovic double
fault at 30-30. It would not be long before she dropped to
her knees in delight as her father, Yuri Sharapov, and
Joyce embraced in the stands.
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