Notes and Quotes from Day 7 of the 2012 French Open

Maria Sharapova

About her new candy line “SugarPova”

I’m really looking forward to the candy launch, which I think was the most exciting project that I’ve ever done before, because it’s my own business, my own investment, my own money.  It’s like a baby kind of where everything you put in, every single dollar, every minute is going into something that you’re really passionate about.

Yeah, we’re pretty much just finished all the packaging and we worked out all the creative.  Going to do the shoot for it soon.  It’s going to launch at the US Open.  We just got some really good buyers, so I’m really excited.

 

On her Father’s whereabouts:

He’s in Florida.  Yes.  He’s with my dog.

Oh, he can’t text.  It’s useless.  Yeah, the text  he writes half Russian, half English.  The words are all mixed up.  Misspelled.  I mean, it’s I just ask him to call me.  And I try to Skype with him, and that’s a nightmare because he doesn’t know like how to answer.  It’s horrible.

But I talked with him every day.  Mainly just to find out if my dog is still alive.  (Laughter).

 

 

On having her Mother around during the French Open

I have someone to fold my laundry.

I am so spoiled.  She is the best mom I could oh, if I was only 1% of the mom that she is.  But, yeah, I’m really lucky.

She’s just such a nice influence in my life, just a calm, so calm, could care less  I mean, of course she cares how I do in tennis and life, but her perspective on things and just in general is really nice to have.

 

Rafael Nadal

 

250 matches (match wins)?  Well, okay, that’s a figure.  I don’t have the impression it’s a huge number, because more and more  or, rather, you know, in 2005 I played many matches on clay.  And there was Buenos Aires, Acapulco, another one, then Valencia, Monte‑Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, Roland Garros, Stuttgart.  That’s ten, I think, ten tournaments on clay, and after this I think five or four more.

So, you see, I don’t have that many opportunities of winning that many matches.  There aren’t that many tournaments.  But maybe in the future there’s going to be more matches on clay.  Maybe the timetable will be more favorable so that I can win more titles.

Because, you see, I only play against the best players in the world, so it’s always very complicated to win titles.

Anyway, I’m very satisfied with my results on clay, and I must admit that my results on clay are quite special.

How he’s celebrating his birthday:

Well, nothing special, you know.  I’m here at Roland Garros.  The time has not yet come for me to celebrate.  I’d like to focus for the round of 16, and I’ll practice, as usual.

I will have my treatment, as usual.  I don’t know if there’s going to be something special, which is always the case here at Roland Garros.

I’m always very happy, because something has always been prepared for me, a cake or a very quick celebration.  If this is the case, I’ll be very happy.  But if there is nothing whatsoever, I will not really care.  I will do as I usually do.  Tomorrow is going to be a day like any other day.

On his new Babolat racquet:

Well, that’s not a racquet to play with but to practice.  Maybe in the future I’ll use it to play with on the courts.  But, for the time being, the only thing it can do is help the coaches in the future.

For me, there’s not much I could do in addition to what I’ve done for a number of years.  You know, well, of course I always try and improve, but, you know, at my age, at my level, it’s always more difficult to use these types of gimmicks or gadgets.

Of course, had this racquet been available two or ten or fifteen years ago, this would have helped me considerably, because it’s going to give you data, you know exactly where to hit the balls.  It’s interesting data that these things provide you with.

I think this is an interesting development.  I’d like to congratulate Babolat for this.

Caroline Wozniacki

 

On her “McEnroe” moment when she argued a line call at 1-1 in the second set during her loss to Kaia Kanepi:

Well, when the ball is clearly out, I don’t think there should be anything to argue about.  You know, if they cannot see, they should have other umpires on the lines or invent Hawk‑Eye on these courts.

It’s a disgrace that, you know, mistakes like this are made.  It wasn’t even like, you know, could have been in, could have been out.  It was clearly out.

You know, also, when a ball travels 5 miles an hour in the third set at 1 All, you know, I think either the linesman or the main umpire should be able to see the ball, as well.