Tennis Panorama Archives

Archives of TennisPanorama.com 2008-2013

TennisPanorama.com 2008-2013
  • Home
  • Tennis Panorama
You are here: Home / Contributors / Sharapova and Ivanovic Turn Back the Clock in Stuttgart

Sharapova and Ivanovic Turn Back the Clock in Stuttgart

April 26, 2013 By Tennis Panorama News

 

Maria Sharapova

By Tumaini Carayol

(April 26, 2013) STUTTGART – Six years ago, this battle was fought in the penultimate round of the greatest clay court event on the planet. As Ana Ivanovic dispatched forehand winner after stone cold forehand winner, the victor of the duel became abundantly clear long before the final ball was struck.

 

An hour later, with only three games relinquished, Ivanovic had waltzed into her first ever Grand Slam final over Maria Sharapova. The one unarguable implication this demolition exposed was the clear and seemingly immovable gulf in class between the pair on red clay and the superiority it was assumed Ivanovic would hold over Sharapova for years to come.

 

Over the course of those six years, this infallible truth slowly but surely unraveled. Despite arriving on the WTA as one of the most comfortable, natural and eventually best female claycourters on the planet, the years that followed brought more hardships on the surface than anywhere else. Before this week, Ivanovic’s form on clay court had sunk so low that her last quarter-final finish on the surface occurred in 2010. Since then, the faster hardcourts have proved her most successful surface, the quick courts supplying her thinner frame and more timing-reliant forehand with that crucial extra pop.

 

Conversely, Sharapova’s found her greatest early successes as a teenager on the hallowed lawns of England whilst famously dubbing herself a “cow on ice” when addressing her annual clay woes. Since her return from shoulder surgery, however, she has amassed a stellar 43-6 record on the surface as the red dirt has unarguably become. Thus, a gulf between the pair on red clay remains, but it has transformed far beyond logic.

 

Despite that, all that separated the pair on the day was a mere six points as Sharapova barely escaped a resurgent third-set comeback from the Serb, gritting out the match 7-5 4-6 6-4. Meanwhile, a disappointed but satisfied Ivanovic was more than aware of her changing fortunes on clay.

 

“You know, when I got back to play this year. I was training and I really, really was so happy and felt so good on clay,” she said. “And I love performing and it’s my favourite surface. You know, I grew up on it. So I really am really happy I have an opportunity to compete on it again. And I really find my best tennis there.”

 

Though the champion ultimately triumphed, the match serves as an important reminder that, in the game of tennis, only the present matters.

 

Tumaini Carayol is in Stuttgart covering the Stuttgart tournament for Tennis Panorama News. He is a contributing writer at On The Baseline, and writes about professional tennis at his site Foot Fault.

 

Filed Under: Contributors, Features, Front Page News, news conference, tennis news, tournament coverage, tournaments Tagged With: Ana Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova, Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, tennis, tennis news, Tennis Panorama News, Tumaini Carayol, WTA

Archives

  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • December 2008

Copyright © 2022 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in