Has Maria Sharapova under-achieved?

Barring the grunt, there is probably nothing you dislike about women’s tennis biggest poster girl Maria Sharapova. Oozing with glamour, backed with a career slam and standing tall as a role-model, there aren’t too many things she would like to tinker with in the past. There is one thing though which a Sharapova fan, if not herself, would like change – her tennis career stats!

It could intrigue the reader that such a statement comes on the back of a French Open win and an Olympics silver medal; and rightly so. Let me try and back that with a point of view. Serena Williams has been the best player on the circuit, overall, in the last 5-6 years. In her 17 year old career (since turning pro) she has had 15 slams to her name across the board, has participated in 161 tournaments, making it to 59 finals and winning 45 out of them! She has been at the top of the rankings for 123 weeks, which is almost a third of the best ever (Steffi Graf with 377 weeks), yet that is almost twice the next best amongst current players.

Sharapova and Serena are completely different players and hence it wouldn’t be a great idea to compare their game. But it is always a resourceful exercise to relate a particular entity with the best in the business to rate them on a relative scale. Sharapova has had a 11-year long career (since turning pro) in which she has won 4 slams, participated in 144 tourneys, reaching the finals 44 times and winning 27, and has topped the rankings table for 21 weeks. So how good is Sharapova – the player? She has an excellent rate of making it to tournament finals but has a poor conversion rate. She has lost in the semifinals of major tournaments a considerable number of times. This would imply that Sharapova is a pretty good player but not exactly the best amongst the best.

Is that pressure? Is that lack of perseverance? Or is it the limitation of her game? Be it tennis or any other sport, players and teams that handle pressure better have a better success rate. Sharapova has a game to topple even the best; her sensational Wimbledon win as a teen prodigy illustrated that, but somehow as her stature has grown, her ability to deliver the best under stress has crumbled. Victories are plotted either by playing to your strength or exploiting the opponent’s weakness; Sharapova’s game appears to be inclusive of only the former facet. The likes of Serena (2-9), Justine Henin (3-7), Azarenka (4-6) have had the better of Sharapova, primarily via targeting Sharapova’s limited court coverage and by smudging her powerful forehands.

Sharapova is at her ruthless best when the opponent tries to play to her strength rather than feeding on her weakness or when her game is good enough to negate such plots. The converse isn’t completely true; Sharapova generally tries to better her game (during the match) when things aren’t going her way rather than working towards the opponent’s weak links. Sharapova’s game has visible vulnerable areas but has a lot more talent to counter them. She has an uber-glamorous outlook about her but the coaches speak of the hardwork she puts in to her game. Thus the lack of perseverance theory may not be completely true either!

These days women’s tennis is struggling to find a champion player other than Serena; the rankings table fluctuates as quickly as crude oil prices. As a tennis fan you would want to see Sharapova much longer on the pedestal, if not dominating it, rather than merely hovering around that position. Sharapova’s return after her injury has been pretty good but not outstanding. Her game has improved as well in the direction of covering the loopholes, for e.g. better movement and not sticking to power from the baseline. Sharapova’s fans would be glad that she hasn’t traced the path of somebody like Ana Ivanovic – a huge pin-up girl but no stats to show for; critics will claim that neither has she emulated likes of Henin, Hingis or Seles. There is no reason why she can’t achieve more – her game isn’t limited, nor is she too old to do that! Sharapova’s game brings so much to the table – tall, lanky, powerful and a fierce competitor, yet she hasn’t achieved as much as her talent promised. At 25, she has probably the best possible years of her tennis in front of her; high-time she maximized the output from her potential and allowed her sexy avatar to take care of itself, rather than vice-versa!