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Sharapova slams Azarenka for blaming WTA rules

37K views 323 replies 141 participants last post by  Marcus1979 
#1 ·
* Sharapova causes stir over Azarenka withdrawal
* Azarenka says seeking more protection of players' rights

Russia's Maria Sharapova caused a stir at the Italian Open on Friday when she questioned Victoria Azarenka's claim that she had been forced to quit to protect her ranking.

Azarenka won her first match against Shahar Peer, but then immediately pulled out of the tournament, citing a right shoulder injury.

On Friday, Azarenka said via Twitter that she had to play in the first game in order to protect her position at the top of the world rankings.

However, Sharapova said the Belarussian was "injured more than anyone" and was often seen "practising two days later".

"I was conflicted and disappointed to withdraw from Rome," Azarenka said. "I tried my hardest but I wasn't healthy going into the tournament.

"If WTA rules were different then I could have focused on getting healthy, but I could not afford another zero pointer on my ranking.

"Hopefully in the future there will be more protection for players' rights."

A "zero pointer" means players have to include that particular tournament in their ranking calculations and cannot replace it with another.
Sharapova said Azarenka had a history of injuries and withdrawals.

"She's been injured more than anyone and still stayed number one," Sharapova said.

"Last year I think she had more injuries than anyone else. Sometimes she'll withdraw and then you'll see her practising two days later."

Sharapova, who had to take almost a year off because of a shoulder surgery, said staying fit was more important to her than paying a fine or losing points.

"For me, if I'm injured, then it doesn't matter how much the fine is, I am not going to play," she said.

"My body and my health are the most important things and if you lose points or have a fine, I don't care about that."

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/18052012/2/tennis-sharapova-slams-azarenka-blaming-wta-rules.html
 
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#140 ·
Светльо;21448193 said:
Martha was asked and gave her honest opinion on the matter - plain and simple. She does make some good points in her answer. In her whole career Maria has retired just three times, not to mention that she actually finished against Domachowska in Canada.

As to Azarenka nothing needs to be said but:

:help: the only respectable one is the 2009 AO
 
#141 ·
Maria is completely right! I'm happy that she doesn't affraid what she says, she says what she thinks
 
#142 ·
Well, Maria is right of course. I'm just very surprised she actually said it :lol:

She's been so open about everything these last few months, I quite like it :)
 
#145 ·
Their next match is gonna be legendary :sobbing:
 
#146 ·
Светльо;21448193 said:
Martha was asked and gave her honest opinion on the matter - plain and simple. She does make some good points in her answer. In her whole career Maria has retired just three times, not to mention that she actually finished against Domachowska in Canada.

As to Azarenka nothing needs to be said but:

deary me, that is some impressive list for someone who is 22 years young:p:worship:
Retirenka smashing records left and right these days
 
#149 ·
Светльо;21448193 said:
Martha was asked and gave her honest opinion on the matter - plain and simple. She does make some good points in her answer. In her whole career Maria has retired just three times, not to mention that she actually finished against Domachowska in Canada.

As to Azarenka nothing needs to be said but:

Wow, that's quite a history there :eek: She's really always been extremely injured it seems :angel:
 
#150 ·
Martha, you're like Legend now. :eek:
 
#213 ·
LOL i love Sharapova's sassiness

Thank you. Loved it. :lol:

It's true the WTA looked like one big, happy sorority while Wozniacki was #1. But then again, she was never seen as a real threat so noone bothered. :lol: Now you can clearly see that the amount of bitchiness on the tour goes hand in hand with the amount of competitiveness. Good sign I guess. :lol:
You're welcome! The top 3 reminds me of WTA's heyday when the top players hated each other :lol:

Hingis/William Sisters, Capriati/Serena, Henin/Serena, Henin/Clijsters

I dont know about that. Caroline was holding 5 Tier I's a year ago. And Sharapova was insulting Vika & Jelena.
What changed is that Aga is in there, going after the grunters, and Sharapova gave it back to her
Well, the difference is that Caroline is very congenial, and it's always the no. 1 player's actions/behavior that gets magnified the most.
 
#170 ·
Well Sharapova is right. If a player is really that injured just don't play, do some more media and/or pay a fine. You're top 10, you win millions a year it won't hurt you to pay a few thousands to protect your health. Azarenka does appears shady if she trashes Peer then decides she's too injured even before playing the next match. Also if she does train a couple days after retiring it's even more fishy. Kudos to Sharapova to call Azarenka out on this. I don't know what's with those brats getting to number 1 and suddenly thinking everyone should be licking their butt. Caro was doing the same thing when she got to the #1 spot.
 
#177 ·
Vika cares about the ranking and therefore decided to beat the walking bye Peer to not get another zero pointer. We don't even know how much the few $$$ she had to pay affeted that decision.
 
#172 ·
she was talking about the heat inside the press room fool
if Masha meant "I'd rather play 3 setters today with Venus than stay in this overheated press rooms " / if she really implied this - it is pretty funny
 
#187 ·
Azarenka is brainless. If she's that wicked she should have called the trainer during her 1st round match, her withdrawal would have been more believable.
Her behaviour is disrespectful for both the Tour and the crowd, and even her fans.
And how about some promotional if you're that injured instead of routing you faced while about being clearly injured ?
Glad that Maria has the guts to speak out about it (although mind games are probably invloved here lol).
 
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