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** Masha News and Articles! ** Vol. 2

490K views 5K replies 229 participants last post by  jameshazza 
#1 ·
Hi everyone :wavey:

Thought maybe we could use a thread here to post all the news, interviews, and articles we find on Masha. :)

I just got my new Tennis Week magazine and Maria is on the cover again (she was also on the March cover). :eek:

If they haven't been posted already, I'll scan in the pics and article and post them here later.
 
#168 ·
Now healthy, Sharapova looks for her second US Open title
By Erin Bruehl
Thursday, August 26, 2010


At the start of the 2009 US Open, Maria Sharapova was still finding her way back into her game after being back on the WTA Tour for just three months following a nine-month layoff from singles because of a torn rotator cuff that required surgery.

She reached one final on the Olympus US Open Series in Toronto leading up to the US Open last year but had not yet won a title and was still seeing how her arm felt as she continued to recover and get back.

In Flushing, she was one of American upstart Melanie Oudin's upset victims, falling to the teenager in the third round.

But now in 2010, Sharapova's top game is back, she is healthy, and she enters the US Open after a great summer that included reaching two finals. She is now looking for her second title in Flushing Meadows and first Grand Slam tournament title since winning the 2008 Australian Open.

"I am really excited about this year's Open because last year I was kind of on the comeback trail, and at this time of the year, I was feeling and seeing where I was, where my game was, where I was physically, how my arm was feeling," Sharapova, 23, said. "And this year, I am feel like I am a real competitor, having a good summer, and I am enjoying myself and not worrying about the injury, which is just great when you are on the court."

Sharapova had an up-and-down start to 2010, as she was upset in the first round of the Australian Open to start the year, losing to Maria Kirilenko in three sets. A few weeks later, however, she won her 21st career tour title in Memphis but then lost her second match in Indian Wells and did not play again until May because of an elbow injury.

At Wimbledon, where she won her first Grand Slam tournament title at age 17 in 2004, she lost in the fourth round to eventual champion and world No. 1 Serena Williams. Williams is unable to compete in the US Open, as she continues to recover from a cut to her foot that required surgery.

Since then, however, Sharapova has played great tennis, reaching the final in back-to-back tournaments in Stanford and Cincinnati. In Cincinnati, she held three match points before losing to 2009 US Open champion Kim Clijsters in three sets.

She also had an emotional start to her summer, visiting the Gomel area of Belarus near where the Chernobyl nuclear accident occurred in 1986 that released a lot of radiation into the area. At the time, Sharapova's parents, Yuri and Yelena, lived just 80 miles away from the accident and left the area a few months later, when Yelena was pregnant with Maria. Maria was then born in a city in Siberia.

Sharapova has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 2007 and has The Maria Sharapova Foundation, which helps children around the world, including The Maria Sharapova Foundation Scholarship for students from Chernobyl-affected areas that she launched with the UNDP.

On her trip in July, she visited a local hospital with many children stricken with cancer among her stops, and she has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities in the area, including money to build sports and recreation facilities. She anticipates her work in the area only increasing once she retires from tennis.

"I still want to keep working with Chernobyl-affected areas as I started to do years ago, and I think that is going to venture out into something bigger and even better when I am done with my career and have more time," Sharapova said.

And she is now in New York, which is one of her favorite places to visit and play tennis.

She does not have lots of free time to sightsee in New York City but enjoys visiting Central Park among the city's attractions because of its uniqueness in comparison to most of Manhattan. Sharapova, the world's highest-paid female athlete, does enjoy going out to restaurants or shopping when time allows.

"When I was younger, I thought the city was too busy and too hectic for me, but over the years, I have gotten to love its energy, and I love coming back," Sharapova said of New York City.

Her fashion and style inspires as much talk about her as her play on the court, as she designs her own line of shoes and bags for Cole Haan, and her Nike on-court fashions usually generate as much discussion during US Open matches as her tennis, including the night black cocktail-style dress she wore when she defeated Justine Henin to win the 2006 US Open under the lights and the diamond-studded red dress that followed.

She debuts different dresses for both day and night matches and this year will be wearing a deep purple dress for the evenings and a brighter green dress for the daytime. They are both an update to a more classic style, and she will also be donning earrings from Tiffany.

"It is quite a classic look this year," Sharapova said of her US Open attire. "It is triggered around the old-school collar that we have modernized a bit. The color is deep purple for night and a little livelier green for day. I am also wearing diamond earrings with a yellow diamond drop."

On the court, Sharapova is known for her power and ferocious hitting style, although she can be prone to double faults, which can be her undoing in matches. Prior to surgery, serving with an injured shoulder was a serious problem, but she says now she is feeling good.

A former world No. 1 with three Grand Slam tournament titles and now ranked No. 16, Sharapova will be one of the favorites to make a run for the US Open title this year, along with Clijsters and two-time defending champion Venus Williams, with Serena and seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin both out.

But she knows not to take anyone for granted and that many other dangerous players lurk in the draw.

"There is still a very deep field ahead of us," she said of the women's draw minus Serena and Henin. "You still have to get through a lot of tough players in order to win the tournament."

Sharapova especially enjoys playing night matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium under the lights with a packed crowd of over 20,000 cheering fans. Her fondest evening match memories of course come from hoisting the US Open trophy in 2006, and each year she loves playing in the US Open.

"I think it is one of the most exciting times of the year. There is nothing like the New York crowd and its energy, the build-up to the matches and the excitement," Sharapova said. "It is the biggest stadium we play in the whole year, and probably one of the most exciting moments was when I played in the final in 2006 and got to win and see all the people standing up. The whole stadium was full and was really vibrant."
.....
 
#170 ·
Maria Sharapova & Cole Haan Fall 2010 Collaboration -- an Interview

Mihal Freinquel
Professional New Yorker.
Posted: August 27, 2010 12:52 PM

Last night Cole Haan and Interview Magazine hosted a party to celebrate the launch of tennis star Maria Sharapova's Fall 2010 collection. This is the third collection she has designed for Cole Haan and the soiree did more than salute it. Set in the posh Sky Room at the New Museum, DJ Lindsey killed it on the one's and two's, Todd Selby circulated as his signed prints waited patiently to be auctioned off for charity, and the who's who of industry insiders ate delicate hors d'oeuvres and delighted in the flawless view of the New York City skyline.

Not only did I get to meet photographer Todd Selby and Dan Ragone (top dog at Interview Magazine) -- and not only did I get to chat with Cole Haan CEO Dave McTague (one of the most humble and fascinating people I've met in this industry) -- but I also got to interview the tallest, hottest, sweetest, blondest Russian tennis player out there: Maria Sharapova.

Mihal Freinquel: How would you describe your personal style off the court?
Maria Sharapova: My lifestyle is really hectic. I travel a lot, I'm always running around to meetings, a press conference, a meal after practice -- so all of the pieces in my wardrobe are really representative of that crazy lifestyle. If it's a dress I want to make sure that it's versatile enough to either wear with boots or heels, or with a jacket over it or tights under it. I also like to accessorize so I can get more out of a casual outfit.

MF: In your collection with Cole Haan this season you have a pretty solid mix of heels and flats. Are you a heels or flats girl yourself?
MS: I'm a flats girl, I live in ballerinas. When I started working with Cole Haan I knew I wanted a really solid, comfortable ballet flat. We came up with the silhouette and began with only three colors. They became so popular that now for fall, a few years later, we have about ten or twelve colors -- it's really exciting.

MF: On both your shoes and bags you're using a similar lace-up, corset-type detailing. Where did your inspiration come from for this?
MS: At my very first meeting with Cole Haan I had put together a lot of tear sheets and things that I had doodled. It was all a lot of lacing -- French corset, Moulin Rouge style -- and that concept always came back into every meeting we had. I like it because it's feminine, it's young, and you can dress it up or down.

MF: Do you plan to continue collaborating with Cole Haan?
MS: Definitely, this is a long-term partnership. We started with very few colors and styles, and now we have double or triple what we started off with. We're really seeing things grow now, it's awesome. It's amazing for me to see people wearing my stuff -- the way they wear it, what they wear it with. I saw a girl wearing one of my designs in my hotel in Paris and I just wanted to hug her! It was so exciting!

Could she be any sweeter? I have a toothache! Or maybe it was all the sugar I ate from the candy table.

Happy Shopping.
Huffington Post
 
#171 ·
Maria Sharapova’s Tennis Outfits Never Clash With the Court Color

Maria Sharapova, who designs all of her own competition outfits, considers every slightest detail when crafting her tournament wardrobes. For example, there's the color of the clay: "You don't want to clash with the court. Like, say the French Open, you have the red clay, so you have to think about that red background," she said at last night's party for her Cole Haan shoe line. "And it's Paris," she continued, "so you're thinking about Coco Chanel. For one of the dresses I wore for that tournament a couple years ago, I had a little Tiffany pearl on the back of my dress. It was a very simple detail that maybe no one could even see, but it's just about the tradition and the feeling." There's no need to look ladylike at the U.S. Open, though: "In New York, you have that crazy crowd and you feel like you can be a little bit more risqué. I always feel like I can be a little bit more glitzy than I usually am in my everyday life, so it's fun."

Sharapova took a similarly hands-on approach during the development of her Cole Haan shoe line, even providing "some really bad sketches" for the design team. Her artistic labors yielded a mix of ballet flats, heels, and boots with crisscrossing lace-up details, all featuring the Nike Air cushioning in the sole that actually make them comfortable, Sharapova insisted, tilting her foot sideways so that we could see the stiletto spike of her peep-toe bootie.

Speaking of heels, Sharapova's really tall. Not just high-heels-tall, but crick-in-your-neck-when-you-talk-to-her tall. (She's six foot two in bare feet, which places her at around six foot six in her heels.) Has she ever felt self-conscious about adding extra inches to her height, since she's already so vertically well-endowed? "I'm just so used to always being tall," she added, shrugging. "Sometimes even when I'm in flats I'm taller than everyone else." Being an athlete, though, with very fine-tuned leg muscles to look after, Sharapova usually sticks to ballet flats. She's also quite modest off the court: "I don't wear many skirts or short things in my everyday life. Maybe it's because I have to wear them so much on the court," she said. If you associate skimpy bottoms with stuffing tennis balls in your underwear, such a choice is understandable.
New York Magazine's Fashion Blog.
 
#207 ·
i like your column a lot. :)
 
#181 ·
Q. What happened out there tonight?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I won the match in three.

Q. What were you thinking in between sets during changeovers, especially after the first set?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think she came out today and really swung and didn't give me much time to do anything out there. She served really well in the first set. I wasn't returning that well, giving her a lot of looks, you know, on second serves. Against a player like that, who kind of plays the 1 2 punch type of tennis, you know, it's quite difficult to get a rhythm in the beginning. You know, I just hung in there. Between the first and second set, I knew that it wasn't over. In tennis you have either two or three sets to play. So I still knew I had my chances.

Q. She was really attacking the ball through the entire match.

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah.

Q. Could be very troublesome serving. What goes through your mind when you toss the ball up to serve these days? Trying to think of some sort of image that I could describe as you're staring down a break opportunity for her, she's swinging at the ball, you hit some great second serves in the match.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: You're making this a little way too dramatic for what it was. It's like a Shakespeare poem. No, you focus on what you need to do. You think of the patterns. You think of where you're gonna serve, things like that. I mean, it's not really complicated. You just have to do it.

Q. Do you feel like you're playing well enough right now to win the Open, or do you feel like you need to play your way into that kind of form still?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Uhm, I mean, based on, you know, my results in the past, I've been in different situations coming into a Grand Slam playing really well in the beginning, playing well throughout, or starting quite slow and then finding my game throughout. So it depends. It really depends on the tournament, the situation, your opponent, really getting through matches. Days like this where your opponent was playing really well, you really have to find, you know, ways to hang in there and ways to fight. And at the end of the day, just hope you give yourself another opportunity.

Q. Which way do you prefer? Do you like to start out slow and finish fast or be fast the whole time?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I don't think there's a perfect scenario. I don't think anyone, uhm, has a perfect Grand Slam. Everyone has their ups and downs and everyone's going to be put in situations, tough situations, where they're going to come through. Even being up isn't necessarily the easiest thing. Doing the right things to win every match is tough. That's the tough part about tennis is you have to be out there for two weeks, seven matches in a Grand Slam environment, and you have to come up with the goods when it really matters.

Q. Four years ago you won. You had the problems with surgery. Does it make you feel, hey, I'm back to where I had success?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, it's always good to come to a place where, you know, you've lifted the trophy, you've had great memories. Even though in the couple last years I haven't had the best results, even the year that I won, all that is past. This is a new year. It's a new match. You go out there. It's a new opponent. You're just trying to get the win.

Q. Are you glad Serena is not here or would you like her to be here to have the best here?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, obviously it's always a shame when the No. 1 player in the world is not in the draw. But the tournament still goes on. You still have to beat a lot of tough players in order to win the tournament.

Q. Somebody said you saw her foot the other night. Did she show you her injury?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I saw her during the Nike event that we did, yeah. She was in a boot.

Q. What's it like? How bad does the laceration look? Did you actually see the laceration?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No.

Q. What are your thoughts of the effectiveness of the Hawk Eye system? If there were anything you'd like to change about it, what would you like to change?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think it's been great for the game, great for the fans. The human eye is imperfect. I think it's really a great way to change a few things around in a match. Obviously, I think if a player runs out of the challenges and it's towards the end of the match, I think maybe we should have an opportunity to have a few more, especially if the umpire is not quite sure of the call. As it is right now, it's only three, I believe. We also know if we're going to have more, then everyone is going to challenge quite easily even if they know the ball is in or out, so...

Q. How much more confidence do you feel in your serve today than you did when we saw you last at the US Open?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, you know, last year with my whole game, I was just trying to find, you know, where my feet were on the ground, just trying to find my position, see how I could handle playing a lot of matches under different circumstances. You know, this year, you know, a whole year with the tournaments and experience, it feels really good to be healthy coming in, just playing and not worrying about, uhm, how physically you feel.

Q. How would you rate the status of your service game now? Are you confident in it? Still have a ways to go?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I mean, you know, on this particular day, I think my percentage was quite low today, but I think I did a really good job of hitting some great second serves when I needed to. You know, especially in the third set, I wasn't getting too many first serves in. But, you know, I hurt her from my second serve. I probably could say that that was one of the shots that won me the match today. You know, every day's different. The conditions might be different. Sometimes you're playing in Europe where everything's pretty cool, the balls are heavy, so things are not swinging through the air as much. You might feel a little drawn back from what you're used to. But overall I feel good.

Q. The other day John McEnroe made some strong comments about women, the women's tour, the schedule. Could you tell us what your thoughts were on his point?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I'm not sure what he said, so...

Q. He said basically women were not strong enough to play the full schedule and should have a shorter schedule than the men because they were not strong enough.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think every individual is different. You know, I've always played a certain amount of tournaments throughout my career. It's always been around a Grand Slam. I think your tournaments are a personal choice. I think, you know, before we had to play I believe maybe it was 14 tournaments as a requirement. Now it's only 10. So if you play those 10 and you play the Grand Slams, we don't really have to make a commitment to play any more than that. It's a personal choice of how many we play. I think I only played nine or ten this year. So it's a personal decision. I think, you know, if only everyone could come and join us in our off seasons and when we practice, how much we work, how many hours we spend on the court in training, getting our bodies ready to be where they are.

Q. So you're saying there's a kind of core strength with the women athletes on the tour to sustain them through the schedule, that the women have a core strength as athletes to carry them through the schedule that they face each year?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Like I said, it's an individual choice about your scheduling. And I think we have a pretty good rule in place of how many events we have to play. Based on that, after that, it's a personal decision. Everyone's body is different. Some girls like to play many events during the year, 25, something like that. I personally don't. I'm not physically ready for that, and I never have been throughout my career. I always try to gear up around the Grand Slams since those are quite important ones.

Q. How do you feel about the way you played today? How do you come out of that match? Happy? Satisfied? Worried?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, at the end of the day, even though I know I wasn't playing my best tennis, I know I came out with a win. And sometimes it's more important than anything because you're giving yourself a chance to go out on the practice court tomorrow. You're giving yourself a chance to play another match and to get better, you know, maybe work on the things that today weren't working that well for you. Like I said in the beginning, it was tough to figure many things out because, you know, there weren't many rallies in the games. It was two or three balls where the point was over.

Q. Is there anything you take, being a Grand Slam champion, that is most important in your head about knowing how to win seven matches in a major that's maybe an advantage over girls who haven't done that before?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Uhm, I mean, sure, experience helps. But, I don't know, it's really at the end of the day about going out there and doing it and finding the mental strength, the physical strength, you know, challenging yourself to go out there and be better every day.

Q. Did you see Roger Federer's trick shot last night? If so, what are your thoughts?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I didn't see it, no.

Q. Have you seen his video on the Internet where he serves a can off somebody's head?

MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, I really haven't. I don't spend much time there.

Q. Will we see you trying a between the leg shot anytime soon?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, you don't want to see me attempt that. Not pretty.
:)
 
#183 ·
Q. Somebody said you saw her foot the other night. Did she show you her injury?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I saw her during the Nike event that we did, yeah. She was in a boot.

Q. What's it like? How bad does the laceration look? Did you actually see the laceration?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No.

:spit:

As if Serena would take the boot off and show her the lacerations. Or maybe it did get in the way of their business.
 
#184 ·
Q. Which way do you prefer? Do you like to start out slow and finish fast or be fast the whole time?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, I don't think there's a perfect scenario. I don't think anyone, uhm, has a perfect Grand Slam. Everyone has their ups and downs and everyone's going to be put in situations, tough situations, where they're going to come through. Even being up isn't necessarily the easiest thing. Doing the right things to win every match is tough. That's the tough part about tennis is you have to be out there for two weeks, seven matches in a Grand Slam environment, and you have to come up with the goods when it really matters.
Effing liar! Australian Open 2008??
 
#187 ·
What goes through your mind when you toss the ball up to serve these days? Trying to think of some sort of image that I could describe as you're staring down a break opportunity for her, she's swinging at the ball, you hit some great second serves in the match.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: You're making this a little way too dramatic for what it was. It's like a Shakespeare poem. No, you focus on what you need to do. You think of the patterns. You think of where you're gonna serve, things like that. I mean, it's not really complicated. You just have to do it.

How many 23 year old athletes in any sport answer a question by saying "you are making this too complicated. It is as simple as poem by Shakespeare"?

Maybe I misinterpreted her reference.Maybe she meant it is not as complicated as a Shakespeare poem.
 
#198 ·
Watch the video. It makes sense then when you hear the way she says it. She's talking about how dramatic the guy is making it and says the Shakespeare bit under her breath, referring to that. Its hardly a whole new sentence on its own.
 
#188 ·
A Princely Sum: Sharapova Drops Company Stencil, Retail Racket
By: Darren Rovell
CNBC Sports Business Reporter

At 5:47 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Maria Sharapova took the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium to play her first round match against Jarmila Groth. She was carrying two bags. One, a Nike Cole Haan designer bag. The other? A bag with the words “Prince” on it.
There was nothing strange about either bag. But there was something different about what the 23-year-old took out of the Prince bag. You see, the company’s most marketable tennis player –- who has what is termed as a “lifetime deal” -- wasn’t playing with a Prince racket that you can actually buy on the shelves.
Whether she was playing with a disguised competitor’s racket or something Prince has made for her remains a mystery, but what is clear is that Sharapova hasn’t played with a racket whose strings are stenciled with the company’s famous “P” since March.
While a consumer might not notice the difference, insiders in the business are abuzz about the change because of the stakes involved. Sharapova’s deal, signed in 2006, was reported as a 10-year, $25 million deal.
Stringers and tennis geeks guess the frame of Sharapova’s racket is made by Head. One online message board said it was definitely Head’s YouTek Radical, while one stringer told CNBC that his best guess is that it’s a Head Prestige due to the eight string holes in the throat of the racket and the very thin frame profile. The stringer, who asked for anonymity, said that it appears like Sharapova’s team has had some custom strips placed over the clamshell stringing strip that closes over the strings as the racket is strung to further disguise that she is using a competitor’s racket.
Tennis players have long had a love-hate relationship with the rackets they use, and marketing deals make the game even more complex. Some players are marketing one racket while simultaneously playing with another; other players aren’t even playing with the brand that they say they are.
Tomas Berdych played in the Wimbledon finals against Rafael Nadal this year. He came out onto the court with a Dunlop bag, but pulled out Head rackets. Berdych wasn’t even coy about it. Close up pictures could show the words “HEAD” on the racket frame. He’s still playing with Head rackets, even though he’s listed on the Dunlop Web site as an endorser.
Then there’s the story of Fernando Verdasco, also paid by Dunlop, but was playing with an old Technifibre stick. Perhaps because of some pressure, Verdasco went back to the Dunlop racket as indicated on his strings, but after a series of bad losses including a first-round Wimbledon exit to Fabio Fognini, Verdasco was back at the US Open Tuesday with an unstenciled racket again. This time, he beat Fognini in five sets.
Even though it appears like Sharapova has been using the very same racket since the switch, Prince officials suggest that she’s trying a variety of rackets in order to help the company with future initiatives.
“Sharapova has agreed to participate in a very innovative, pioneering product development program with Prince,” the company said in a statement provided to CNBC. “She will be using some experimental frames over the next few months in practice and in competition. We are well aware that some of the frames she may be using may include racquets that Prince does not carry in its current line. That is part of our program. During this phase of experimentation, she may or may not stencil, but she is a Prince contracted player. We are using one of our marquee athletes to play test, under match conditions, products to help future offerings.”
While Prince officials admit Sharapova might not be playing with a racket available in retail stores, they continue to use her to market the Prince EXO3 Black, which is the fourth best selling racket at US pro specialty shops this quarter.
So here’s the essential question. How long with this testing go on and is it possible that, at some point, Prince and Sharapova have to go their separate ways? Prince officials told the media that James Blake, who had switched from Dunlop to Prince in Dec. 2005, was working with them to develop new equipment when he was spotted using his old Dunlop. But after 18 months, Blake and Prince parted ways after the American tennis star had a hard time getting use to the company’s O3 technology. Blake returned to Dunlop.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/38956396
 
#194 ·
I'm juts glad "mainstream media" is finally catching up with it.:lol: She's been using the DIY rackets since May.:tape:
 
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