[dsanders06]

By the way: I want you guys' serious opinions on this. Am I just deluded, or does anyone else agree that this is the second-best match Serena has played against Maria (after the AO07)? I just don't see that she played anywhere near as well at the Olympics. Or am I deluding myself?

[Хлоэ]

[Wonderwall.]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Voices

anyway at least we know on SS that we're all decent posters, with insightful commentary and good banter.

You know it's just that this isn't true. At least not all the time.
Not that other Maria fans should be blamed because of that, that's just stupid.

[Chrissie-fan]

Originally Posted by dsanders06

By the way: I want you guys' serious opinions on this. Am I just deluded, or does anyone else agree that this is the second-best match Serena has played against Maria (after the AO07)? I just don't see that she played anywhere near as well at the Olympics. Or am I deluding myself?

I think that Serena's level at the Olympics was the most impressive I've ever seen by anyone. Perhaps that Graf, Evert, Navratilova, Court or one of the other oldies have ever done anything comparable in the days of old, but I can't remember anyone in recent history ever being so much better than the competition as Serena was at the Olympics.

[RAPUNXEL]

im an innocent soul who lives for godpova
forgive me

[Cosmic Voices]

Originally Posted by SilverSlam

No, I don't doubt his fandom. But it's just people on this board take everything so seriously. I didn't get why people cared/bothered wasting their time reading through other peoples sub forums, because its not relevant to them other than to try and find receipts for their next big GM riot. They're pathetic, and they can't take a joke. So glad I know no one who's so socially incapable as to understand that not everyones humour is the same.

And then even though you understand and respect that people are more sensitive than what you assumed, and months and months go by, they like to get their receipts out and try and make everyone talk down on you and "shade" you so that they look like they're the better person. It makes me lol how someone can have such low self confidence to need to constantly try and put down others, through an anonymous website of all things. Ridiculous.

IKR i just spent about 10 minutes of my life covering my tracks and proving my innocence on GM because of what Rapunzel said
anyway fuck it, i'm staying in SS for a while now.

[MM_1257]

So proud of Maria!
First to talk about today:
I liked her behaviour today, she was fighting, wasn't all scared and frozen... She gave all she could and she lost to a great champion. Nothing to be ashamed of. In this tournament she produced some good tennis, some amazing willpower (against Aga and Azarenka) and managed to fight some of her demons. One simply cannot ask for more.

Then about this season:
O M G! Thank you, Maria and thank you, God! Amazing season... Almost dream-like. Ok, I know she is 3/9 in finals, but then again if you think; has she ever reached so many finals in one year? When was the last time that she was a Slam champion, a runner up and a semifinalist? It is really harsh to nitpick and go in dissections if she clearly had the best year of her career.. I would like to re-cap it with pictures later if you allow me (will do it in Pictures thread)...
CONGRATULATIONS, MARIA!!! You did us; your fans, your family and your country proud!

About the WTA:
Stunning season and a stunning (almost) end to it. I don't remember when was the last time that I enjoyed all the matches in YEC so much. And the atmosphere in Istanbul was simply amazing! Well done!!!
And what a season we had, huh? A dominant no.1! And a very strong top 4!!! And career best years for so many players: Serena, Maria, Victoria, Angelique, Agnieska... A big applause for them all! And for all the top girls and for all the other girls, because we had some amazingly thrilling matches all season!

And about Eurosport:
Thank you for all the great years! It will be devastating not to see tennis on it next year.. I almost feel like a big era/chapter ends. I will miss it.. I just hope some European tv that all of us can watch will get the rights! Since 7 top 10 players come from European countries, it is a pity that such a strong television lost the rights... But I guess that is how economy spins...
On to the expectations of new!

WTA girls, enjoy your vacations, rest, off season, exhibitions! See you next year! Hopefully it will be an amazing year aswell!

As for you my Masha fans, I am sorry that I rant sometimes, am overtly pessimistic etc. Thank you for baring with me!
And let's hope we can watch tomorrow's exhibition on some stream, shall we? We have now Maria going to Czech republic and to Moscow on Tuesday! Wahooo!

[Asherahpova]

Guys.

I'm just realising it's over, this beautiful season with claypova's dominance.
I'll never forget it not ever. *genuinely tearing up here*

[Mexicola]

I just watched the replay on ESPN. At no moment did I ever feel that Serena was stressed or in danger of losing momentum. It didn't even look like she was trying hard and, yet, everything just explodes off of her racket and she covers the court in a flash. Maria was giving every ounce of what she had, playing really well at times, and she still looked like an amateur in comparison. Just utterly futile. I have no answers. I see nothing Maria can do to beat her, other than Serena imploding with errors. And you know Serena would never let that happen against Maria.

It just sucks a lot of the fun out of watching women's tennis when you know Serena is always waiting. As scintillating as the Vika win was yesterday, we barely had 24 hours to enjoy it before reality hit again.

[Asherahpova]

I agree dsanders, there were a lot more UEs and shit from Maria in OG. Serena didn't have to even play her best IMO.
It's between today and Stanford as Serena's best performance after AO 2007 against Maria. Although she didn't start off that well today, once she seen Maria wasn't for dicking around it dragged the best out of her.

[Asherahpova]

RAPUNXL I just KNOW you are one of Exhale's finest with those gifs.

[Fighterpova]

Ok I wanna start off my post by saying something new. I started being insecure about Maria beating Top 10 players in 2010(for obvious reasons) and since then I've been so insecure about Maria. However, this year she has been phenomenal, showing her real potential. Last year she started making very solid progress reaching finals and semis a lot, but fell short when playing top 10 players(Li, Kvitova, Azarenka, etc.) This year, however, she has been amazing. She looks so fresh and motivated on the court and she doesn't even need to play her best to routinely beat top 10 players(she has had easy wins over Li, Stosur, Kerber, Kvitova, Errani and others, including a handful of bagels as well ) I have had my expectations and hopes for this year and she more than met them.

I;m so happy this year went the way it did, every year she makes great progress and I hope 2013 won't be any exception. Last year ended on not a great note(as well as 2010) and we didn't know how things would work out the next year and they worked out perfectly.

These are her results this year:

Aussie Open- Runner Up
Paris- Quarterfinals
Indian Wells- Runner Up
Miami- Runner Up
Stuttgart- Winner
Madrid- Quarterfinals
Rome- Winner
French Open- Winner
Wimbledon- Round 4
Olympics- Runner Up /Silver Medal
US Open- Semifinals
Tokyo- Quarterfinals
Beijing- Runner Up
WTA Champs- Runner Up

So this year she has made 9 finals, won 3 tournaments and unfortunately lost 6 pretty big finals. However, she has been incredibly consistent all year and was 9-1 in semifinals

In 2012, Maria Sharapova improved her serve drastically and finished 3rd in the Ace race behind Serena and Petrova. She improved her fitness and confidence a lot as well and her clay game looks stronger than ever. She revenge wins over Azarenka, Kvitova, Wozniacki, Stosur, Li, Kerber, Radwanska,Lisicki, Clijsters, etc. Amazing, amazing year. The down side of this year was that she lost so many finals and has had some one sided defeats, HOWEVER, that will change in 2013. Maria will work on her forehand(that already looked great at the YEC finally!!!) and keep improving so she can hang in with Serena and Vika. That's the way Maria is, she always fights and keeps improving, she's such a hard worker. Despite not being naturally gifted like Vika and Serena, she fights for her results which shows how much she loves the sport. I think that's her best quality as opposed to GM criticizing her for somehow being a "part timer" and a celebrity. With her money and fame and results, she could have retired a long time ago, but she is an amazing athlete who loves what she does and is excellent at it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what her and Hogstedt will bring to Maria's game. he's obviously had a really nice influence on her so far and Maria's game is reaching her old peak slowly but surely. She is at her physical peak and hopefully next year she looks even sharper, readier, stronger, more motivated and better if possible

I'm definitely looking forward to 2013, I know it's going to be a great year

SS

Maria started 2012 with not very high expectations and no matches under her belt after a tough ankle injury that forced her to not play her best at the YEC in Istanbul and withdraw from Brisbane. She exceeded everyone's expectations in Australia reaching her 3rd Australian Open final. Along the way, she had easy wins to start the tournament off(including a revenge win over Dulko and easy win over Kerber, future Top 10 player). Then she survived a tough match with Lisicki in the 4th round and gone on to face Kvitova in the Semifinals. Kvitova was the favorite realistically having had an amazing 2011 season in which she won Wimbledon and the YEC and was so close to No.1 in January. Maria, in the role of the underdog fought valiantly and won the epic Semifinal 6-2 3-6 6-4 after a terrific battle

Unfortunately, she lost to Vika in the final in a painful final that nobody expected to be so one-sided. However, credit to Vika who was had an unbelievable start to 2012 and was unbeatable.

Maria continued playing solid tennis getting to the Quarterfinal of Paris, but unfortunately lost to Kerber 6-4 6-4 who was in her peak(while, lets be honest, Maria was nowhere near her best). This tournament was important because she got hold of the No.2 ranking for the 1st time in 2012.

After Paris, the real season began. Maria had loads of points to defend in the Indian Wells/Miami run, but she won even more points than she did in 2011. Maria was really solid in Indian Wells where she looked in control in all of her matches and had a great comeback in the Quarterfinals versus Kirilenko(another revenge win). She was then stopped by her great rival Victoria Azarenka, again in easy straight sets. After Indian Wells, Maria played in Miami. After not such an impressive opening match, she got better as the tournament went on. In the Quarterfinals she finally got her revenge over Li Na, losing only 3 games and then in the semifinals played another fantastic match vs Wozniacki prevailing in 3 tough sets 4-6 6-2 6-4.

Unfortunately, after that came her probably most chocking loss of the year. She lost to Agnieszka Radwanska(who was admittedly playing the best tournament of her life) and unfortunately lost her 4th Miami final

After losing 3 finals at the very beginning of 2012, things didn't look great. She entered Stuttgart, the strongest Premier event of 2012. All Top 10 players apart from Serena were playing. Maria made a fantastic comeback in the Quarterfinals beating Samantha Stosur 6-7 7-6 7-5 saving a match point in the 2nd set (another revenge win):

Then, in the semifinals, she ended Kvitova's 26 match indoor winning streak by beating her 6-4 7-6 and getting her 2nd win over Kvitova in 2012.

Then, in the final, again as the underdog, VintagePova showed up and demolished Azarenka 6-1 6-4 in one of her best matches of the year


After her amazing run in Stuttgart (where she beat 3 Top 5 players), she played on the blue clay of Madrid and reached her 1st QF there and was beaten by Serena(the eventual champion), keeping her streak of losses to only eventual champions. A week later she started her title defense in Rome which she successfully did beating Ivanovic, Venus and Kerber along the way(revenge wins over Venus and Kerber) and then she beat Li Na in one of the most dramatic finals of the season Masha came back from 6-4 4-0 to win and saved a match point in the 3rd set. The match was full of drama, comebacks, rain delays and of course billions of Unforced Errors Still, she won the match 4-6 6-4 7-6 and with that her 2nd title in Rome:


She then went to Paris for the 2nd Grand Slam of the year where she had lost to Li Na in the semis last year. She came to the tournament ranked 2nd with 2 clay titles. Her biggest threat, Serena Williams was eliminated in a 1st round thriller which opened the draw up for Maria. After 3 convincing wins came a 4th round scare vs Zakopalova. After that match, she never looked back and easily beat in-form Kanepi, then Kvitova for the 3rd time in 2012 and with that win she was back at the very top of the womens game, regaining the No.1 position after 4 years. In the final, she routined the surprise finalist and new Top 10 player Sara Errani 6-3 6-2.



Winning the 2012 French Open was a dream come true. It had been everything Maria and her fans have been waiting for for so long! After 4 tough years, after surgery and comeback, losing so many close matches, so many ups and downs and disappointments, came that amazing moment. She won her 4th Grand Slam after 4 years and became the 10th woman in tennis history to win all 4 Grand Slam titles. As a Maria fan this is one of the highlights of her career, if not the single greatest moment Pure awesomeness, so amazing!

Mentally drained and still trying to get her head back from the skies, she went into Wimbledon as the 1st seed, but her heart didn't look in it. After a major scare in the 2nd round vs Pironkova and 2 not convincing matches, she lost to Lisicki in straight sets. She wasted no time though and brought her A game at the Olympics where she had her revenge over Clijsters and Lisicki and then produced amazing tennis vs Kirilenko in the semifinals. Unfortunately, she lost to peak Serena in a very one sided final


She skipped Toronto and Cincinnati to have a mental rest after such a tough IW-Olympics run and was fresh and focused in NYC. Again, the easier rounds proved not to be a challenge and her real threat of course came in the 4th round again This time it was a very inspired Petrova. Maria had her highs and lows in this match, but played her best when it mattered and beat Petrova in a fantastic night match. Then came an ever more dramatic comeback against Bartoli. In the Semis, she faced Azarenka for the 4th time in 2012. After a phenomenal start and a 1st set won 6-3, she gave it her all and ran out of gas. She fought valiantly though and lost 3-6 6-2 6-4.

The Asian season proved to be relatively successful. Her game in Tokyo was a mess, but she fought like a champ, getting past Watson after a huge scare and getting another revenge win over Safarova Unfortunately she flopped to Stosur Beijing brought a different story. She looked fresh and focused again. She trashed Kerber and Li Na, losing a total of 4 games versus them, but was outplayed by Azarenka once again in the final, losing her 3rd Premier Mandatory final in 2012.

Her last tournament of 2012 started 5 days ago. She had 2 easy wins over Errani and Sam Stosur(another revenge win) and won probably the best match of the 2012 YEC. She avenged the Miami loss to Radwanska beating her in a grueling 3 hour 12 minute match 5-7 7-5 7-5.

She then routined Azarenka, avenging 2 losses in a row to her and like we all expected, that was her last win- 60th of 2012.

She gave it her best vs a very inspired Serena yet again and ended the year on a high note!

[Wonderwall.]

When it comes to GM one last thing and I shut up.
Some of you always say what an ugly place it and how all should stay in SS where we're a happy family etc etc but then you, well, go there. No one is forcing you to.
Also, the ignore function works very nicely to my experience.
I'm not saying that I actually do this stuff all the time (ignore GM and annoying posters) because I do not but then again I don't complain about it very often. Drama is fun sometimes and it really looks like many posters here like it too.
It's pretty sad that the General part of the forum has to be in a state like this because I didn't join TF as a Maria fan only, but as a tennis fan with intention of visiting most parts of the forum. Also I hate how people aren't smart enough not to judge people according to the players they like. I mean do you people here like all Maria fans/ posters on the Siberian Siren? I know I sure don't.
Plus, some of you have displayed various levels of ignorance at times so yeah some of you deserve some of the shit you got.

In case someone actually reads this, focus on the word some here so we don't have misunderstandings.

But most of all we should always remember this it a tennis forum ffs so some of the things we write here sometimes look funny and/or sad in retrospect.

[Marilyn Monheaux]

Originally Posted by Wonderwall.

When it comes to GM one last thing and I shut up.
Some of you always say what an ugly place it and how all should stay in SS where we're a happy family etc etc but then you, well, go there. No one is forcing you to.
Also, the ignore function works very nicely to my experience.
I'm not saying that I actually do this stuff all the time (ignore GM and annoying posters) because I do not but then again I don't complain about it very often. Drama is fun sometimes and it really looks like many posters here like it too.
It's pretty sad that the General part of the forum has to be in a state like this because I didn't join TF as a Maria fan only, but as a tennis fan with intention of visiting most parts of the forum. Also I hate how people aren't smart enough not to judge people according to the players they like. I mean do you people here like all Maria fans/ posters on the Siberian Siren? I know I sure don't.
Plus, some of you have displayed various levels of ignorance at times so yeah some of you deserve some of the shit you got.

In case someone actually reads this, focus on the word some here so we don't have misunderstandings.

But most of all we should always remember this it a tennis forum ffs so some of the things we write here sometimes look funny and/or sad in retrospect.

[zigga]

It was a good final today and that's all I was asking for, Maria put up a good fight.
Really happy with the season of course and I hope for a great 2012
But first a well deserved rest for Maria