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Serena Suffers Short Term Memory Loss
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Photo By Ron Angle By Tennis Week
03/16/2005
Fellow Floridians Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have met in memorable major matches ranging from the Wimbledon final to the WTA Tour Championships final to the Australian Open semifinals. The spirited rallies and ferocious fighting spirit displayed by both women have helped establish a rivalry to remember though some of their matches seem fairly forgettable to Serena.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion made a triumphant return to tournament tennis at the 2004 Nasdaq-100 Open after an eight-month sabbatical spent recovering from knee surgery. Williams stopped Sharapova, 6-4, 6-3, in the fourth round en route to capturing her third consecutive Miami crown. It was the first meeting between the pair and provided a prelude of the blistering baseline exchanges that have marked their three clashes since, but Williams' win last March apparently provoked short-term memory loss. She insists she remembers little of her first meeting with Sharapova 12 months ago and wasn't exactly in the mood to reminisce when asked about the rivalry.
"I don’t even remember. I said three times because I didn’t recall playing her in Miami," Williams said in Tuesday's conference call with the media to promote defense of her Nasdaq-100 Open title.
Pressed to provide any recollection of the match, Williams suggested the media should save questions about the match and the rivalry for Sharapova.
"I honestly can’t say I do. She would probably have a better memory than me," Williams said when asked if she remembered anything about the Miami meeting. "Have I established a rivalry? I don’t know, you should ask her."
Williams, who has a habit of assigning percentages to her performances, may be operating at about 20 percent of her memory capacity when it comes to some of her matches with Sharapova. At last November's WTA Tour Championships, Williams was asked about her loss to Sharapova in the Wimbledon final and facetiously replied: "Actually, I don't believe I played the Wimbledon final."
A quick reminder: the 13th-seeded Sharapova snatched Williams' Wimbledon crown last summer with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over the two-time defending champion. In January's Australian Open, Williams gained a measure of revenge in fighting off three match points.
Digging down deep to summon the competitive character she showed in dominating tennis, Williams willed her way to earn an exhilarating 2-6, 7-5, 8-6 victory that was as much about heart and spirit as it was about heat and strokes. The former No. 1 fought back from a one-set deficit to defeat top-ranked Lindsay Davenport in an Australian Open final that showed her superior mental strength.
"At the end honestly I just became, I became a real focused being. No one could break my focus and no one was going to win that match but me," Williams said of the Australian Open final. "And that’s how I felt at the end and that’s how it was. My whole attitude, I wasn’t running, I wasn’t (saying) 'come on'’ or anything. I was just there. I was completely focused. I was in a different world."
Williams has shown the ability to impose her will on the world's best players, but encounters an equally ruthless rival in the third-ranked Sharapova, who resides one spot above Williams in the rankings and, barring injury, seems destined to reach the top spot.
The Serena-Sharapova rivalry is exactly what women's tennis needs: two strong-willed women who play explosively dynamic tennis and possess a powerful appeal that transcends tennis. They are two of the most well-known female athletes in the world, but when it comes to working on building rivalries, Williams is an equal-opportunity player — anyone she sees on the opposite side of the net is her biggest rival.
"I always said I think everyone is a rival. I mean you don’t understand but when people play me they play 200 percent and no kidding because I can see these players play a different player and it’s not the same tennis," Williams said. "So for me everyone is a rival. So again I cannot answer that question (Sharapova's status as a rival)."
Whether she's willing to discuss it or not, the fact that Williams and Sharapova have split their four career clashes and command international interest in their most recent meetings make their matches quality competition.
It's hardly surprising that the three most intriguing rivalries in recent years — Serena vs. Capriati, Serena vs. Justine Henin-Hardenne and now perhaps the best of them all, Serena vs. Sharapova — all feature Williams as the primary protagonist. She brings so much more than power to the court: she brings brings an explosive game, she brings deep desire and she brings attitude — the attitude of a woman who so deeply despises losing she sometimes seems incapable of even discussing her defeats.
Asked if the constant questions about Sharapova are annoying, Williams dismissed the question before essentially pulling the plug on the conference call to get back to work.
"I think that you’re fabricating stuff. I've never gotten irritated about answering any questions about her," Williams said. "You guys don’t realize, but I have a fashion company. I just walked into my office right now. I'm working on a really intense line for the fall. I'm an actress. I'm working on animation series, different reality series. I'm working on so much stuff that I don’t — not only her, if you would ask me about anyone else I don’t really think about other people because I really have to focus on me. You know what I mean? So I don’t know if you noticed, I said I have never — I don’t know. I don’t have any problems with her. She doesn’t have any problems with me. I don’t think about her or let alone anyone else on the Tour. I don’t have time. If I did, I would go nuts.
So like right now I actually have to go because I have to get my line together. I don’t have time to sit down and think Lindsay or even Venus. I don’t have the time. So, it’s just that I don’t think about these players because I have so many different things that I'm doing. So on that note I have got to get this line out."
Reluctant to discuss the rivalry now, Serena may be saving her best shots for her next meeting with Sharapova. Given the fact the Wimbledon winner has won two of the three tournaments she's entered with her lone loss coming to Serena in the Australian Open semifinals, there next match may be one even Serena won't forget.
Photo By Ron Angle By Tennis Week
03/16/2005
Fellow Floridians Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have met in memorable major matches ranging from the Wimbledon final to the WTA Tour Championships final to the Australian Open semifinals. The spirited rallies and ferocious fighting spirit displayed by both women have helped establish a rivalry to remember though some of their matches seem fairly forgettable to Serena.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion made a triumphant return to tournament tennis at the 2004 Nasdaq-100 Open after an eight-month sabbatical spent recovering from knee surgery. Williams stopped Sharapova, 6-4, 6-3, in the fourth round en route to capturing her third consecutive Miami crown. It was the first meeting between the pair and provided a prelude of the blistering baseline exchanges that have marked their three clashes since, but Williams' win last March apparently provoked short-term memory loss. She insists she remembers little of her first meeting with Sharapova 12 months ago and wasn't exactly in the mood to reminisce when asked about the rivalry.
"I don’t even remember. I said three times because I didn’t recall playing her in Miami," Williams said in Tuesday's conference call with the media to promote defense of her Nasdaq-100 Open title.
Pressed to provide any recollection of the match, Williams suggested the media should save questions about the match and the rivalry for Sharapova.
"I honestly can’t say I do. She would probably have a better memory than me," Williams said when asked if she remembered anything about the Miami meeting. "Have I established a rivalry? I don’t know, you should ask her."
Williams, who has a habit of assigning percentages to her performances, may be operating at about 20 percent of her memory capacity when it comes to some of her matches with Sharapova. At last November's WTA Tour Championships, Williams was asked about her loss to Sharapova in the Wimbledon final and facetiously replied: "Actually, I don't believe I played the Wimbledon final."
A quick reminder: the 13th-seeded Sharapova snatched Williams' Wimbledon crown last summer with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over the two-time defending champion. In January's Australian Open, Williams gained a measure of revenge in fighting off three match points.
Digging down deep to summon the competitive character she showed in dominating tennis, Williams willed her way to earn an exhilarating 2-6, 7-5, 8-6 victory that was as much about heart and spirit as it was about heat and strokes. The former No. 1 fought back from a one-set deficit to defeat top-ranked Lindsay Davenport in an Australian Open final that showed her superior mental strength.
"At the end honestly I just became, I became a real focused being. No one could break my focus and no one was going to win that match but me," Williams said of the Australian Open final. "And that’s how I felt at the end and that’s how it was. My whole attitude, I wasn’t running, I wasn’t (saying) 'come on'’ or anything. I was just there. I was completely focused. I was in a different world."
Williams has shown the ability to impose her will on the world's best players, but encounters an equally ruthless rival in the third-ranked Sharapova, who resides one spot above Williams in the rankings and, barring injury, seems destined to reach the top spot.
The Serena-Sharapova rivalry is exactly what women's tennis needs: two strong-willed women who play explosively dynamic tennis and possess a powerful appeal that transcends tennis. They are two of the most well-known female athletes in the world, but when it comes to working on building rivalries, Williams is an equal-opportunity player — anyone she sees on the opposite side of the net is her biggest rival.
"I always said I think everyone is a rival. I mean you don’t understand but when people play me they play 200 percent and no kidding because I can see these players play a different player and it’s not the same tennis," Williams said. "So for me everyone is a rival. So again I cannot answer that question (Sharapova's status as a rival)."
Whether she's willing to discuss it or not, the fact that Williams and Sharapova have split their four career clashes and command international interest in their most recent meetings make their matches quality competition.
It's hardly surprising that the three most intriguing rivalries in recent years — Serena vs. Capriati, Serena vs. Justine Henin-Hardenne and now perhaps the best of them all, Serena vs. Sharapova — all feature Williams as the primary protagonist. She brings so much more than power to the court: she brings brings an explosive game, she brings deep desire and she brings attitude — the attitude of a woman who so deeply despises losing she sometimes seems incapable of even discussing her defeats.
Asked if the constant questions about Sharapova are annoying, Williams dismissed the question before essentially pulling the plug on the conference call to get back to work.
"I think that you’re fabricating stuff. I've never gotten irritated about answering any questions about her," Williams said. "You guys don’t realize, but I have a fashion company. I just walked into my office right now. I'm working on a really intense line for the fall. I'm an actress. I'm working on animation series, different reality series. I'm working on so much stuff that I don’t — not only her, if you would ask me about anyone else I don’t really think about other people because I really have to focus on me. You know what I mean? So I don’t know if you noticed, I said I have never — I don’t know. I don’t have any problems with her. She doesn’t have any problems with me. I don’t think about her or let alone anyone else on the Tour. I don’t have time. If I did, I would go nuts.
So like right now I actually have to go because I have to get my line together. I don’t have time to sit down and think Lindsay or even Venus. I don’t have the time. So, it’s just that I don’t think about these players because I have so many different things that I'm doing. So on that note I have got to get this line out."
Reluctant to discuss the rivalry now, Serena may be saving her best shots for her next meeting with Sharapova. Given the fact the Wimbledon winner has won two of the three tournaments she's entered with her lone loss coming to Serena in the Australian Open semifinals, there next match may be one even Serena won't forget.
However I did not like Serena's comment that she "didnt play the Wimbledon final" 
