Sharapova has desire to push Serena all the way

Published on Saturday 3 July 2004 00:27

NO HALF measures. No pussyfooting around. And no suspicion of a carve-up either.

For the first time in three years, the women’s singles final at Wimbledon will not be Williams versus Williams - a fixture which, rightly or wrongly, has always provoked cynical suggestions that the result was pre-ordained.

In place of the cosy family get-together, Maria Sharapova will take on Serena Williams in an uncompromising battle in which strength of will should count for as much as physical prowess.

Over the past fortnight the younger Williams sister has shown herself wholly capable of competing in such a catfight. She cowed Jennifer Capriati into submission in the quarter-final, then fought back from the brink of defeat against Amelie Mauresmo in the semi. All those who said Serena was no longer interested in tennis have been forced to eat their words by such results, which are all the more remarkable given the No 1 seed was out for eight months until the turn of the year after a knee injury.

What is fascinating about today’s match-up, however, is that Sharapova has shown much the same qualities to reach her first Grand Slam final at the age of 17. She was being given the runaround by the more experienced Ai Sugiyama in the last eight, and was also a set down to Lindsay Davenport in Thursday’s semi before fighting back. Her reserves of self-belief are apparently limitless, and yesterday, while admitting to a touch of anticipatory excitement, she gave no sign of being overawed by the occasion. "I’m pretty calm," said the No 13 seed. "Every time I think about it, that I’m in the final, it’s an amazing feeling, it gives me goosebumps.

"I haven’t been nervous throughout this whole tournament. I’ve just been enjoying myself. So I’m just going to go out and do what I’ve been doing the last six matches - just play my game and enjoy."

As well as enjoying herself, though, Sharapova has spent some time studying her opponent - enough to realise that she is up against a similar type of player. "She’s been playing some great tennis. She had a challenge yesterday. I think Mauresmo was very close to winning that match, but Serena again pulled it out.

"She’s a very tough girl and she’s a fighter. And we share those similarities, so I’m looking forward to a very tough match."

What she admires most about her opponent, Sharapova added, was "the way she fights and the way that she figures out a way to win. Those are the two key things in tennis. Trying to find a way to win even when you’re down. And she figures that out."

Sharapova herself has been able to figure out a way to win thus far, but if she starts as slowly tomorrow as she did in the last two rounds, this time she will be killed off before she works out how to get back into contention. No matter how nerveless she may be, Sharapova does usually take time to settle into a match, and that sluggishness in getting up to speed is a relative weakness which Williams could exploit.

Yet the defending champion will not spend too much time analysing her adversary’s style of play. She knows that, when she plays at her best, she is still the most formidable force in the game, and will simply rely on her own strengths to take her through.

Williams won her first Grand Slam at 17 - the US Open final of 1999. No matter how composed Sharapova feels this morning, it is unlikely she will be quite as cool about her major debut as her opponent was back then.

"Nerves? Not really," Williams said yesterday, reflecting on the build-up to her victory at Flushing Meadows over Martina Hingis. "I knew I was going to win. I just told myself months before that I was going to win, because I really wanted to more than anything. I just had this intuition that I wasn’t going to lose."

Williams will surely not experience such a feeling that victory is inevitable today. At 22, she suddenly finds herself part of the old guard of women’s tennis, one of those who are there to be shot at, defenders of the existing order.

Sharapova, conversely, is the fastest-rising star in the sport, who has even surprised herself by getting this far this early in her career. Win or lose today, she will enter the top 10 next week - where she will be joined, incidentally, by three of her fellow-Russians.

The teenager will have the overwhelming support of the Centre Court crowd, and will scrap all the way, but do not be surprised if she must wait a little while longer for her first major. Not quite back to optimal fitness, Serena will tire in the second set, but by that time she should have too great an advantage for Sharapova to claw back. The champion should win , but this tournament will be largely remembered for the emergence of the Russian on to the world stage.