By Richard Pagliaro
(October 5, 2010) A firing squad of photographers seldom stopped snapping when Maria Sharapova met Ana Ivanovic in the 2008 Australian Open final between two of tennis' top cover girls. Thirty-two months have passed since the Melbourne major meeting that offered the promise of a powerful, pop-culture rivalry pitting the blond Siberian-born, Sharapova, sporting the Nike swoosh, and the dark-haired, Belgrade-born Ivanovic who wears adidas' triple stripe.
These days, a major photo-op is no longer the top priority for two former World No. 1's fighting to remain relevant on the Tour. Once two model players with a budding rivalry fit for the front cover of both SI and Vogue, both women have been more like mannequins on court lately as a pack of players have rushed past them in the rankings
Today in Beijing, world No. 21 Sharapova suffered her second straight early exit, while the 36th-ranked Ivanovic survived a second-set stumble to set up a meeting with Elena Dementieva.
Ivanovic's 6-0, 7-5 victory over Olga Govortsova began as a blow-out and nearly degenerated into implosion with the 2008 French Open champion winning seven straightgames and earning a break point for a 2-0 lead before Govortsova reeled off four consecutive games for a 4-1 lead. Ivanovic complicated matters for herself, but regained control winning six of the last seven games to move into a round of 16 match with Dementieva, who was runner-up to Caroline Wozniacki in the Tokyofinal last weekend.
"I'm obviously happy to be through, but not so happy with how I kind of let her back into the match," said Ivanovic. "Still, I managed to come back and win in two sets and that's important."
Sharapova's struggles continued as former Russian doubles partner Elena Vesnina sent Sharapova out of the China Open second round, 7-6(3), 6-2, in one hour, 39 minutes.
Vesnina, who partnered Vera Zvonareva in reaching the Wimbledon doubles final in July, took charge of the match in the tie breaker and imposed a tennis equivalent of a choke hold in suffocating Sharapova from the baseline in the second set.
"She was really aggressive, she hit the ball really deep today and really consistently, as well," Sharapova said. "That kind of kept me on the defense, and I was never really able to step in and do things that I do well."
The 12th-seeded Sharapova slapped seven double faults and converted just two of eight break-point chances. The loss left a reeling Sharapova, who fell to 40-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm in Tokyo last week, searching for answers for her autumn fall.
"It's not been a good end of the season for me," said Sharapova. "I have not had good preparations and will have to find away to improve next season."
Can Sharapova, who will be three years removed from her last major final when the Australian Open starts in January, reinvent herself as a major contender Down Under? That depends upon how serious Sharapova is in her redesign plans.
The three-time Grand Slam champion won the $220,000 Memphis title in February and the $220,000 Strasbourg championship on red clay in May. She started the North American summer hard-court season strong, reaching successive finals in Stanford (falling to Victoria Azarenka) and Cincinnati, squandering a second-set lead in suffering a three-set loss to Kim Clijsters.
Many observers made Sharapova a favorite in her US Open fourth-round clash with top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki but the 2009 runner-up ran Sharapova ragged in a 6-3, 6-4 decision that exposed Sharapova's shortcomings. The player behind the brand lacks the athleticism and court coverage of several top 10 players, her second serve offers little margin for error and frequently flirts with the top of the tape under pressure and her power-based baseline game offers little variety, which means she cannot strategically down shift when her fast, flat shots are not falling.
Stubbornness has always been both one of Sharapova's greatest strengths and most
glaring flaws.
The audacious defiance Sharapova showed at the start of her career was on display when the 17-year-old played with supreme confidence in shoving reiging champion Serena Williams aside in a 6-1, 6-4 rout in the 2004 Wimbledon final. Sharapova is the only woman aside from Venus Williams to beat Serena in a major final.
That strong self-belief and tenacity has helped Sharapova recover from shoulder surgery, rack up 22 career titles and win three of the four majors with only Roland Garros missing from her Grand Slam title trophy collection.
Now that stubbornness is serving as a road block on Sharapova's return to the top 10. She is 2-3 against top 10 opponents this season and since her win over Ivanovic in the 2008 Australian Open final, Sharapova has surpassed the fourth round just once in her last nine Grand Slam tournaments.
Sharapova is a shrewd player and remains one of the most tenacious competitors on the tour, however she knows better than anyone her lack of speed forces her to play catch-up in running rallies against quicker players. Consequently, Sharapova, whose entire game is based on playing first-strike tennis, feels more compelled than ever to pull the trigger first.
That's one reason why Sharapova continues to fire away on her flat second serve and flirt with trouble.
When you consider the fact Sharapova is 6-foot-2, is facile enough hit running left-handed forehands when pulled out of position and has been a problem solver throughout her career, it's absolutely absurd she is unable or unwilling to develop a kick or at least slightly heavier topspin second serve.
Consider players ranging from the 5-foot-5 1/2 Francesca Schiavone to the 5'5" 3/4 Justine Henin to the 5'7" Samantha Stosur can all hit kick serves it's even more surprising Sharapova can't seem to exploit her height and reach on serve.
Traditionally, Sharapova's solutions to problems posed in rallies is to try to hit flatter and faster and shriek louder. That can get her into trouble on serve and she would be better served by exploring the dimension spin, rather than just speed, can bring to her game.
Look at how players ranging from Serena to Agassi used the kick serve wide to set up their first ground stroke and ask yourself how many times you've ever seen Sharapova even attempt that play?
The net's height has changed in ages. Sharapova needs to recognizer that and play with more height on her shots.
Consider the fact that former World No. 1 players ranging from Martina Hingis to Jelana Jankovic to Dinara Safina to Sharapova to Ivanovic have all endured service struggles and you might wonder if the top spot comes with some service virus that seeps into the right elbows of certain players.
The scary thing about Sharapova's serve is when you watch her practice she sometimes struggles to clear the net on second serve in practice. If you aren't doing it in practice, what makes you think it's going to land amid the pressure of match play?
Of course, Sharapova had shoulder surgery and even shortened her service motion at one point in an effort to take the strain off her shoulder. She would be wise to reduce the burden on both her shoulder and her game by adopting a spin second serve.
Ivanovic has endured her own struggles with a sporadic toss she's sometimes chased like a runaway balloon pulled away by a renegade bumble bee. Working with coach Heinz Gunthardt, Ivanovic has tried to relocate her toss out in front rather than behind her and regain that fearless shotmaking that helped her reach the World No. 1 ranking. Her fast, flat strokes and willingness to change direction and drive the ball down the line, particularly off the forehand, helped her reach consecutive major finals in Melbourne and Paris two years ago. Ivanovic's swings have looked tenative at times during her slide and she's admitted feeling burdened by expecation on court.
"Everyone has a zone they need to feel good about," said Ivanovic in recalling how the desire to make changes contributed to a confidence collapse that precipitated her fall from the top. "That kind of created a lot of doubt, because I started doing different things. So all of a sudden, I went away from what I was doing and trying to play more close, play more open. So it was kind of a circle of everything and you don't feel so comfortable. You have doubts on the court. You lose some matches. Then confidence goes. So it's kind of circle."
The 22-year-old Belgrade baseliner broke the cycle last May in Rome when she swept three top 20 players — Victoria Azarenka, Dementieva and Nadia Petrova — in succession to reach the Rome semifinals.
Though Ivanovic advanced to the Cincinnati semifinals and the US Open round of 16, she was dealt a demoralizing reality check in the form of Kim Clijsters, who crushed her, 6-2, 6-1, underscoring the gap in confidence and quickness Ivanovic still faces.
She has not beaten a top 10 players since defeating Dementieva in Rome and a win in their rematch could prove pivotal for Ivanovic, who is aiming to conclude this season ranked in the top 30.
Gunthardt, who worked with Hall of Famer Steffi Graf for years, has encouraged Ivanovic to fire her favored forehand with ambition, use her slice backhand more as an approach and get into net more frequently. Sound tactics, particularly if you saw how effectively Clijsters was in running the slower Ivanovic corner-to-corner at the Open.
Both Sharapova and Ivanovic must impose their offensive brand of tennis if they are to make top 10 returns. Ivanovic, to this point, has tried to play with more variety, but now needs to register the results to solidify her status as a work in progress with a considerable upside.
It's been 32 months since Ivanovic and Sharapova stood shoulder to shoulder at net moments before squaring off in the 2008 Australian Open final. They have not faced off since then, but two of the most famous and photographed faces in women's tennis have the ability to return to the top 10.
If you need a reminder of how fast things can change in women's tennis consider this: if someone had told you at this time last year in 12 months time Vera Zvonareva would be closer to the No. 1 ranking than former Grand Slam champions Kim Clijsters, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sharapova, Ivanovic and former major finalists Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic and Dementieva and you might think that informant had spent one too many nights catching the US Open's Grey Goose glass landings.
The fact is a year can look like an eternity in women's tennis where the average age of the top 10 player is 26 years old (including 30-year-olds Venus and Schiavone) and it would be foolish to write off Sharapova or Ivanovic, particularly when neither woman has shown an aversion to hard work in the past.
Both are only going to make progress by embracing a bit of change and regaining the confidence they exhibited in reaching major finals.