Is it time to give Maria Sharapova that title?
When Sharapova was beaten in the third round of the 2011 U.S. Open by Flavia Pennetta, even she realized her frustrating situation.
“It was just one of those days. Unfortunately it was at the U.S. Open,” she said during her post-loss press conference on Sept. 2. “I made way too many unforced errors.
“It’s disappointing,” she continued. “It’s disappointing to lose in the middle of nowhere. It’s disappointing to lose in New York. Losing isn’t fun for anyone because we work to win. We don’t work to try to lose.”
Sharapova’s loss also leaves behind the images of her for marketing partners, including ads for Nike, Evian, Tag Heuer, Sony Ericsson and the U.S. Open, which are still postered throughout New York.
Despite greater expectations, Kournikova had a relatively quiet pro tennis career. She reached No. 8 in the women’s singles rankings, but never won a grand slam. Her forte was doubles, where alongside Martina Hingis she won the Australian Open in 1999 and 2002. Injuries curtailed her later years, and since retiring in 2007 has mainly limited her public appearances to World Team Tennis and exhibitions.
Where Kounikova (photo right) knew enough to display her assets was in modeling and marketing, positions that she actively embraced in men’s magazines and elsewhere, including her new role as a trainer on NBC’s The Biggest Loser beginning later this month.
When Sharapova won the Western & Southern Open just prior to the U.S. Open, she moved up to No. 4 in the world, her highest ranking in three years. But even then she was overshadowed by Serena Williams, who lost a significant part of the 2010 season and the early part of 2011 due to a leg injury and a separate foot injury.
Williams, the former No. 1 player in the world had dropped to No. 175 in the rankings, but pre-U.S. Open victories at the Bank of the West Classic – including her sixth consecutive win against Sharapova – and the Rogers Cup jumped her up to the No. 28 seed in the Open.
Williams continues to play on, perhaps as the favorite to win the 2011 U.S. Open women’s singles title while Sharapova is left to reflect on another grand slam title that didn’t happen.
“I had chances,” Sharapova said. “There’s no doubt I had chances. But I guess today was the day I didn’t take them. Even when I had balls in the middle of the court, I just didn’t do much with them. I thought I could have done a lot more.”
Why would Sharapova be considered a bust? She has three grand slam titles – Wimbledon (2004) the U.S. Open (2006) and the Australian Open (2008) – and earlier this year reached the semi-finals at the French Open and the finals at Wimbledon (where she lost to Petra Kvitova).
She reached the No. 1 ranking in the world in August 2005. But shoulder injuries limited her schedule in 2006 and 2007, and surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in August 2008 ended her year and cut into her 2009 season.
Sharapova came into the U.S. Open ranked No. 4. As she again drops in the rankings, even she knows that she could have achieved much more.
“I’ve had a much better year this than last year,” she said after failing to advance in the U.S. Open. “Obviously it’s disappointing and it’s not where I want to to be in this position. But, I mean, it’s the way it is, you know. It’s called tennis.”
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