Vibes good at La Costa, but Maria Sharapova rusty coming off injury
Tod Leonard
In Maria Sharapova’s continued return to tennis after a ban for doping, the circumstances and confines could not be friendlier than they were on a muggy Sunday evening at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
For the World Team Tennis season opener between Sharapova’s Orange County Breakers and the defending league champion San Diego Aviators – won by 17-14 by San Diego -- the court was multicolored. The players were wearing team uniforms. The standing-room-only crowd of 1,550 offered enthusiastic cheers.
There was an Aviators cat mascot named “Ace” on the court, for goodness sake.
The whole scene had nothing but good vibes for Sharapova, the 30-year-old former world No. 1 who began competing in the WTT as a young teenager.
La Costa itself carries nice memories, with the Russian having won two WTA crowns on the stadium court here in 2006 and ’07.
It was all in sharp contrast to the 15 months Sharapova served in her suspension (reduced from two years), and the controversy and injury that have been at the forefront of her return.
The tennis also is a work in progress.
In her first action in nearly two months, Sharapova lost 5-3 in singles of the WTT’s abbreviated format to Shelby Rogers, the No. 62-ranked player in the WTA. She prevailed in women’s doubles, winning 5-1 with partner Andreja Klepac.
“I think no road is easy,” Sharapova said in a pre-tournament press conference. “You can be the most confident player in the world … that’s what I love about tennis. Every single day it puts you back to reality.
“And there are so many surprises, and so many ups and downs in it, you always have the opportunity to change it around.”
After the suspension for using the banned heart drug meldonium, Sharapova faces the biggest climb of her career. The five-time Grand Slam singles champion has fallen to 171st in the WTA rankings, putting her at the mercy of tournaments to offer her wild-card opportunities.
So far, three in Europe have done so, though not without some loudly stated opposition from some peers.
In her first action back in April, Sharapova reached the semifinals in Stuttgart, Germany. In Madrid, she was knocked out in the second round.
And then in Rome, just hours after learning that she would not receive a wild card for the French Open, Sharapova had to retire from a second-round match against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni with a thigh injury.
That one had to hurt in more ways than one. It was Lucic-Baroni who, at the prospect of Sharapova being offered a pass into the French Open, told the New York Times, “Maybe they should give a wild card to Lance Armstrong too? He’s won the Tour de France a few times. How is this any different.”
The muscle tear ended up eliminating Sharapova’s chance to try to qualify for Wimbledon.
Asserting that she is now healthy, Sharapvoa said on Sunday, “I like to train, but I love to complete. … Going through the injury, it just takes that much more training to compete and that much more preparation. … I was ready to play competitively again, so I just had to make a pit stop again in training. So yes, this is a great way to get back into it again.”
Beyond an Aviators-Breakers rematch in Newport Beach on July 24, Sharapova said she has at least two tournaments upcoming on her schedule — the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford beginning on July 31 and the Rogers Cup in Toronto in the following week.
The goal would be to accumulate enough rankings points to get into the draw of the U.S. Open, which begins on Aug. 28. Otherwise, Sharapova would have to go through qualifying or ask for a wild-card spot.
“It’s not something that I think about,” Sharapova said of the U.S. Open, which she won in 2004. “It’s not part of my job, just because I have to be realistic that I haven’t played in a long time. … The importance and significance of every tournament is much more in my mind than what I can or cannot do at the U.S. Open.”
In Sharapova’s singles match against Rogers, she only showed small glimpses of shaking off the rust. She twice lost sets while serving, though there was one impressive game in which Sharapova won four straight points with deliveries that included two aces.
“Just need to get a sense of match play again,” an upbeat Sharapova said afterward. “I feel like everything is going pretty well. Just need to play more points.”
Sharapova made many unforced errors in going down 2-0, came back to lead 3-2, but lost the final two games, with Rogers winning the deciding fourth point after the game was tied 3-3.
Roger’s win contributed to a San Diego comeback from 10-2 down.
The match clincher came fittingly from the Aviators’ Ryan Harrison, the 2016 WTT male player of the year who made his return to the team after winning his first Grand Slam title in men’s doubles at the French Open.
Harrison was still in strong form, combining with Raven Klaasen to win 5-1 in doubles, and then, in the evening’s final showdown, he routed Teymuraz Gabashvili 5-0 to complete San Diego’s comeback.
CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — Maria Sharapova is realistic as she tries to regain her form after a 15-month drug suspension.
“I think no road is easy,” Sharapova said Sunday before a World Team Tennis match.
Sharapova played for the Orange County Breakers in their season-opening match against the defending champion San Diego Aviators at the La Costa Resort and Spa. It was Sharapova’s first appearance in the U.S. since testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.
She returned to the court in April and played three tournaments in Europe. In her first event, the Russian star reached the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix semifinals. A thigh injury prevented Sharapova from competing in the grass-court season that ended at Wimbledon on Sunday. But now she’s fit and ready for a summer run, hoping to cap it at the U.S. Open.
“It’s nice to have a schedule again and something that I really miss, having a tournament on the schedule and a calendar and knowing what I have to prepare for,” Sharapova said.
When her initial two-year ban was reduced to 15 months, some questioned if Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, was given beneficial treatment.
“I served the suspension period and I think there’s not much more that I could add to that,” Sharapova said.
Ken Macdonald, one of Sunday’s spectators, welcomed her return.
“She’s good for women’s tennis,” Macdonald said. “She deserves a second chance.”
But Sharapova also hears her detractors claiming she got a pass. Sharapova, one of the world’s most recognizable female athletes, said that she’s answering her critics by showing up.
“I think just by doing what I do, and that’s playing tennis,” she said. “That’s what I wanted to do from the very beginning. I’ve done it. I’ve always had the choice of not doing it. I have had a lot in my career. I’ve had the support.
“As someone who is 30 years old, I achieved enough to call it a day. But there’s something deeper. It’s more than just the sport. It’s something I’ve done all my life and my career. I wanted to continue that. That’s where my focus is and not much else.”
Sharapova said her schedule leading to the U.S. Open will include another WTT appearance and WTA Tour stops at Stanford and Toronto. She declined to predict how she would fare at the U.S. Open, the year’s final Grand Slam event.
“It’s not something that I think about; it’s not part of my job,” she said. “Just because I have to be realistic that I haven’t played in a long time. With the injury, it was almost like a two-year break for me. The importance and significance of every tournament is much more in my mind than what I can or cannot do at the U.S. Open.”
Which brought her back to the WTT and the La Costa Resort and Spa, where she won twice when it was WTA Tour stop.
“This was a great little addition to my schedule,” she said. “I hadn’t actually planned on playing World Team Tennis but I just thought I could use the bonus matches as I like to call them. Play in front of the crowds and come back to places that I’ve competed at before.”
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