1. Maria Sharapova's new candy will be called Sugarpova, but her game is hardly sweet.
2. She’s tall, 6-foot-2, and elegant, but she grunts like a pirate.
3. She likes Audrey Hepburn and has been compared to Ingrid Bergman, but she’s an act all of her own.
4. She was born in Nyagan, Russia, but she's more American than a burger with fries.
5. She’s by far the wealthiest women athlete in the world — far ahead of Serena Williams. She signed a $70 million, multi-year contract with Nike and earns about $22 million a year in off-court endorsements. But she also does substantial charity work. As a UN Goodwill Ambassador, she focuses on the aftermath of the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster.
6. She struggled big time at the Australian Open against Andrea Petkovic, but crushed the German at the French Open 6-0, 6-3. Petkovic was hoping to become the first player to beat Maria in back-to-back majors.
7. She lives a few blocks from the ocean. But tennis-wise, she isn’t into the “beach,” so to speak. In other words, clay is her worst surface. (She once said that, on clay, she felt “like a cow on ice.”
8. Bright yellow visor, yellow-on-yellow dress — but there’s been nothing yellow about her long comeback from shoulder surgery. Having achieved the No. 1 ranking and three Slam titles, her long, sometimes frustrating two-year comeback has shown great courage. With her achievement and wealth she could have just walked away from the sport hassle-free.
9. She’s into Sherlock Holmes. But there's no mystery that her forehand is her money shot. She put on a clinic today – cross-court, down-the-line, or on the run. She’s subject to buckets of double faults, but she does go for it on her second serve.
10. The official Roland Garros program featured the curious headline “Lame Slave,” but Maria is one of the most independent, strong and willful female athletes on the planet.
11. She’s won three Slams – Wimbledon, then the U.S. and Aussie Opens. But, like Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport, who before her won those three, she's lacking the French Open on her resume.
12. As a developing player, her prime coaches were her father, Yuri Sharapov, and groundie guru Robert Lansdorp. But neither have been at big tournaments for a long time.
13. Tomas Hogstedt has been her coach since January. Before that he was the coach of her semifinal foe Na Li.
JUST WONDERING: Is this year’s French Open (great women’s matches until today, upsets and scares and high-stakes, big-drama men’s semifinals on the docket), the best Slam in recent memory?
GO FIGURE: All four men’s top seeds moved into the semis — the first time that's happened at a Slam since the ’06 French Open. All four of the women's top seeds are out…Another Slam, another major with no teen – no new young man or woman for that matter – scoring a big breakthrough…Like his top rivals, Andy Murray has now reached the semis of all four Slams…Roger Federer is the only player left who hasn’t lost a set.
MATCH OF THE YEAR OR WHAT?: With so much at stake, the Novak Djokovic vs. Federer semi is shaping up to be the match of the year. (At least until Sunday.)
RAFA NADAL, SPORTS ANALYST: Asked about the Djokovic vs. Fed semi, Nadal said, “Well, the best player of the world today against the best player of the history, so difficult to say… Gonna be…fantastic match. Will be for sure a really tough match… Djokovic is playing fantastic. Roger did very well during all this tournament. Roger have enough potential to beat everybody, and you know how good can be Roger in the final rounds of a Grand Slam.”
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN: Murray smiled on court.
OUT OF SOUTH AFRICA, INTO NORTH AFRICA: The South African Open, which used to be in Las Vegas (and in Scottsdale before that), is no more. But there will be a pre-Wimbledon grass-court event in Egypt.
A PERFECT POINT: While reflecting on Murray's woe-is-me side, The International Herald Tribune’s Christopher Clarey noted, “The Scotsman [is] a perfectionist in a sport where perfectionism is not an option.”
A WAY-TOO-EERIE EAR SYNERGY: Semifinalist Marion Bartoli is a big fan of Vincent Van Gough, who lost an ear. And now hear this: Sharapova is wearing those pricey Tiffany earrings again.
NO. 1 ANOMOLY: Caroline Wozniacki, who has yet to win a major, has been at No. 1 for 37 weeks, which is longer than Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Tracy Austin, Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina and Evonne Goolagong.
MULTINATIONAL NOTE OF THE DAY: There’s an American with a Swedish first name and an Italian last name — Bjorn Fratangelo – who’s playing the French Open juniors.
