Maria Sharapova’s road to recovery hit a major speed bump as she was knocked out of Wimbledon’s second round.
The 24th seeded Russian glamazon, who lost out in the same round last year, was defeated by Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 and was the victim of 9 double faults, 27 errors, and a determined opponent. Moreover, Shrieka had her chances but was only able to convert on 4 of 11 break chances. Ouch.
Even though she’s only two months into her return after a 10-month shoulder injury absence, this loss will be a tough pill to swallow for the 2004 champion who considers grass her best surface. In fact, she performed better at Roland Garros making the quarterfinals on her least favorite surface. But she still seems to be getting comfortable with her shortened service motion as evidenced by her DF count and low MPH on the delivery.
And, let’s face it: an ill-serving Shrieka is no Shrieka at all.
Rich Rodriguez writes the tennis blog Down the Line!
on Jun 24th, 2009 at 12:52 PM
Not a surprise. Sharapova is still on the road to recovery and is a fraction of her former self. Her movement has really fallen off which she needs since she wasn’t the best mover in the first place. She’s the kind of player (like Andy Roddick) where her serve is the most important part of her game. She’s lost that and with that has gone the rest of her game. Wimbledon did her no favors bumping up her seeding either.