SINGAPORE/FILE: TENNIS - Maria Sharapova is preparing for the Australian Open and aims to regain her crown as the world's top ranked player

Record ID: 725761

  • Title: SINGAPORE/FILE: TENNIS - Maria Sharapova is preparing for the Australian Open and aims to regain her crown as the world's top ranked player
  • Date: 30th December 2007
  • Summary: UNKNOWN LOCATION (FILE) (REUTERS LIBRARY) SHARAPOVA AT COACHING SCHOOL
  • Embargoed: 14th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA5P1L3DYVXYPA93P5A6WEZWUMA
  • Story Text: Maria Sharapova is preparing for the Australian Open and aims to regain her crown as the world's top ranked player.
    Former world number one Maria Sharapova begins her preparations for the Australian Open with an exhibition match in Singapore on Sunday (December 30) against Russian compatriot Anna Chakvetadze.
    Sharapova, currently ranked number five, will take on sixth ranked Chakvetadze in a repeat of their Australian Open quarter final encounter last year, which Sharapova won before going on to lose to Serena Williams in the final.
    She will also be taking part in the JB Group Classic tournament in Hong Kong from January 2-5.
    Speaking at a news conference on Saturday (December 29), 20-year-old-Sharapova said: "I'm going to take every single match seriously because it is my only preparation for the Australian Open."
    Organisers of the Open, which runs in Melbourne from January 14-27, have switched the playing surfaces of the courts from Rebound Ace, used for the last 20 years, to the new Plexicushion compound in an effort to make all the courts more consistent in speed and bounce.
    Australian number one Lleyton Hewitt has endorsed the surface and Sharapova welcomed its introduction, saying: "I heard it's going to be a faster surface and I also heard it's not going to be sticky which is going to be beneficial for all players because, especially in extreme heat, the court gets very sticky and a lot of injuries can occur."
    However, on the opening day of the Hopman Cup in Perth, where the same surface is being used, the players' reaction has been far from positive, some saying it is slower and makes the balls go fluffy.
    Open organisers have also changed their extreme heat policy, meaning that if the temperatures soar, a regular occurrence in the Melbourne summer, matches can now be delayed rather than the players being forced to continue.
    The new rule found favour with Sharapova, who last year struggled through three sets against Camille Pin of France in temperatures which reached 38C (100F).

    "They listened to other ATP players that were very concerned about it because some of them played five sets in that heat and it's too difficult to do. I think all the athletes are happy," she said.
    The women's game was recently shaken when former Number One Martina Hingis revealed she had been tested positive for cocaine, which she strenuously denies using.
    Sharapova insisted that women's tennis is clean but did she say: "We have to be realistic about the fact that some of these things do go on. Are they facts? Unless you actually get a written statement we don't know that."
    The former Wimbledon and US Open champion topped the world rankings in 2005 and was asked if she was aiming to climb back to the top.

    "That's what you work for every single day and once you get there everyone's hungrier to beat you and it's only tougher to stay there," she said.

    "But that's why I'm still playing, because I love that challenge, everyone being hungry and everyone wanting to be Number One."
    Sharapova hopes to go one better than her defeat to Williams in last year's Melbourne final and will know her first round opponent when the draw is made on January 11.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register