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Roland Garros 2009
The next Maria Sharapova?
by Paul Myers
Article published on the 2009-05-26 Latest update 2009-05-26 10:49 TU
Maria Sharapova playing a shot against Anastasiya Yakimova at Roland Garros on 25 May
(Photo: Reuters)
Just a few days in and I’ve progressed from journalist to ersatz coach. Astounding stuff! And who is the beneficiary of my thus far untapped genius? Roger Federer? No, he doesn’t do the coach thang any more. Rafael Nadal? No he’s got his uncle Toni.
I’m not offering advice to the old school; I’m concentrating on the next generation.
I had a chat with Michelle Larcher de Brito, who at 16 is being dubbed the new Maria Sharapova.
Michelle Larcher de Brito in Albuquerque in 2007
(Photo: Wikipedia)
Like the old Sharapova (aged 22), she dropped the first set in her first round match on Monday. And like the original version she got through to Wednesday’s second round.
However De Brito has yet to triumph at Wimbledon, the US and Australian Opens. But like the Russian she is a graduate of the Nick Bollettieri tennis academy in Bradenton in Florida.
De Brito turned professional at 14 and spoke with some passion to me about the WTA rule that restricts under 18s to only 12 tournaments a year.
“Before it was 16 tournaments which was reasonable. But now it’s 12 which is ridiculous. I think it’s way too little. It puts a lot of pressure on the player to do well in every single tournament just so you can keep your same ranking.
“I think they should look into that and they should change it because it puts a lot of pressure on.”
The 2009 Roland Garros is de Brito’s maiden voyage into the main draw of a grand slam event. She got into the third qualifying round at last year’s US Open and also failed to progress from the qualifiers at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
Here at Roland Garros in her final qualifying round match last Friday she lost the first set 6-0 and was 3-0 down in the second set before coming back to win.
So Monday’s first round match against the Briton Melanie South was a marked improvement.
Melanie South at Wimbledon in 2007
(Photo: Wikipedia)
“I was 6-0 1-0 down,” she recalled.
De Brito progressed even though South served for the match at 5-4 up in the second set. “I go in there and start playing and before you know it is 6-0,” added the Lisbon born teenager. “But I’m a fighter; 6-0 to me means nothing. I look at it as the game is pretty much starting now.”
And her conquered foe concurred. “She is a huge competitor and managed to turn it around,” rued the Briton. “She played better and better as the match went on. My serve let me down. I didn't close it out at 5-4.”
Generous Brits aside, it’s at this juncture with de Brito that I came up with my flight of insight.
How about winning the first set and then the second set and not giving your opponent a massive head start?
The youngster looked at me.
“You’re right. I think I should try not to do that because it gets me more tired and it wastes a lot of energy. But it’s not really a game plan. It’s something I should start looking at.”
Well, we’ll see if she heeds my pearls of wisdom on Wednesday afternoon.
