John are you being a bit sarcastic? World #1?. She is no longer that.
Cheated in Austalia?. We all saw that match. Ask Pat Cash.
Breath of fresh Air?. Are you confusing her matches with her perfume advertisement?
Watch out for Henin. A true fighter with a big heart

vesora , ottawa, canada

I am new to this: well, first let me start with an article written by Pat Cash( one time grandslam winner or so). The article was written on the eve of the Australian open. His intention was to counter Serena's assertiveness of trying to reclaim the Numero Uno spot on the WTA. He went on to say negative things about Serena and that she should apologize to Maria, Amelie and maybe to the rest of the WTA members. He gave her a zilch, zero, null chance of going past the first round. Mr. Cash what is wrong with a player saying they want to be #1???. In fact all active players should be saying those words ( loud and clear) on a daily basis. That is not wrong with that. The #1 spot is there waiting for anyone.
Mr. Cash admitted his own success in tennis is a fraction of Serena's. On that note, how would Mr. Cash comments be deemed reliable. He should stop commenting on tennis and move on to other things. I am not impressed with his comments at all. in fact he should apologize to Serena.

vesora , ottawa, canada

I agree Matt, the problem for Sharapova is the lack of a plan B. I admit her main game is very effective and she is a great and powerful ball-striker, but if she is slightly off of if her opponent dares to not be intimidated and move her around, she just shuts down mentally and doesn't know what to do. It seems at the moment as if she can only play in the 'hit as hard as you can and scream as loudly as possible' style.

The main example for this was the last set in her semi-final against Mauresmo last year at Wimbledon. Amelie gave her no pace, lots of topspin and just kept bringing her forward and Sharapova looked completely lost.

If she wants to dominate for a long period or to have any success on clay I think Maria needs to work very hard on versatility, net game and movement. (Although the latter is admittedly a lot better) She also needs to quickly break the habit of struggling to close out matches, which was very evident this time last year and seems to have returned.

Sophia, Herts,