AS A collective motivational force, Billie Jean King has been driving women’s tennis since before the advent of the Open era, but it transpires that she also delights in bringing the best out of people on an individual basis. Maria Sharapova was only too happy to benefit as she honed her mind in preparation for the Australian Open final.

Fittingly, on the 40th anniversary of her solitary Australian triumph, BJK played a crucial part in the outcome of the final. There is a 44-year age difference between the pair, but they formed a bond on one of Sharapova’s first visits to Britain.

They correspond largely through text messages on mobile telephones.

Just as the fifth-seeded Russian was arriving at Melbourne Park to warm up for the final with Ana Ivanovic, she heard a bleep in her handbag. The incoming message read: “Champions take chances. Pressure is a privilege.”

Several hours later, her phone brought another message from the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

This time the screen told her: “Congratulations. You did great.”

Throughout the injury problems that tainted most of Sharapova’s year and her early loss in defence of her US Open title, the American legend offered reassurance.

“The first time I met her was when I was playing a junior tournament in Roehampton when I was 13 or 14 years old,” recalled Sharapova. “I remember her coming to my parents and myself and just having a normal conversation. I think she just said, ‘Hello, how are you? How is everything going? How is your training?’

“From that point on, she’s just always been, you know, really supportive. I actually don’t see her that often, apart from occasionally playing World Team Tennis and at some of the Grand Slams that she attends.

“Yet she’s always one of the first people to text me when either I’m having a tough moment or a great win. It’s wonderful, because she’s done so much for the game and is such a great supporter of the sport. For her to spend a minute sending me a text wishing me the best is wonderful.” Sharapova’s coach, Michael Joyce, revealed the extent of the right shoulder problems that seriously affected her serve and were the main factor in her slipping from the top of the world rankings to sixth by late October.

She won just one title all year, a relatively minor event in San Diego, but showed distinct signs of recovery at the year-ending Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, when she narrowly lost out following a monumental battle in the final against Justine Henin.

Revenge was exacted in the semi-final at Melbourne, but Joyce said: “The shoulder affected her so much during much of the year and it was not until she went to see a doctor in Toronto after the US Open in September and had an injection directly in the bursitis she was suffering in the joint that things started turning around. Up until that point, we were curtailed in the amount of work she could do off the court, and her serve was seriously compromised in match situations.”

Sharapova now heads to Israel to make her long-awaited debut in Russia’s Fed Cup team. She insisted her overriding goal for the remainder of 2008 is to experience Olympic Games glory in Beijing.

Clearly her dislike of clay means the French Open, the only Grand Slam event she has yet to win, is not a legitimate ambition.

When asked what topped her wish list for the year, she answered: “I think because I already have a Wimbledon title, I’d take the Olympic gold medal.”