Most Viewed Stories
Australian Open Capsules: Error-strewn Serena Williams out
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A look at Monday's eighth day of the Australian Open tennis championships:
WEATHER: Sunny with a high of 93.
ATTENDANCE: Day session: 26,019; Night: 16,503. TOTAL: 42,522.
WINNERS: Men: No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 4 Andy Murray, No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 24 Kei Nishikori. Women: No. 2 Petra Kvitova, No. 4 Maria Sharapova, unseeded Ekaterina Makarova.
LOSERS: Men: No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 17 Richard Gasquet. Women: No. 12 Serena Williams, No. 14 Sabine Lisicki, No. 21 Ana Ivanovic.
STAT OF THE DAY: 3 — the number of losses by Serena Williams in 43 singles matches at Melbourne Park, including Monday's to Makarova, since she won her first Australian Open title in 2003.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Maybe I should have started serving lefty" — righthander Williams on her poor serving Monday. Her first-serve percentage was 52 and she had seven double faults, including four in one game.
ON COURT TUESDAY: Quarterfinals: No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs. Tomas Berdych, No. 3 Roger Federer vs Juan Martin del Potro; women's No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki vs. defending champion Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka vs. Agnieszka Radwanska.
TUESDAY FORECAST: Sunny with a high temperature of 93 Fahrenheit.
Results
The Associated Press
Monday
At Melbourne Park
Melbourne, Australia
Purse: $26.83 million (Grand Slam)
Surface: Hard-Outdoor
Singles
Men
Fourth Round
Andy Murray (4), Britain, def. Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan, 6-1, 6-1, 1-0, retired.
Kei Nishikori (24), Japan, def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (6), France, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
David Ferrer (5), Spain, def. Richard Gasquet (17), France, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.
Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, def. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Women
Fourth Round
Petra Kvitova (2), Czech Republic, def. Ana Ivanovic (21), Serbia, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Sara Errani, Italy, def. Zheng Jie, China, 6-2, 6-1.
Ekaterina Makarova, Russia, def. Serena Williams (12), United States, 6-2, 6-3.
Maria Sharapova (4), Russia, def. Sabine Lisicki (14), Germany, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles
Men
Third Round
Robert Lindstedt, Sweden, and Horia Tecau (7), Romania, def. Ricardo Mello and Joao Souza, Brazil, 6-4, 6-3.
Eric Butorac, United States, and Bruno Soares (10), Brazil, def. Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistan, and Jean-Julien Rojer (8), Curacao, 6-4, 6-2.
Santiago Gonzalez, Mexico, and Christopher Kas (12), Germany, def. Jurgen Melzer, Austria, and Philipp Petzschner (5), Germany, 7-6 (1), 7-5.
Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski (6), Poland, def. Frantisek Cermak, Czech Republic, and Filip Polasek (11), Slovakia, 6-4, 6-3.
Women
Third Round
Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka (7), Czech Republic, def. Rika Fujiwara and Ayumi Morita, Japan, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu, Romania, def. Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova (5), Russia, 3-0, retired.
Sania Mirza, India, and Elena Vesnina (6), Russia, def. Jarmila Gajdosova, Australia, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (12), United States, 7-5, 6-3.
Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci (11), Italy, def. Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, and Agnieszka Radwanska (8), Poland, 6-4, 6-2.
Mixed
Second Round
Liezel Huber, United States, and Colin Fleming, Britain, def. Vladimira Uhlirova, Czech Republic, and Scott Lipsky, United States, 6-3, 6-2.
Andrea Hlavackova, Czech Republic, and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (7), Pakistan, def. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia, and Bernard Tomic, Australia, 6-3, 6-3.
Lisa Raymond, United States, and Rohan Bopanna (4), India, def. Casey Dellacqua and Matthew Ebden, Australia, 6-4, 6-2.
Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi (6), India, def. Iveta Benesova, Czech Republic, and Jurgen Melzer, Austria, 3-6, 6-4, 12-10 tiebreak.
Legends Doubles
Round Robin
Men
Guy Forget and Henri Leconte, France, def. Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, Australia, 6-4, 7-5.
Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, Netherlands, def. Mansour Bahrami, Iran, and Cedric Pioline, France, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Women
Martina Hingis, Switzerland, and Iva Majoli, Croatia, def. Tracy Austin, United States, and Barbara Schett, Austria, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Junior Singles
Boys
First Round
Laurent Lokoli, France, def. Connor Farren (14), United States, 6-2, 6-3.
Luke Saville (1), Australia, def. Or Ram-Harel, Israel, 6-1, 6-1.
Lucas Pouille, France, def. Jannis Kahlke, Germany, 6-2, 6-2.
Bradley Mousley, Australia, def. Stefan Vinti, Romania, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Borna Coric, Croatia, def. Markus Kalovelonis, Greece, 6-4, 7-6 (3).
Jack Schipanski, Australia, def. Thiago Monteiro (2), Brazil, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Filip Peliwo, Canada, def. Ken Onishi, Japan, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Kimmer Coppejans (11), Belgium, def. Thanasi Kokkinakis, Australia, 7-5, 6-2.
Girls
First Round
Carol Zhao, Canada, def. Brooke Rischbieth, Australia, 6-2, 6-1.
Yulia Putintseva (4), Russia, def. Catherine Harrison, United States, 6-2, 6-2.
Nao Hibino, Japan, def. Belinda Woolcock, Australia, 6-2, 6-2.
Krista Hardebeck, United States, def. Petra Rohanova, Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-2.
Anna Schmiedlova (8), Slovakia, def. Emily Fanning, New Zealand, 7-5, 6-1.
Olga Doroshina, Russia, def. Gabrielle Andrews, United States, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-4.
Elena-Theodora Cadar, Romania, def. Zuzanna Maciejewska (11), Poland, 7-5, 0-6, 7-5.
Saisai Zheng (9), China, def. Riko Sawayanagi, Japan, 6-4, 6-1.
Junior Doubles
Boys
First Round
Alexandre Favrot and Quentin Halys, France, def. Matteo Donati and Stefano Napolitano, Italy, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Laurent Lokoli and Lucas Pouille, France, def. Mackenzie McDonald, United States, and Wayne Montgomery, South Africa, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 11-9 tiebreak.
Patrik Fabian, Slovakia, and Franko Miocic, Croatia, def. Alexander Babanine and James Frawley, Australia, 6-3, 6-3.
Adam Pavlasek, Czech Republic, and Filip Veger, Croatia, def. Harry Bourchier and Bradley Mousley, Australia, 6-3, 6-1.
Pedja Krstin, Serbia, and Filip Peliwo (7), Canada, def. Jacob Grills and Daniel Guccione, Australia, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 10-7 tiebreak.
Julien Cagnina, Belgium, and Thiago Monteiro (2), Brazil, def. Arjun Kadhe, India, and Stefan Vinti, Romania, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 10-7 tiebreak.
Marek Routa and Robin Stanek, Czech Republic, def. Thanasi Kokkinakis and Li Tu, Australia, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 10-5 tiebreak.
Liam Broady and Joshua Ward-Hibbert (6), Britain, def. Bar Tzuf Botzer and Or Ram-Harel, Israel, 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 tiebreak.
Karim Hossam, Egypt, and Trey Strobel, United States, def. Luke Bambridge and Kyle Edmund (8), Britain, 6-3, 7-5.
Kevin Kaczynski and Jannis Kahlke, Germany, def. Nikola Milojevic, Serbia, and Kaichi Uchida (1), Japan, 4-6, 6-4, 10-6 tiebreak.
Connor Farren, United States, and Frederico Ferreira Silva (3), Portugal, def. Jay Andrijic and Jordan Thompson, Australia, 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 tiebreak.
Luke Saville and Jack Schipanski, Australia, def. Ken Onishi and Takashi Saito, Japan, 6-4, 6-3.
Andrew Harris and Nick Kyrgios (4), Australia, def. Ho Chih-jen, Taiwan, and Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul, Thailand, 6-3, 6-1.
Temur Ismailov, Uzbekistan, and Markus Kalovelonis, Greece, def. Fred Simonsson, Sweden, and Mikael Torpegaard, Denmark, 7-6 (2), 6-0.
Kimmer Coppejans, Belgium, and Herkko Pollanen (5), Finland, def. Jae Hwan Kim, South Korea, and Daniel Masur, Germany, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 10-7 tiebreak.
Borna Coric, Croatia, and Pietro Licciardi, Italy, def. Mathias Bourgue, France, and Pedro Guimaraes, Brazil, 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 tiebreak.
Girls
First Round
Rutuja Bhosale, India, and Aldila Sutjiadi, Indonesia, def. Ratnika Batra, India, and Georgiana Ruhrig, Australia, 1-6, 6-4, 10-5 tiebreak.
Eugenie Bouchard and Carol Zhao (8), Canada, def. Megane Bianco, Switzerland, and Kathinka von Deichmann, Liechtenstein, 6-1, 4-6, 10-6 tiebreak.
Naiktha Bains and Danielle Wagland, Australia, def. Samantha Crawford and Sachia Vickery, United States, 3-6, 7-6 (1), 10-7 tiebreak.
Jang Su Jeong and Lee So-ra, South Korea, def. Ellen Allgurin, Sweden, and Stephanie Nauta, United States, 6-3, 2-6, 13-11 tiebreak.
Ilka Csoregi, Romania, and Elizaveta Kulichkova (3), Russia, vs. Zoe Hives and Belinda Woolcock, Australia, 6-3, 7-5.
Kyle S. McPhillips, United States, and Yulia Putintseva (5), Russia, def. Brigitte Beck and Ebony Panoho, Australia, 6-2, 6-4.
Olga Doroshina, Russia, and Christina Makarova, United States, def. Julia Elbaba, United States, and Emily Fanning, New Zealand, 6-1, 6-4.
Irina Khromacheva, Russia, and Danka Kovinic (1), Montenegro, def. Makoto Ninomiya and Riko Sawayanagi, Japan, 6-4, 6-4.
Gabrielle Andrews and Taylor Townsend, United States, def. Elena-Theodora Cadar and Ioana Loredana Rosca, Romania, 6-0, 6-1.
Krista Hardebeck and Catherine Harrison, United States, def. Iva Mekovec, Croatia, and Jade Suvrijn, France, 6-3, 7-5.
Anna Danilina, Kazakhstan, and Zuzanna Maciejewska (7), Poland, def. Mami Adachi and Miho Kowase, Japan, 4-6, 6-2, 10-3 tiebreak.
Anna Schmiedlova, Slovakia, and Sabina Sharipova (4), Uzbekistan, def. Brooke Rischbieth and Storm Sanders, Australia, 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 tiebreak.
Irina Maria Bara, Romania, and Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, def. Camilla Rosatello, Italy, and Zheng Saisai, China, 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 tiebreak.
Indy de Vroome, Netherlands, and Anett Kontaveit (2), Estonia, def. Nao Hibino and Eri Hozumi, Japan, 6-4, 6-4.
Miyu Kato and Risa Ozaki, Japan, def. Barbora Krejcikova, Czech Republic, and Petra Rohanova, Czech Republic, 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 tiebreak.
Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazil, and Jesika Maleckova, Czech Republic, def. Francesca Palmigiano, Italy, and Viktoriya Tomova, Bulgaria, 6-2, 6-1.
Show Court Schedules
The Associated Press
Tuesday
At Melbourne Park
Melbourne, Australia
Play begins at 7 p.m. EST Monday
Rod Laver Arena
Legends: Pat Cash, Australia, and Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, vs. Wayne Arthurs, Australia, and Thomas Muster, Austria
Not before 8 p.m. EST Monday: Victoria Azarenka (3), Belarus, vs. Agnieszka Radwanska (8), Poland
Caroline Wozniacki (1), Denmark, vs. Kim Clijsters (11), Belgium
Not before 10:30 p.m. EST Monday: Juan Martin del Potro (11), Argentina, vs. Roger Federer (3), Switzerland
Night Session (3:30 a.m. EST Tuesday)
Tomas Berdych (7), Czech Republic, vs. Rafael Nadal (2), Spain
Bob and Mike Bryan (1), United States, vs. Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski (6), Poland
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — It wasn't just Serena Williams' serve that was missing Monday at the Australian Open. It was her aura, too.
Ekaterina Makarova, the lowest-ranked player left in the draw at No. 56, didn't seem the least bit frightened of the error-ridden opponent across the net.
The Russian won 6-2, 6-3 — equaling the biggest Grand Slam defeat of Williams' 17-year career — and will face Maria Sharapova in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Sharapova rallied past Sabine Lisicki 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 before men's defending champion Novak Djokovic fended off a resurgent Lleyton Hewitt in a dramatic last match of the day, winning 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
With Hewitt's loss, Australia's chances of celebrating a home singles winner were over. American hopes had already evaporated with the defeat of five-time champion Williams — her first in Melbourne since 2008 and earliest since 2006.
"I can't even describe how I served, to be honest," said Williams, who finished with seven double-faults and a first-serve percentage of just over 50. "My lefty serve is actually better than that. Maybe I should have started serving lefty."
Williams also threw in 37 unforced errors, but Makarova played her part, boldly going for the lines and holding steady in a tight service game while leading 4-3 in the second set. Playing Williams in Beijing in 2009, Makarova said she had been "afraid" of the American in a 6-3, 6-2 loss. Not this time.
"I really thought that I could beat her," Makarova said. "Maybe in my head that helped me."
Williams tried not to blame her left ankle injury from a tuneup tournament in Brisbane two weeks ago. But she didn't move well and seemed to have particular difficulty running to her left. She said if it hadn't been a Grand Slam, she wouldn't have played at all.
"Usually I play myself into the tournament," Williams said. "But I don't have a huge problem with an injury. So this is a completely different situation. Usually it's easier for me to play myself in because I'm usually physically OK."
At 30, Williams' body is breaking down more often and, unlike earlier in her career, a lack of matches leaves her susceptible to upsets.
After squandering the fifth game of the second set with four double-faults, Williams threw up her arms in disbelief and yelled, "Oh, my God." Her mother, Oracene Price, who doesn't usually betray any emotion, shook her head in the stands.
Williams got away with a shanked smash in her third-round win. On Monday, she sent an overhead way beyond the baseline when a winner would have given her two break-back points in the second set.
"Every ball that came, I just hit it as far out as I could," Williams said.
Before the match, 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova said Williams was the best player in the world — "just a matter of whether she can bring it."
Williams couldn't bring it against Makarova, nor against Sam Stosur in the U.S. Open final in September, when she also only won five games. The only other time she has lost by so much in a Grand Slam match was against Sharapova in the 2004 Wimbledon final.
Williams will now return to the practice court in preparation for the United States' Fed Cup match against Belarus on Feb. 4-5.
Sharapova can look forward to a quarterfinal against Makarova after overcoming her own problems in her fourth-round match. Sharapova hit eight double-faults and made 47 unforced errors but, unlike Williams, found a way to win against the 14th-seeded Lisicki.
"I fought to the end and sometimes that's what gets you through," said the Russian, who lost six games in a row after taking a 3-0 lead in the first set.
Djokovic had won 23 straight sets at Melbourne Park before he suddenly wobbled against Hewitt, a two-time Grand Slam champion who has slipped to No. 181 in the rankings after a series of injuries.
Hewitt, a wild-card entry in his 16th straight Australian Open, rallied from 3-0 down in the third set in front of a raucous home crowd to force a fourth set, but Djokovic gathered his composure.
"I think for two sets and 3-0 I was playing really well and suddenly I stopped moving," Djokovic said. "He was not making a lot of unforced errors. I made a lot of unforced errors in the third set."
Next up for Djokovic is fifth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain, who had a surprisingly easy 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 win over Richard Gasquet.
No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Roger Federer are back in action Tuesday, hoping to set up a semifinal. Federer plays former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro while Nadal faces Tomas Berdych.
On the women's side, defending champion Kim Clijsters will test her injured ankle against top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, and third-seeded Victoria Azarenka plays eighth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova opened Monday's play with a 6-2, 7-6 (2) win over former top-ranked Ana Ivanovic. She'll next play Sara Errani of Italy, who beat 2010 semifinalist Zheng Jie 6-2, 6-1.
Two-time finalist Andy Murray advanced when Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan retired after 49 minutes with a left hip injury while trailing 6-1, 6-1, 1-0. After knocking out the first player from Kazakhstan to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam, Murray's next opponent will be another history-maker.
Kei Nishikori beat sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to become the first Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open since the Open era began in 1968.
Navratilova holds court at Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Martina Navratilova never shirked a challenge in her glittering tennis career, and she isn't shy about giving an opinion either.
The winner of 167 singles titles and one of the greatest players faced a news conference at the Australian Open on Monday and addressed issues ranging from Margaret Court's criticism of same-gender marriage to prize money at Grand Slam tournaments.
Eyebrows were raised when Navratilova's first match in the legends' doubles here Sunday was scheduled for Margaret Court Arena. The 55-year-old Navratilova didn't even consider a boycott. Instead, the longtime advocate for gay rights wore a rainbow-colored patch on her sleeve as she and Nicole Bradtke beat Martina Hingis and Iva Majoli.
The 69-year-old Court, an 11-time Australian Open champion who is now a Christian pastor, caused a stir before this year's tournament when she told media in Western Australia that "politically correct education has masterfully escorted homosexuality out from behind closed doors, into the community openly and now is aggressively demanding marriage rights that are not theirs to take."
Navratilova was gracious when talking about the venue and scheduling of her opening match.
"Playing on Margaret Court Arena, it's an honor, as always, to be on that court," Navratilova said. "You know, it's not a personal issue. Clearly Margaret Court's views that she has expressed on same sex marriage, I think are outdated.
"But it's not about any one person. It's not about religious rights, it's about human rights. It's a secular view, not a religious view."
Navratilova said she hadn't spoken to Court for years.
"She was all about Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. She repeated that about four or five times, so I just felt I couldn't get through to her," Navratilova said. "Maybe she thought she could get through to me."
In a career spanning 33 years, Navratilova won 167 titles in singles, and 177 in doubles. She won the first of her 18 Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon in 1978 to claim the top ranking for the first of a total of 332 weeks.
She refuses to criticize Caroline Wozniacki, who has been No. 1 since October 2010 but hasn't won a major and reached her only Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open in 2009.
A system that doesn't place enough importance on the quality of opponents a player has beaten is to blame, according to Navratilova, who believes Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova had a claim to be considered the true No. 1.
"It weighs too much on quantity and not enough on quality," Navratilova said of the points-based rankings system. "They both get to a semis and one player beats No. 1 player and No. 3 player to get to the semis, and the other one gets qualifiers and they get the same amount of points. It doesn't make any sense."
Navratilova has spoken to the WTA, which runs the women's tour, but doesn't know if any officials are listening.
"Maybe they will hear it now," she said. "But I asked are they changing the system, and they have no intention to. I think it's a mistake."
Navratilova's next conversation might be with Grand Slam tournament organizers over the vexed issue of prize money.
The subject came to light on the eve of the Australian Open following a meeting of the men's players. Many of them believe that prize money has not increased in line with growing profits at the four majors — and some are prepared to go as far as striking to make their point.
"I think the Grand Slams are making a lot more than they're sharing with the players. I think that's a fact," Navratilova said. "When the players try to talk to them, the Grand Slams are like, 'Oh, well. Get lost. Too bad.'
"If the men and women got together I think the Grand Slams would listen. The players made the slams big and the slams made the players big. It's a very symbiotic relationship, but the slams are ruling the roost. They dictate everything to the players."
Multimillionaire players complaining about how much they earn doesn't often garner much sympathy from fans, but Navratilova says the point is still valid.
"Compared to what a teacher is making, we are grossly overpaid," she said. "Compared to what the slams are netting, they are underpaid."
Prize money has come a long way since Navratilova's day though.
"I think I won $6,000 when I got to the finals here in '74," she said. "Which I needed to make so I could pay the airline ticket back to the States. "
The men's and women's champions at the Australian Open will each receive $2.4 million in prize money, with the losing finalists getting $1.2 million. The 64 men and 64 women who lost in the first round of singles received $21,800.
-- Caroline Cheese
Notebook: Hewitt ruins perfect record of top three in Melbourne
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic's third-set wobble against Lleyton Hewitt spoiled a neat statistic. Had the defending champion won in three sets, the top three men would all have reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set.
The top-seeded Djokovic eventually won 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 Monday to join Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the last eight.
No. 4 Andy Murray lost the first set against first-round opponent Ryan Harrison and hasn't conceded one since. He beat Mikhail Kukushkin on Friday when the Kazakh retired while trailing 6-1, 6-1, 1-0.
The Big Four have reached the quarterfinals at five straight majors, underlining a gap between them and the rest of the field. Djokovic says it's an attention to detail that makes the difference.
"Nowadays it's very physical so you have to work very hard, you have to be dedicated, you have to take care of the smallest details off the court as well, how you organize your life, you have to be emotionally balanced," he said. "All these kind of things play a very significant role in your performance on the court."
Djokovic hasn't been out of the top four since the middle of 2007. He did admit, though, that he's still getting used to sitting at the top of the pack after a standout 2011 in which he won three of the four majors and overtook Nadal and Federer for the No. 1 ranking.
"I have to accept this life as simple as possible because you can easily get carried away," the 24-year-old Serbian said. "There is a lot of temptations, especially when you're at the top. Obviously you get more attention and more temptations to do some things that can affect your performance in a negative way."
GLORY DAYS: Maria Sharapova is already starting to talk like her career has peaked.
Sharapova won her first major at Wimbledon in 2004, added the U.S. title in 2006 and the Australian in 2008, a year after losing the final at Melbourne Park. She had surgery on her right shoulder later that year and hasn't added to her Grand Slam collection since.
Asked about how she feels after spending about one-third of her life on tour, Sharapova said she felt "fortunate to be sitting in this position and saying that I achieved great success at 17."
"Obviously maybe if I had achieved it a few years later, I wouldn't feel like I've been on the tour for so long. But I'm certainly not complaining for that because that will probably be the highest note of my career."
Why?
"Because I never had expected that that would come to my career. I was so naive," she said. "I mean, I don't think at that point, when I had won Wimbledon, I understood what it meant.
"I thought it was just an incredible feeling, and it's Wimbledon, but I don't think I actually logically knew what I had done."
After a few years interrupted by injuries, Sharapova says she's started to regain her energy and passion after a period of time "kind of at a standstill."
She reached the final at Wimbledon last year, losing to Petra Kvitova, in her best run at a Grand Slam in three years.
"I'm 24 years old, almost 25. I love this sport as much as I loved it, you know, when I was at that age," she said. "I've also been through a lot of tough times. I've also said the success that I can achieve, the fact that I got myself back to being top five in the world, playing tennis again, playing at a high level, competing at this level is pretty remarkable from where I was on a surgery table, not knowing if I'd ever be able to hit a serve again.
"So just a lot of perspective. If I do achieve a Grand Slam win, something on that level, there's no doubt that that will be another big moment in my career."
SOLE SISTERS: Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki share a sporting interest outside tennis.
Both date professional golfers — Ivanovic is involved with Australia's Adam Scott; Wozniacki with Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irishman who won the last U.S. Open.
Ivanovic has been with Scott for a while, spending the last couple of offseasons in Australia, so had some advice when Wozniacki came asking about the traps of dating a golfer.
"She did ask me like what kind of shoes should I take to walk on the course," Ivanovic said after her fourth-round loss to Petra Kvitova on Monday, when Scott was in the crowd at Rod Laver Arena. The answer, for the record: "Just the most comfortable ones."
-- Justin Bergman
