Racquet romance blooms for Sharapova
Russian star advances while boyfriend Dimitrov sent packing at Wimbledon
WIMBLEDON— How do you think the pillow-talk went last night in the local love nest rented by the “Golden Couple” of tennis?
Maria Sharapova: “You’re still my ace ball-boy, darling.”
Grigor Dimitrov: “Not tonight dear, I’ve got a straight-sets headache.”
It’s no easy thing, not wearing the shorts in a relationship when your girlfriend is merely the most glamorous woman in the sport, winner of five Grand Slams, took the first of two Wimbledon tiaras as a 17-yearold ingénue, is the world’s top-paid female athlete and “liked” on her Facebook page by more than 15 million people.
Of course, Dimitrov has smashed right back, at least on Instagram, with 223,000 followers.
OK, so maybe there’s a wee imbalance there on the social media depth charts. But the Bulgarian pin-up — that Instagram account frequently features photos of Dimitrov topless and abs showoff-y — was ranked 10th in a recent poll of the “50 Sexiest Men Alive” by MTV, ahead of Brad Pitt and a bunch of other guys I’ve never heard of.
Ranked 11th on the ATP men’s list, likewise seeded 11th here, but ousted in the third round Friday 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 by Frenchman Richard Gasquet, seeded 10 spots behind.
“I just didn’t play good. That’s just how it is. I’m not going to hide my disappointment. But at the same time, I’m not putting my head down because still it’s been a bit of a progress for me. Match by match, I’ve been playing a little bit better. That’s good news.”
A weird way to define progress, however. Last year, Dimitrov made it to the semis here, farthest he’d even progressed in a major, bowing out to eventual victor Novak Djokovic in four sets, and heralded by Boris Becker as “the next great player, if only he didn’t get distracted.”
Sharapova can be distracting without lifting a finger.
She blew past Romania’s IrinaCamelia Begu 6-4, 6-3 on Friday and led 5-0 in the second, holding off a fight-back bid.
“I made it more difficult for myself in the first set but I felt good in the second set,” said Sharapova, who’s only made it past the last 16 once since 2007. “She was not going to go away so I was happy I was able to finish it off.
“You expect to go further and on to better things. As the matches get tougher, you have to raise your game and that’s why there’s only one champion.”
So Sharapova isn’t the one who needed consoling once the day was done. That would be Dimitrov.
Previous to Friday, the couple had been in competitive lock-step, although unable to watch each other play as one inevitably followed the other onto the courts.
They’ve been a marquee jet-set duo since the Bulgarian, who isn’t low on self-confidence, sent out a trial balloon in 2012.
“I emailed her out of the blue,” he revealed in an interview a couple of years ago. “I felt we always had this thing for each other. We were both in China, me in Shanghai, her in Beijing. I sat down for lunch and saw her playing on television and emailed her right away.’’
Sharapova, long described as an emotional ice queen — off the court — was warmly receptive.
“We started talking a bit,” Dimitrov recalled.
“Then a month later, when the season was over, we saw each other and that became that.” Who needs plentyoffish? Love. Match. While Sharapova is loath to be drawn into a discussion about her beau, she did admit on a British chat show that watching Dimitrov compete makes her jangly. “It’s so nervewracking to watch. It’s worse than playing. I get so stressed.”
Asked whether marriage was in the offing, the Russian shrugged coyly, saying only that should a proposal come her way, it had better be private and not unfold on some tennis court. “That would be horrible. I don’t like spectacles at all.”
Dimitrov has spoken about their romance occasionally, admitting that Sharapova — at 27, four years his senior, and immeasurably more accomplished — is the superior tennis savant in the relationship.
“It’s always good to have a Grand Slam champion on your side,” he said at a post-match press conference earlier this week. “One tip, one sentence, can change everything.
“Of course it’s a plus, appreciating advice and anything that comes from here.” Like what, for instance? “I’d rather keep that private.” That press conference meant missing Sharapova’s match. “I would love to. But I’ve got to take care of my body and talk to you guys. And she finished quite fast.”
Dimitrov does get around, shall we say. He previously — barely into his 20s — romanced Serena Williams, nearly a decade older.
The change-partners-and-dance tangle led to a notorious verbal bitch-slap session between the two women just before Wimbledon 2013. Williams provoked the cattiness with remarks she made during a magazine interview, though never specifically naming her on-off court rival, referencing only a “top 5” player.
“She begins every interview with, ‘I’m so happy, I’m so lucky.’ It’s so boring. She’s still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And hey, if she wants to be with guy with a black heart, go for it.”
Sharapova shot back later: “If Serena wants to talk about something personal, she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids and not draw attention to other things.”
That boyfriend — on and off, at the moment on — is Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, 45.
Everyone’s been on their best-behaviour here.
Romance ’round the racquets is hardly unprecedented, though few couples endure. Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors were both at the top of the sport when they became engaged in the early 1970s but the nuptials were called off. Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi are approaching their silver wedding anniversary. And Roger Federer met his wife Miroslava Vavrinec at the 2000 Olympics.
Dimitrov was actually called “Baby Fed” when he first starting making an impression on tour, because he allegedly bears a physical resemblance to the Swiss virtuoso. Don’t see it myself. Certainly Federer has never made a Sexiest Man Alive list. Just sayin.’
So Wimbledon is over for the Bulgarian. But don’t feel too sorry for him. He still went home to Maria Sharapova.