Maria v Serena? It’s not a rivalry!
Williams coach hits out
Ever since Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova were pitted in the same half of the ladies’ singles draw two weeks ago, many have looked forward to the latest instalment of the most famous active rivalry on the women’s tour.
Yet, according to Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, the term ‘rivalry’ does not apply. It is a fair point when you consider that the world No 1 bids for a remarkable 17th consecutive win against Sharapova in the second of today’s two semi-finals on Centre Court.
‘rivalry in my opinion is when players are very close in terms of matches — 17-2 (Williams’ record against Sharapova) is not really a rivalry,’ Mouratoglou told
Sportsmail.
You have to go back almost 11 years to the season-ending WTA Tour Championships in November 2004 for the last time Sharapova, then 17, beat Williams. Four months earlier, the russian had beaten Williams in straight sets in the Wimbledon final and it looked for all the world that this would turn out to be one of the great contests. It never quite turned out that way.
Their next meeting two months later in the 2005 Australian Open semi-finals was the turning point, Williams fighting back from a set and 5-4 down, saving three match points in the process, to win.
Mouratoglou said: ‘Obviously when you lose so many times against the same player it is difficult to believe you can win. Serena has a solution against her. The fact there is also a mental thing against her is a plus.
‘Serena has the same against almost every player. She has it more against Maria because they have played each other many more times. But against Agnieszka radwanska, she is 8-0. She’s used to it. It’s not something special.’
The last meeting between Williams and Sharapova on grass, in the final of the London 2012 Olympics at Wimbledon, was the most one-sided of all their meetings. The American needed just 45 minutes to win 6-0, 6-1.
A year later at a feisty pre-Wimbledon press conference, Sharapova famously let rip at Williams by bringing up her romantic relationship with Mouratoglou — after Williams had made comments in a magazine interview about Sharapova’s relationship with Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov.
Asked yesterday about that row, Mouratoglou simply replied: ‘We have the opportunity to speak with our racket and the racket speaks much better. The racket speaks the truth.’
Despite their off- court issues, Mouratoglou insisted: ‘Throughout the years, Serena is dominating her but (Sharapova) is a multiple Grand Slam winner and deserves a lot of respect.’
Williams has curiously become more reluctant to discuss the possibility of a calendar Grand Slam as the 33-year- old edges closer to becoming the first player to achieve the feat in singles since Steffi Graf in 1988.
Mouratoglou said: ‘We don’t talk about it at all. You just focus on your matches, focus on your game, focus on what you want to produce on court and then the reward comes or not.
‘You focus on how you get to the next stage. The goal is to now go to the next stage, which is the final. And then if she is in the final the next goal is to win that. If you look too far ahead you might miss the next step and fall down the stairs. I think she has had a very difficult draw here. Now she is playing Sharapova and she is still not in the final.’
If Williams does it make it through to the Championship match she will face either radwanska or Garbine Muguruza, who contest today’s first semi-final. Much like her quarter-final against Madison Keys, radwanska will have to use all her court craft to outwit her powerful Spanish opponent.
experience could also prove a factor in the pair’s first meeting on grass. Pole radwanska, 26, is through to her third semi-final at Wimbledon, while 21-year- old Muguruza is playing in the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time.