Maria Sharapova on Late Night With Jimmy Kimmel (click to enlarge)
It’s been a very good year for Maria Sharapova. She won Roland Garros to complete the Career Grand Slam. She briefly ascended back to world number 1. She was the first woman to be flag bearer for Russia at the Summer Olympics, winning a silver medal in women’s singles. And yet, she is still so young and has a lot more she can accomplish. Having won Wimbledon at 17, it seems the 25 year old Masha has already had a full career. One thing I am sure she’d like to improve upon is her performance last year at the US Open, when she crashed out of the tournament in the 3rd round. She’s also coming off a 4th round exit at Wimbledon this year.
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I think Masha has as good a chance as anybody to win in Flushing Meadow. The 2006 champion reached the final of the other hard court Major this year, the Australian Open. Obviously players like Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova and a few others will have a lot to say about that. The battle for Player of the Year is wide open. Three Majors this year and three different winners. Not only that, but the three winners of those Majors, Azarenka, Serena and Masha, are arguably the top three players on tour regardless of what the computer rankings say.
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Masha has also been busy with her Sugarpova launch, which I covered in another post. She also dazzled in a red Valentino dress at the Hampton Magazine party. The pics in this post with the black dress are from Jimmy Fallon’s show. She also did her part for the Strong Is Beautiful campaign. It’s terrific that she’s back hovering around the top of the rankings, winning titles. The WTA, or any sports organization, is better when the stars are shining brightly.
ALL PICS CLICK TO ENLARGE
with Debra Halpert
Samantha Yanks
with Carolina Bermudez and Lisa Kearney
with Hank and Brandon Fried
Fairways and Forehands 