The Great Blonde Face-Off has come and gone. Eugenie Bouchard vs Maria Sharapova turned out to be a great woulda coulda shoulda. The WTA establishment wants fans to accept Eugenie as the new blonde super star, something that must gall Maria Sharapova. Even I kind of went for the okey-doke and thought there would be a battle for the ages. Instead we got another chapter in the myth that has been created around Maria Sharapova.
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There is no need to go into detail. I'm sure most of the people who read this blog saw the match and know that Bouchard showed that she is not quite ready for prime time. She went away when she needed to step up. When she needed to impose herself she got frustrated and began to try too hard. Will she be able to seize the crown soon? Short answer is no. The one who is ready is named Simona Halep. She's the one who will be on the other side of the net tomorrow morning US time. Not Sloane Stephens. Not Eugenie Bouchard. Not Sara Errani (thank the gods). Sloane is not going to be anything more than a footnote in tennis history if she continues on the path she's on. But she gets more hype than Simona Halep. Why? Is it because she's not a bottle blonde? Is it because she's not tall? Is it because she's never trained in the United States? Is it because she speaks English with an accent? She's totally understandable but I don't think that's enough for the WTA who prefers it's stars tall and blonde.
AP/Darko Voijinovic
I have no idea who will win. I do know that Halep is not going to be intimidated. Pova's record against her is 3-0. But I think all bets are off tomorrow. I think we may see the match we thought we were going to get when Pova played Bouchard.
By this time tomorrow we'll know.
2 comments:
Great post. I so wished Simona pulled it off, as she's a complete player. But MaShriker Sharadiabetes prevailed. She can't serve, she can't play net, and she's from the Bollettieri school of intentional noise hindrance. But that combination (and her height) won the day.
LOL your comments are right on. It's why I mentioned the "myth" of Sharapova. When you watch her play especially with the sound off (it's less distracting) you wonder what the hype is about. I'm not saying she's not a good player but great is stretching it. But she has won Slams, something the majority of players on the tour never do.
I can't imagine being across the net with her constant screaming. And lets not get into the celebrating opponents mistakes.
She'll be top four again which means she'll get even softer draws.
Does she want to win? Is she motivated? There was no way she wasn't going to do everything she could to win the FO with no Serena in her path. Are Serena, and Vika, the only ones who don't go for the okey-doke?
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