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Maria Sharapova knocked out of Wimbledon by Angelique Kerber Maria Sharapova knocked out of Wimbledon by Angelique Kerber
(about 4 hours later)
Oh. I. Say. Now Maria Sharapova, the favourite, is gone, too. In a women’s competition distinguished by shock results – with incredulity only fractionally lessened by the fact that the exact thing happened last year – the Russian No5 seed was dramatically taken down by Angelique Kerber. After seven match points, the German No9 seed came through a rollicking fourth-round match, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. On a relentlessly odd day at Wimbledon, the women’s singles again proved they had a disarming, anarchic unpredictability. The first week saw defeats for Li Na and both Venus and Serena Williams; on Tuesday on Centre Court Maria Sharapova, the favourite elect, joined them in making a premature departure. The 27-year-old Russian, seeded No5, lost a gruelling three-set war to Angelique Kerber from Germany 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.
It’s anyone’s guess who will win the Wimbledon women’s title now but it will be a player whom no one suspected – and you may not have even heard of – just a week ago. According to the numbers, this was not a dramatic upset: after all, Kerber is the world No7 and a Wimbledon semi-finalist two years ago. But the 26-year-old German has never beaten a player of Sharapova’s standing on such a grand stage. And this victory demanded that she play that near-perfect, error-free tennis for more than two and a half hours. The fact that something very similar happened last year at Wimbledon only fractionally lessens the incredulity at another surprise result. Once more the women’s champion may well be a player whom no one suspected – and only serious tennis fans had even heard of – just a week ago.
It is easy to underestimate Kerber, who in the second round ground down Heather Watson. She has a simpering second serve and is primarily known for her defensive style. But on Centre Court on Tuesday, Sharapova must have felt as if her opponent was a wall. Kerber believes that every point should be cherished and she ran down every one of Sharapova’s brutal, pulverising ground strokes as if it was match point against her. According to the numbers, this was not such a dramatic upset: Kerber, after all, is the world No7 and a Wimbledon semi-finalist two years ago. But the 26-year-old has never beaten a player of Sharapova’s standing on such a grand stage. And this victory demanded that she play that near-perfect, error-free tennis for more than two-and-a-half hours.
Over three, long sets, Kerber made just 11 unforced mistakes, compared to 49 from the other side of the net. What is more revealing is that Sharapova actually played quite well. “It’s unbelievable,” Kerber said afterwards. “It was such a tough game, she’s such a great player. I was just fighting out there.” It took Kerber seven match points to seal victory and with each one that slipped away, the doubts crept in. Not least with Kerber herself: “You know, when I had three match points in a row and I didn’t make it, I was a little bit nervous,” she admitted. “But I told myself ‘You can do it. She will not make mistakes. If you want to win the match you need to be aggressive. Just go for it.’ I’m happy because I don’t think she lost the match; I won it. That feels good.”
All the recent talk has been of a revolution in women’s tennis. Neither the Williams sisters nor Li Na, the No2 seed, survived Wimbledon’s first week. The emergence of the 22-year-old Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard, 20, hinted that the momentum was with youth. Kerber’s win provides more evidence that the guard is changing and in the quarter-finals on Wednesday she will face Bouchard as the fascinating battle for ascendancy continues. It is easy to underestimate Kerber, who in the second round beat Heather Watson. She has a simpering second serve and is primarily known for her defensive impenetrability. On Tuesday, Sharapova must have felt like her opponent was a wall. Kerber plays like every point should be cherished and she ran down Sharapova’s brutal, pulverising groundstrokes as if each one was match point against her.
Over three long sets, Kerber made just 11 unforced mistakes, compared to 49 from the other side of the net. What’s more revealing is that Sharapova actually played quite well, hitting 57 winners. “She’s a great anticipator of the ball,” Sharapova said of Kerber. “She’s one of the best. Maybe she hasn’t had the best results this year, but she’s been in the top 10 for a while now. There’s a reason she does that. I don’t think she has a very huge weapon, but the fact that she makes you play such a physical match, gets so many balls back, and not just back, but deep and hard and flat. Yeah, it says something.”
Sharapova’s progress towards a second Wimbledon title, a decade after her first, was starting to feel ordained. Before Kerber, she had won each of her matches easily and the earlier defeat of Serena Williams – who has beaten her 16 times on the spin – made her path to the final far more straightforward.
Off court, Sharapova has been relaxed and confident enough to spend her spare time down at the Sugapova Candy Lounge, her pop-up store in Wimbledon Village. The shop itself is an oddity: it sells small bags of what were called penny sweets for £4. These “gummy candies” have names like Quirky, Cheeky, Silly and Flirty and last year the company shifted 1.3 million bags, with the expectation to double that in 2014.
The weird thing, of course, is that when she plays tennis Sharapova could not be any further from quirky, cheeky, silly or flirty. On court, she is intense and focused - her sweets should really be called “Grinding” or “Fistpump”, though she might not sell two million units of those.
Sharapova is also formidably combative, as shown by her refusal to accept defeat against Kerber. “She’s the best fighter, the best competitor we’ve ever seen in women’s sports,” said Lindsay Davenport as Sharapova saw off another match point.
It is to Kerber’s great credit that she saw the victory through. She is clearly resilient, efficient and gracious, with a pleasant habit of conspicuously applauding her opponent’s best shots. If she wasn’t already German, the country would have to offer her citizenship.
“It was such a tough game, she’s such a great player,” said Kerber, who might just be the best athlete on the women’s tour. “I was just fighting out there.”
Kerber faces another test with a quarter-final match against Eugenie Bouchard, the 20-year-old Canadian who many consider to be the most exciting prospect in the women’s game. Bouchard won when the pair met Roland Garros in May, but Kerber is trusting that grass will suit her better.
Sharapova, who won the French Open, beating Bouchard in the semi-finals, would not be drawn on who would win the next round. But she was reluctant to concede that her generation’s dominance was coming to an end. “The grand slam champions so far this year are myself and Li Na [in the Australian Open],” she said. “We are definitely seeing a younger generation that’s driving through, playing exceptionally against the top players. But as far as winning grand slams, I think that’s yet to be determined.”