Maria Sliding Down

MatsPhilander

MatsPhilander

Legend
Maria Sharapova will drop out of the world's top 50 after losing four matches in a row for only the second time in her career. The five-time Grand Slam champion, 31, was beaten 3-6 7-6 (7-6) 6-4 by French world number seven Caroline Garcia at the Stuttgart Open in Germany. The Russian spoke this week about her desire to win more major titles after returning from a 15-month doping ban. But she has not won a match since the Australian Open second round.

Sharapova beat Germany's Tatjana Maria and Latvian 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova at the year's opening Grand Slam in January, before losing to two-time Slam champion Angelique Kerber in the third round. She then lost to Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu in Qatar and Japan's Naomi Osaka in Indian Wells. Sharapova has not climbed back into the top 40 since returning from her ban in April 2017.
 
C

Chadillac

Guest
Say Chi Sin Lo said:
Winning sure ain't easy when she isn't on the good stuff.
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Its weird, she now plays long points and long matches after getting off a so called "ped". Her avg pt was like 1.7 strokes, now she is around 4-5

She is 31 and has been playing forever, the wta isnt as weak as the atp, they have depth of competition
 
achapa8807

achapa8807

Semi-Pro
Chadillac said:
Its weird, she now plays long points and long matches after getting off a so called "ped". Her avg pt was like 1.7 strokes, now she is around 4-5

She is 31 and has been playing forever, the wta isnt as weak as the atp, they have depth of competition
Click to expand...

She has been. I'd definitely say that the WTA has a lot more competition than it did years back when it was more predictable.
 
Alba Barragan

Alba Barragan

Professional
MatsPhilander said:
Think age & the extreme practice is catching up to her.
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I kinda agree with this. She's definitely getting older, which is tough, but I've also seen a lack of full commitment on her part until a couple of weeks ago. It's not that she dislikes playing tennis or something like that, but she said how well she spent her time during the ban, how much she enjoyed doing things outside of tennis, and it looks like she had more interesting things to do instead of focusing on this sport. She hasn't been seen dedicating much time to training in the last few months, which explains why, until very recently, it seemed she was coming unprepared for some tournaments.

Today's match was good, though. She lost, but she looks healthier and like she actually trained for this, so hopefully she's back on track.
 
Peters

Peters

Professional
She actually looked pretty good for much of the match today, and only lost narrowly to a top10 player who's on the up. Sure, she still has the same limitations she's always had, but her strengths are still there too.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her go deep at the FO.
 
Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
Peters said:
She actually looked pretty good for much of the match today, and only lost narrowly to a top10 player who's on the up. Sure, she still has the same limitations she's always had, but her strengths are still there too.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her go deep at the FO.
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Deep Six
 
Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
Rogerjohnson81 said:
You are the piece of garbage. Some sports body arbitrarily decides to ban medicine that had been perfectly fine for 15 years and then somehow she is labeled the bad girl when a month into the ban she tests positive for the same medicine she was using for 15 years. Cilic tested positive for a banned substance too and was suspended. Why not focus on him. Serena allegedly threatened to kill a lineswoman. I think she is more of a pice or garbage.
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Serena was shooting a live promo
 
C

Chadillac

Guest
Rogerjohnson81 said:
You are the piece of garbage. Some sports body arbitrarily decides to ban medicine that had been perfectly fine for 15 years and then somehow she is labeled the bad girl when a month into the ban she tests positive for the same medicine she was using for 15 years. Cilic tested positive for a banned substance too and was suspended. Why not focus on him. Serena allegedly threatened to kill a lineswoman. I think she is more of a pice or garbage.
Click to expand...

Serena has 17 known tue's. Yet nothing from the "keep tennis clean" crowd.
 
AM75

AM75

Hall of Fame
Chadillac said:
Its weird, she now plays long points and long matches after getting off a so called "ped". Her avg pt was like 1.7 strokes, now she is around 4-5

She is 31 and has been playing forever, the wta isnt as weak as the atp, they have depth of competition
Click to expand...

Have you seen today's match? There were almost no long points there. And the number of aces she served was insane (along with double faults, but still...)
 
ChaelAZ

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
MatsPhilander said:
Maria Sharapova will drop out of the world's top 50 after losing four matches in a row for only the second time in her career.
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She should never had had a ranking after the PED issue. They should have let her grind back through the lower ranked tourneys and prove she deserved to be there again. Money and advertisers tried to push that and keep her up there as a golden child.
 
West Coast Ace

West Coast Ace

G.O.A.T.
Chadillac said:
Its weird, she now plays long points and long matches after getting off a so called "ped". Her avg pt was like 1.7 strokes, now she is around 4-5

She is 31 and has been playing forever, the wta isnt as weak as the atp, they have depth of competition
Click to expand...
Agree w most of that.

Not sure about the depth. More like parity because (Now that Serena is pretty much done/uninterested) anyone can beat anyone because anyone can choke when trying to serve out the match.

If you like watching Russian Crash vids on YouTube the WTA is for you.
 
Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
She didn't have a ranking after being banned for being Russian.
ChaelAZ said:
She should never had had a ranking after the PED issue. They should have let her grind back through the lower ranked tourneys and prove she deserved to be there again. Money and advertisers tried to push that and keep her up there as a golden child.
Click to expand...
 
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Deon Sanders

Deon Sanders

Legend
Chadillac said:
For taking something that has no scientific evidence? How do you feel about players who wada allows to take proven PED's?
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We have evidence

She cant play tennis on a high level without her performance enhancing drugs

Maria the Cheata proving only a lifetime ban was sufficient for her underhand ways
 
Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
WADA did not claim that Meldonium was either performance enhancing or injurious to the health of the athletes.

It only claimed without argument or evidence that it was against the spirit of the game.

This followed USADA lobbying for a ban on Meldonium in line with general policy to target Russia and Russians.

Deon Sanders said:
We have evidence

She cant play tennis on a high level without her performance enhancing drugs

Maria the Cheata proving only a lifetime ban was sufficient for her underhand ways
Click to expand...
 
Deon Sanders

Deon Sanders

Legend
Bartelby said:
WADA did not claim that Meldonium was either performance enhancing or injurious to the health of the athletes.

It only claimed without argument or evidence that it was against the spirit of the game.

This followed USADA lobbying for a ban on Meldonium in line with general policy to target Russia and Russians.
Click to expand...

Good thing Maria doesnt need her performance enhancing drugs she was banned for because she is a cheater

She will surely respond and be back in the top 5 right away

O wait. She cant perform without those enhancers

Go figure... those evil people were 100% right again
 
Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
There is no causal connection that you can establish. You are just running on Russophobic prejudice.
Deon Sanders said:
Good thing Maria doesnt need her performance enhancing drugs she was banned for because she is a cheater

She will surely respond and be back in the top 5 right away

O wait. She cant perform without those enhancers

Go figure... those evil people were 100% right again
Click to expand...
 
I

insideguy

G.O.A.T.
I kinda don't think someone male, female or whatever should be getting Wildcards after being banned for doping. But it aint the players fault for taking them. Agree with one of the posters above. Why not play Turkey open to maybe get some matches in.
 
Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
Refusing a wildcard for a player coming back from a ban would constitute an administrative punishment outside the quasi-legal framework which is supposed to determine punishment.

In some legal systems, administrative forms of punishment can be considered illegal as it is considered the sole prerogative of the judiciary to decide sentence.

In this instance, a fifteen month ban was considered adequate and not fifteen months plus whatever else you can throw at her once she is back.
 
A

Adi1987

Rookie
Chadillac said:
Serena has 17 known tue's. Yet nothing from the "keep tennis clean" crowd.
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Maria Sharapova is a doper . no amount of your mental gymnastics will hide the truth.

Maria like every other athlete was asked to disclose every supplement she took . She puposefully evaded telling WADA about her Meldonium intake because they would have redflagged it a long time ago. They would have asked her why she too 6 to 10 pills before a big match . She was given afequate warning about her use of meldonoum months in advance of her ban. She stated she never read her emails . very convienient. Also she has lived her whole life in the USA why did she continue to use a soviet supplement ? Why did no one in her entourage know about her heart and diabetic condition. How come she never had an indulin shot for her diabetic condition ? How come all rusdian athelets used this placebo ? Were they all suffering from diabetes and heart condition ?

The only reason why we know Serena took the TUE was that the Russian hackers illegally hacked WADA website to deflect from their own humiliation of a state sponsored doping program. The reason we know about serena tue is because she followed the rules and her medication was approved by wada doctors.

By the way good job trying to bring up serena in a maria thread. We all know maria is irrelevant without serena
 
MatsPhilander

MatsPhilander

Legend
Adi1987 said:
Maria Sharapova is a doper . no amount of your mental gymnastics will hide the truth.

Maria like every other athlete was asked to disclose every supplement she took . She puposefully evaded telling WADA about her Meldonium intake because they would have redflagged it a long time ago. They would have asked her why she too 6 to 10 pills before a big match . She was given afequate warning about her use of meldonoum months in advance of her ban. She stated she never read her emails . very convienient. Also she has lived her whole life in the USA why did she continue to use a soviet supplement ? Why did no one in her entourage know about her heart and diabetic condition. How come she never had an indulin shot for her diabetic condition ? How come all rusdian athelets used this placebo ? Were they all suffering from diabetes and heart condition ?

The only reason why we know Serena took the TUE was that the Russian hackers illegally hacked WADA website to deflect from their own humiliation of a state sponsored doping program. The reason we know about serena tue is because she followed the rules and her medication was approved by wada doctors.

By the way good job trying to bring up serena in a maria thread. We all know maria is irrelevant without serena
Click to expand...

So is Errani, yet she was welcomed back by her peers & there has been zero outrage here or by the general public-the only explanation is she is more popular with the players & being Italian doesn't carry the stigma of being Russian. So basically it is a popularity contest as to who is decreed a cheat that should be banned for life.
 
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MatsPhilander

MatsPhilander

Legend
Say Chi Sin Lo said:
Extreme practice... yeah sure. Still can't volley worth a damn, still can't serve worth a damn, still moves like an ogre, haven't changed her game due to personal limitation and new players coming through the tour, but definitely gone through "extreme practice".
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She makes the most of what she has-90% of her success has been mentality & hard work, where others are out boozing & posting pics on social media she is on a court practicing. Where others give up mentally when their back is against the wall, or even before a match begins due to their opponents reputation she keeps fighting. Why do you think Bouchard did so well initially? She had an incredible work ethic from childhood like Maria & never gave up, then the sponsors, modelling & selfies took over & we have seen the results.
 
MatsPhilander

MatsPhilander

Legend
Alba Barragan said:
I kinda agree with this. She's definitely getting older, which is tough, but I've also seen a lack of full commitment on her part until a couple of weeks ago. It's not that she dislikes playing tennis or something like that, but she said how well she spent her time during the ban, how much she enjoyed doing things outside of tennis, and it looks like she had more interesting things to do instead of focusing on this sport. She hasn't been seen dedicating much time to training in the last few months, which explains why, until very recently, it seemed she was coming unprepared for some tournaments.

Today's match was good, though. She lost, but she looks healthier and like she actually trained for this, so hopefully she's back on track.
Click to expand...

Yep, at some point like Bouchard they realise they missed out a lot on their childhood/teen years & start compensating late. For Maria most likely also she will want children at some point soon as the clock is ticking on that as well.
 
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