It ain’t ‘ova ’til it’s ‘ova: Sharapova digs out of big deficit to win 1st match at Wimbledon

Sharapova overcomes early hole to win at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England — There was a time, not all that long ago, when Maria Sharapova wondered when she would be back at Grand Slam tournaments, let alone winning matches.

Surgery in October on her right shoulder — a fairly important part of a tennis player’s body — forced Sharapova off the tour for the better part of a year. She returned to singles action last month, and she struggled quite a bit Monday before reaching the second round at Wimbledon.

Sharapova lost four consecutive games at one point, was broken five times and generally seemed on the verge of losing control. The 2004 Wimbledon champion did manage to steady herself just enough to get past qualifier Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4.

“If someone told me four months ago that I’d be here playing Wimbledon, you know, I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised, but I would be really happy about the fact,” Sharapova said. “And I am happy to be here.”

While some women have already played 35 or even 45 singles matches in 2009, Sharapova is 11-3, having only started her season at a clay-court event in Poland in May. She then reached the quarterfinals at the French Open, and the semifinals at a grass-court event in preparation for coming to the All England Club.

Over the weekend, Sharapova played down her chances of a second Wimbledon championship — and fourth Grand Slam title overall — because of general rustiness. There were traces of that Monday against Kutuzova, who is ranked 79th and never advanced beyond the second round at a major tournament.

Sharapova trailed 4-1, then 5-3, in the first set. She double-faulted five times in that set alone. When she served for the match at 5-3 in the second, she was broken at love. She faced 10 break points in all.

As a precautionary warmup for her shoulder, Sharapova has taken to throwing around an American football to loosen the joint before practice sessions. And she has adjusted her service motion, something that she acknowledges is something of a work-in-progress.

How long will it take to get her serve up to speed?

“Definitely time; I don’t know how long. I don’t know how long till everything comes together,” she said. “That’s why I’m here. If I knew, maybe I wouldn’t be here. If I knew it wasn’t going to be at this tournament, maybe I’d be home just waiting till I knew when it would come.”

The match as a whole was tighter than the final score might indicate: Sharapova won only five more points than her opponent, 69-64. Footing seemed to be a bit of an issue for Sharapova, who tumbled to the grass behind the baseline once in each set, banging a knee each time.

Still, Sharapova figured she could take something positive out of the way she turned things around after the slow start.

“Look, I hung in there,” she said. “If she was able to continue at the level that she was playing in the first few games — where she was just swinging away, everything was deep and hard — sometimes it’s just too good. But, you know, I was able to give her a little bit of her own medicine.”

Sharapova used to be ranked No. 1. But all that time off the tour dropped her outside the top 100. She has climbed back to No. 60, and her past success at Wimbledon led the tournament to seed her 24th.

Pleased as she might be to be here, one victory this year at the All England Club is not exactly going to satisfy Sharapova.

So she’ll be on the practice courts soon enough, football in tow.

“There are definitely things I’m going to be working on the next day or so. But that’s always the case at every single tournament,” Sharapova said. “I mean, if you feel perfect, then there’s something wrong.”