It doesn't qualify for the Britney Spears Award for short marriages; eternal bliss for Jason Alexander and her lasted just 55 hours. In fact, it doesn't even qualify as a marriage. Still, the 34 days it took Maria Sharapova to hire, then fire tennis legend Jimmy Connors, as her coach, count as a bizarre union-and-dissolution for the high-profile, luxury-brand sponsored tennis star:
- Maria Sharapova likes Jimmy Connors' fiery personality
- Sharapove fires Jimmy Connors
- Maria Sharapova-Jimmy Connors Pairing Quickly Goes Way of Hollywood Marriage
Sharapova has had a rough summer with her tennis, and there is still a month left for things to get worse, I suppose. In Wimbledon, for example, she exited in the second round, in a stunning defeat to Michelle Larcher de Brito, who was ranked 131st versus Sharapova's 3rd. She couldn't seem to keep her footing, as she fell three times in that match. Soon thereafter, she dispensed with coach Thomas Hogstedt, and a two-and-a-half year partnership was hasta-la-bye-bye.
Then, it was another head-shaking, second-round loss to Sloane Stephens, at the Western & Southern Open last week. She was perfectly in control of the match - winning the first set 6-2, and up 2-0 in the second set. Then, apparently, it was a process of unraveling for Sharapova. All this, while Connors sat courtside.
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| Jimmy Connors, in the stands, watching his short-lived protégé, Maria Sharapova |
Today, it was a final straw for tennis fans, as Sharapova withdrew from the upcoming US Open. She hadn't had much real playing time, in the lead-up to this major tournament, and apparently it was due to a right shoulder injury. She had surgery on that shoulder in late 2008. She clawed her way back to the tennis elite, highlighted by a French Open victory in 2012. This completed her Grand Slam, adding to her victories in Wimbledon (2004), US Open (2006) and Australian Open (2008). A remarkable feat, indeed.
On ESPN, Kate Fagan and Alyssa Roenigk spoke to Prim Siripipat about her nagging shoulder injury and the overall 14-year wear-and-tear on Sharapova. She's just 27 years old, but athletic longevity is not long at all by layperson standards. The strain on their mind and body is unlike anything many of us will ever have to endure.
Moreover, injury is such a quandary for the most competitive of athletes. They want to recover quickly, and get back into the fray of the game. When is competitive too competitive, I asked on my Twitter stream the other day. They may push so much to recover and return, that the injury never fully heals. The body naturally compensates for the nagging injury, but this sometimes leads to another injury (cf. Albert Pujols). So maybe something like this was a play, when Sharapova stumbled repeatedly at Wimbledon, hurting her hip in the process.
Fagan noted that Sharapova has so much going on in her life outside tennis, especially with her many sponsorship campaigns, media appearances, and business projects. So does she really have the fire in the belly to keep competing, in the midst of all of these commitments? In addition, does she have the necessary patience and wisdom to ease up, for however long she needs to, so in fact her body can recover sufficiently and strengthen itself again?
This is what Sharapova said on her Facebook page last night:
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that withdrawing from the US Open has been a really tough decision to make. I have done everything I could since Wimbledon to get myself ready but it just wasn't enough time. I have done many tests, received several opinions and it all comes down to taking the proper amount of time to heal my shoulder injury properly. It's certainly not an easy decision to make ahead of one of my favorite tournaments, but I know it's the right one that will get me back on the courts soon. I plan on taking the next few weeks off, receiving proper treatment and rehabilitation. I will miss being part of the US Open, but can't wait for next year!
There is truth to the ESPN headline - Maria Sharapova in Disarray. In the US, we call something that's inevitable as "the writing on the wall." No doubt, then, the writing was on the wall throughout the summer, as she began the season with an inauspicious loss at Wimbledon. This withdrawal from the US Open was perhaps Sharapova finally heeding that message. That's a good thing. She needs a break from competition, take stock of her physical and mental game, and shore up her to-dos going forward. As Fagan suggested, she could use a few weeks of lying around on the beach.
Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!
Ron Villejo, PhD
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