Dr. Andrew Broad
Tennis
Maria Sharapova
Biography

Maria Sharapova is a tweenage tennis-phenomenon with the potential to be the best player in the world, as she continues to improve an already brilliant game. Her on-court presence is reminiscent of my all-time favourite player Monica Seles, with her powerful, early groundstrokes, her extreme on-court intensity, passion, focus, determination and fearlessness, and yes - her grunting! ;-) At her best, she gets in a zone where the ball seems to come to her in slow motion, enabling her to hit winners at will. Off court, she is one of the most charming and charismatic ladies I've had the pleasure to watch. She is, quite simply, the best thing to happen to tennis since Monica Seles.

I first saw Maria play at Wimbledon 2003. The BBC televised some of her second-round thrashing of Elena Bovina. I was impressed by her shotmaking, and she just had a presence about her that made me feel I was looking at the seventh player I would induct into my Eternal Fanship.
����������� Then I saw her match with Jelena Dokic in full. I've been a fan of Jelena since Wimbledon 1999, but this was a mouthwatering match of flairsome groundstrokes and brilliant winners from both girls and especially Maria. I didn't mind Jelena losing to Maria because Maria showed herself to be a brilliant player who went for her shots and hit clean winners all over the court, just like Jelena. That was when I inducted Maria into my Eternal Fanship.

Maria's groundstrokes are powerful and heavy - similar to Lindsay Davenport's, but much sharper and more flairsome as her power comes from natural timing rather than muscle, her soft hands whipping the racket through the ball at the point of impact. Her shot-production is excellent, her technique having been honed by such experts as Robert Lansdorp and Nick Bollettieri. Like the vast majority of players these days, she has a one-handed forehand and a two-handed backhand. She hits many brilliant winners, beautiful angles, always tends to go for the lines, and her crosscourt backhand is outstanding.

Maria's forehand is her weaker side, although it did seem to have improved by the US Open 2006. She uses a semi-Western grip with a relatively long take-back and a late contact-point. She uses her right arm a lot rather than rotating her hips and shoulders, and often goes up the back of the ball with the follow-through over her right shoulder rather than across her body - what is known in the trade as a lasso-forehand or a buggy-whip forehand. And since she's always falling to the left, off-balance, her forehand is the side that is more liable to break down.

Maria takes the ball on the rise, which means that her opponents are constantly off-balance. At the same time, she has a lovely delay on her groundstrokes, just waiting for a split second until her opponent commits herself to covering one of Maria's possible shots, so that Maria can select the shot that her opponent has not anticipated.

At 6'2" tall, Maria has a huge serve. I objectively believe that she has the best serve in women's tennis (with the possible exception of Nicole Vaidi�ov�) - not just the speed, but the placement, the variety, and the loveliest service-action in all of tennis. Because she can serve well either down the middle, or drag her opponent outside the tramlines with a wide-angled serve, the receiver has a huge width to cover. Even when I first saw Maria play (at the age of sixteen), she had a terrific serve. And now, her service-action is so routined that she seems able to repeat it over and over again, in slow motion, with the precision of a machine.
����������� That said, Maria's service-action was observed at Wimbledon 2008 to have gone faulty: she was hitting the ball behind her, facing the side-stands but not uncoiling into her serve. No doubt this was due to the right-shoulder injury from which she was suffering.

Maria also has some of the deadliest returns of serve in the game, eating up first and second serves! She likes to hit the off-backhand return, which is a very low-percentage shot for most players, so it often catches her opponents by surprise!

Tall players often don't have the best mobility, but this cannot be said of Maria. Movement has a lot to do with attitude, and Maria is a very hungry player. Her will to win is such that she would run barefoot over broken glass to reach a shot, and this hunger is also reflected in her on-court intensity: the fist-pumping, the thigh-slapping, the shouts of "come on!" and the grunting. Even when she's playing badly, the strength of her will is usually enough to pull her to victory as she always makes the balls in the clutch-situations. She genuinely craves success on a tennis-court (rather than fame or money), and she wants it now.

I wrote most of the above paragraph in 2003, and Maria's movement improved immensely in 2006. Her footwork sometimes used to let her down, but now it is exceptional, with lots of mini-steps around the ball - particularly as she prepares to hit a forehand.

Maria plays without fear, and has a sixth sense for competition. She's not the type of person to choke when things start going wrong - she has shown amazing mental toughness and self-belief so far in her career (although she has been known to panic just occasionally - most notably against Dinara Safina at the French Opens of 2006 and 2008 - and there have been plenty of occasions when she has been broken when serving for a set). She takes her time between points, walking towards the back fence, clearing her mind of any negative thoughts before she plays the next point. She is so good at putting bad points behind her, and still trusting shots that have just let her down. As Tracy Austin said when Maria was about to serve for her Wimbledon 2004 title, she's tough enough to melt nails! Whether she will be able to maintain this fearlessness as her career progresses, when the pressure will be on and she'll have much more to lose, only time will tell (four years after I wrote that sentence, it's still looking good).

Maria plays the key points so well, and fights for every game, so her opponent can never be comfortable in a game - even when serving at 40/0. But this applies to Maria's service-games in particular - she has a man's attitude to holding serve (in contrast to her feminine image!), and is better than any other woman at saving break-points. She is mistress of the decisive moments.

Maria has a champion's response when threatened: something seems to kick in very quickly with her, as though she has access to an instant shot of adrenaline - I call this the Sharapova-overdrive. She has an amazing ability to "step it up", particularly when taken to a third set (she has won 72% of third sets in her career up to the end of 2008). And although semi-finals are her unlucky round, she had an amazing record of 15:4 in WTA singles-finals up to the end of 2006, and it's still pretty impressive at 19:7 up to the end of 2008.

Although her detractors accuse her of being one-dimensional, Maria is also an intelligent tactician, able to adapt her game to different styles of opponent, and to work out a rally as it unfolds, regardless of what her game-plan going into the match might be. And Maria had this combination of power and brain-power when she was ten years old. "When I was younger, I always liked tennis because it was such a cat-and-mouse game. There are ways to trick your opponent."
����������� In the latter stages of Wimbledon 2004 (quarter-final and semi-final), you could see her learning from her tactical mistakes as the match progressed, when other young players would have lost the match and only learned from the experience later, with the aid of their coaches.

Maria has a lot more variety than her detractors give her credit for. While it's true that she hasn't added a lot of spins to her game, she varies her line of attack so well, and varies her tactics with lobs, serve & volley, dropshots and stop-volleys. In 2006, she had added more variety to her serve and backhand, and was more willing to come to the net than in the past. Ironically, she volleys more on clay than on grass, as it helps her to cut down the long, gruelling rallies as the clay takes the sting out of her groundstrokes. When she won the Australian Open 2008, her net-play was much improved. And instead of going for broke all the time, she now mixes up her game with some shorter angles and higher balls. She's much better on the defensive than she was in the past.

Her former coach Robert Lansdorp said, in 2002, "This teenager is just raw talent. Maria is an amazing player. She has no fear. She goes for every shot; she almost plays from instinct. She came from a background of adversity, and that is what drives her."
����������� Maria is indeed a very instinctive player, as she admitted after winning Wimbledon 2004. For example, she might be chasing down a volley to her backhand, and she'll know instinctively whether to attempt a passing-shot down the line, crosscourt, a lob, or even a left-handed forehand! (Maria is actually ambidextrous - she was taught to play right-handed so that she can use the strength of her left hand on her two-handed backhand).
����������� On winning the Whirlpool 6th sense Player of the Year award for 2006, Maria said: "The significance of intuition in my game is that I try to anticipate my opponent so I can react faster and with greater precision. As the game gets faster and the competition stronger, intuition becomes even more important."

Maria's biggest weakness - relative to the other top players - is a lack of physical strength and fitness, although these are improving. Her slender body limits the number of matches she can play in a short period of time without becoming fatigued. When she was younger, her legs grew at such a rate that she suffered Osgood-Slatter disease: her knees hurt and she couldn't do running-drills. At Wimbledon 2005, she said: "I'm a tall girl, and grew quickly in a short space of time, so in a way, I'm catching up with myself. Sometimes I feel my arm is like a swan's neck - so weak."
����������� Women's tennis is much more physically demanding than it was in the 1990s, but Maria clearly has a lot of work to do on her physical stamina, especially as she plays the game with such intensity. I'm not saying she should stop her grunting, fist-pumps and "c'mon"s, but they do use up energy!

Maria can be impatient in rallies; the players against whom she struggles tend to be those who get a lot of balls back, and she is more effective on a fast surface such as grass than on clay or on a slow hardcourt - although she certainly mastered hardcourts in 2006! She has been known to panic when a match turns against her. Being long-limbed, she likes swinging-room, so she sometimes struggles with balls down the middle of the court. Moving to the forehand is another little weakness in Maria's game. She should also play at the net more to finish rallies against the retrievers. Well, in 2006 she was coming in more, but was sometimes let down by poor volleys.

Grass is Maria's best surface, because it rewards her big serve, and makes her flat groundstrokes skid through against her opponent. Her power has more pay-off than on slower surfaces - when she hits the ball well on grass, it stays hit! Her worst surface is clay - particularly on a cold, wet day, which makes the balls slow and heavy (as opposed to a sunny day, which makes the balls fly faster through the air).

She also struggles in windy conditions, since her game is based on precision rather than brute power - although in 2006, she was certainly able to hit through the wind well enough to win Indian Wells and the US Open!

Maria does her best to prevent injuries, doing 45 minutes of physiotherapy after each match; she also does Yoga, which makes her very aware of how to prevent injuries and get stronger. Unfortunately she is subject to a right shoulder-injury that can recur at any time, not allowing her to hit big serves or forehands (it has been suggested that Maria's buggy-whip forehand may be to blame for this injury). This injury first surfaced at Z�rich 2004 (when it was misdiagnosed as a pectoral-muscle strain), was a persistent problem throughout 2007, and ruined the second half of the 2008 season for her after she re-injured it in March (that injury was finally diagnosed in August as a moderate tear in her rotator-cuff tendon, which is expected to require five months to heal, seeing as Maria is planning her comeback for January 2009).
����������� After pulling out of Miami 2008, Maria said: "There are good things and bad things to having a loose shoulder. I'm very flexible and my joints are very loose. In a way, that's very good because your body is not tight, but on the other hand, you're very loose and more prone to getting injured."

As I update this at the end of 2008, Maria has won three Major titles so far: Wimbledon 2004, the US Open 2006 and the Australian Open 2008. She also won the season-ending WTA Tour Championships in 2004, and has won 19 WTA singles-titles altogether: her first at the Tokyo Japan Open in October 2003, and her latest at Amelia Island 2008. She became world #1 for the first time on 22nd August 2005, holding that position for seven non-consecutive weeks, regaining it on 29th January 2007 for seven more weeks, and again on 19th May 2008 for three more weeks (giving her a career-total of 17 weeks at #1), but her best year-end ranking has been #2 (at the end of 2006).
����������� She has also won three WTA doubles-titles, although nowadays she avoids playing doubles to save herself for singles - she hasn't played doubles on the WTA Tour at all since Birmingham 2005, where she and Maria Kirilenko were the defending champions. It might be an idea to play a few doubles-only tournaments in order to improve Maria's volleys - and it would be so cool to reprise the Super Maria Sisters as a doubles-team! :-)

Maria's list of victims includes Major champions Serena Williams, Justine Henin, Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Pierce, Am�lie Mauresmo, Ana Ivanovic, Kim Clijsters, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Myskina, as well as Jelena Jankovic, who finished 2008 as world #1 without having won a Major. And she was easily the best teenager of the '00s: until she was beaten by Ivanovic in 2007, Maria had never lost a professional singles-match to a player younger than herself!

I'd had a hunch about Maria since Trans World Sport televised a documentary about her in spring 2002. She has great determination, is not overawed by the top players, is charming in interviews, and is a very pretty and attractive girl to boot. ;-) Her physical appeal transcends the sum of her body-parts - which include long, smooth legs, sexily-contoured shoulders, honey-blonde hair and beautiful hazel-green eyes. Above all, she just has a majestic and magnetic presence.

I find Maria's interviews entertaining and refreshing, because she always asserts her own personality, and gives her own unique views rather than answering the usual questions with the same old clich�s with which most players answer them. She mixes mature answers with lighthearted ones. Although English is not her mother-tongue, she is impressively fluent and articulate.

Maria may be the world's highest-paid female athlete - the vast majority of her income coming from endorsements rather than prize-money - but to those who hate her for this, I would draw attention to the following quote from her US Open 2006 third-round press-conference: "You know, one of the greatest things about being an athlete and making money is realising that you can help, you know, help the world, and especially children, who I absolutely love working with." In January 2005, she donated tens of thousands of dollars to victims of the tsunami and of the Beslan school hostage-crisis. And in February 2007, she became a goodwill ambassador for UNDP, focusing on projects to support victims of the 1986 Chernobyl-disaster, from which she herself was lucky to escape as an unborn child.

Maria is a phenomenal talent, and she's only going to get better. I don't know for how many more years I can leave this paragraph in here, but right now, I can't think of any tennis-player with a brighter future. Barring unforeseen misfortunes such as injuries, it looks like Maria has an absolutely stellar career ahead of her! Although sadly for us, she plans to finish her career at the London 2012 Olympics, when she will only be 25 (she said this in 2007, and I'm not sure how seriously she meant it, but when Justine Henin retired in 2008, Maria said she'd retire too if she were 25 and had won seven Majors).

Maria was born in Nyagan (in the Siberian region of Russia) on 19th April 1987. Yuri Sharapov is her father and primary coach, and her mother's name is Yelena (Maria has no brothers or sisters, but she has a cousin called Daria Sharapova, who was born on 6th June 1995 and currently plays junior-tennis). They are not pushy parents, for Maria is exceptionally self-motivated, although her father has upset some people - particularly other Russian players - with his disruptive courtside behaviour, and has often been accused of illegally coaching Maria during her matches. But his commitment to Maria's career has been phenomenal.

At the end of April, fourteen-year-old Maria played an ITF challenger at Bradenton (same city as the Bollettieri academy), her first-ever tournament counting towards the WTA rankings (you need three such tournaments in 52 weeks to have a ranking, and Maria only played one in 2001). Entering the main draw on a wild card, she lost to qualifier Karin Miller 6-7 6-4 6-4.

In July, Maria won a junior-tournament at Ex Pilsen, Czech Republic, beating Aurelia Miseviciute 6-1 6-1 in the final.

In October, Maria won the Chanda Rubin International junior-tournament in California. She beat Karina Porushkevich 6-0 6-0, Gao Quan 6-4 6-1, Dianne Matias 6-1 6-2, Preethi Mukundan 6-2 7-6, and Yue Qing 6-2 6-0 in the final.

In November, Maria won the Chanda Rubin American ITF Circuit junior-tournament in South Carolina, beating Michelle Mitchell 6-0 6-1, Jessica Kirkland 7-5 6-0, Alexandra M�ller 6-0 6-2, Alexandra Hirsch 6-0 6-0, and Alexandria Liles 6-2 6-3 in the final.

Mixing junior-tennis with six ITF challengers and the first two WTA tournaments of her career, Maria had an amazing growth-spurt, shooting up from 5ft 3in in March 2001 to 5ft 9in in March 2002.

In January, Maria became the youngest-ever girls' singles finalist at the Australian Open at the age of fourteen years and nine months. She beat Jamea Jackson 6-3 6-1, fifth seed Myriam Casanova 6-2 7-6, Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-1, Elke Clijsters 6-4 6-2, and ninth-seeded Selesian player Su-Wei Hsieh 7-6 2-6 6-3 in the semi-finals. In the final, she lost 6-0 7-5 to seventh seed Barbora Strycov�.

Maria played her second ITF challenger at Columbus in February, beating Teryn Ashley 7-5 1-6 7-5 in the first round, and losing to third seed Michaela Pastikov� 6-4 6-1 in the second round.

Maria played her first-ever WTA tournament at Indian Wells, and it was an amazing experience for the fourteen-year-old wild card (and she entered the WTA rankings for the first time at #532). In the first round she beat Brie Rippner 5-7 6-1 6-2 to set up a mouthwatering second-round match with the almighty Monica Seles! Monica contributed a 59-minute lesson to Maria's tennis-education, beating her 6-0 6-2.
����������� Monica: "For her age she's just great. She goes for her shots and hits strong from both sides."
����������� Maria: "Today I learned there is a big difference between a junior and a pro... a big difference."

Also in March, Maria won the Target Cup junior-tournament at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. She beat Tatiana Golovin 7-5 6-3, second seed Ashley Harkleroad 6-1 6-4, and top seed Gisela Dulko 7-6 6-7 7-5 in the final (Maria served for the match at 7-6 5-2, Dulko staged a superb recovery, but Maria was unpeturbed).

Shortly after her fifteenth birthday in April, Maria won her first senior title at the Gunma challenger without dropping a set. She beat Tomoko Taira 6-1 6-1, Nana Wada 6-1 6-2, third seed Yumiko Kitamura 6-2 7-5, second seed Satomi Kinjo 6-1 6-1, and Aiko Nakamura 6-4 6-1 in the final.

In July, Maria reached her second girls' singles Major final at Wimbledon, beating Jarmila Gajdosov� 3-6 6-3 6-3, Katie O'Brien 6-1 6-1, Silvana Bauer 7-5 6-3, Cory Ann Avants 6-0 6-2, and Maria Kirilenko 6-0 3-6 6-3 in the semi-finals. Sadly she lost to fellow Russian fifteen-year-old Vera Douchevina (Dushevina) 4-6 6-1 6-2 in the final.

Maria won her second ITF challenger at Vancouver in August, beating Nicole Sewell 6-1 6-0, fourth seed Melanie Marois 6-1 6-1, Lauren Kalvaria 6-2 6-0, fifth seed Renata Kolbovic 7-5 7-5, and top seed Laura Granville 0-6 6-3 6-1 in the final.

Maria won her third ITF challenger at Peachtree City in September, beating third seed Catalina Castano 6-0 6-0, Shenay Perry 6-3 7-5, Alyssa Cohen 6-3 6-2, ninth seed Tiffany Dabek 7-6 6-4, and Kelly McCain 6-0 6-1 in the final.

Maria played her second WTA tournament at the Tokyo Japan Open, and nearly upset fourth seed Emmanuelle Gagliardi in the first round before losing 2-6 7-6 6-4.

Maria was runner-up at the Frisco challenger, beating Caitlin Collins 6-1 6-1, fourth seed Lindsay Lee-Waters 6-2 6-1, sixth seed Christina Wheeler 6-3 7-5, and second seed Mashona Washington 6-4 2-6 6-3 in the semi-finals. But she lost the final to Tara Snyder 1-6 6-4 6-3.

Maria was also runner-up at the Pittsburgh challenger, beating some bigger names en route to the final: she won three matches to qualify, then beat Elena Tatarkova 6-3 7-6, top-seeded Amy Frazier 4-6 6-3 6-4, eighth seed Mashona Washington 6-2 2-6 7-5, and Ashley Harkleroad 7-6 4-6 6-4. She was beaten 7-6 6-2 in the final by the gorgeous Maria Elena Camerin. She finished the year ranked #186.

This was the year that Maria truly arrived on the WTA Tour, leaving junior-tennis and the ITF Futures circuit well behind her. In fact there are essentially two sides to Maria's career: before Birmingham 2003 and after.

The first five months were basically an extension of 2002, minus the junior-tournaments. Maria started the year at the Hong Kong Challenge, an eight-player exhibition-tournament. She scored an impressive 6-3 6-0 win over Magdalena Maleeva to reach the semi-finals to set up a repeat of her mouthwatering Indian Wells 2002 match with Monica Seles. This time Monica beat her 6-3 6-0.

Maria successfully qualified for the Australian Open, her first senior Major tournament. She beat Renata Voracov� 6-3 7-5, Maria Goloviznina 6-3 6-2 and Alena Vaskov� 6-1 6-2. In the first round of the main draw, she had only fellow qualifier Kl�ra Koukalov� standing between her and a third meeting with Monica in the second round. But Koukalov� beat Maria 6-4 7-6, then upset Monica! :-(

It was the first of five consecutive first-round defeats for Maria. She lost to Shenay Perry at the Midland challenger, to Samantha Reeves at Indian Wells, and to Els Callens at Miami. She won two matches to qualify for Charleston, but lost to Maja Matevzic in the first round of the main draw.

Maria said goodbye to the ITF circuit by winning the Sea Island challenger in May. She beat Julie Ditty 6-2 6-2, Petra Rampre 6-3 6-2 and Kristina Brandi 2-6 7-5 6-2 to set up an intriguing semi-final clash with her compatriot Anna Kournikova, with whom she is often compared. But Kournikova pulled out before the match with an abductor-injury which was to keep her off the tour for the rest of 2003. Maria beat Christina Wheeler 6-4 6-3 in the final.

Maria repeated her Australian Open performance at the French Open, coming through qualifying with wins over Anastassia Rodionova 6-3 6-3, Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-3 6-1, and Yulia Beygelzimer 6-7 7-5 8-6. But again she lost in the first round proper, 6-3 6-3 to the wily Mag�i Serna.

Maria enjoyed a spectacular coming-out party at Birmingham, which changed the whole complexion of her career in one tournament. She beat Sarah Borwell 6-1 6-3 and Christina Wheeler 6-3 6-4 to qualify, then thrashed compatriot Evgenia Koulikovskaya (the girl with two forehands) 6-1 6-1 in the first round. She upset fifth seed Nathalie Dechy 6-3 6-2 in the second round, and 11th seed Marie-Ga�an� Mikaelian 6-0 7-5 in the third round. She staged a terrific fightback to beat top seed Elena Dementieva 2-6 7-6 6-2 in the quarter-finals, but lost in the semi-finals 6-2 2-6 7-6 to unseeded Shinobu Asagoe (who would go on to upset Daniela Hantuchov� both technically and emotionally at Wimbledon).
����������� During the tournament, Maria caused controversy with her loud grunting, which was echoing through the grounds! Sadly for me, she had toned it down considerably by the time I got to see her play for the first time at Wimbledon. ;-) She broke into the top hundred of the WTA rankings at #88.

By the time Wimbledon started, there was already much hype about Maria in the media. Her first-round match against Ashley Harkleroad was billed as a glamour-contest, but Maria confirmed her grasscourt-credentials with a 6-2 6-1 thrashing. In the second round she embarrassed her older compatriot, 21st seed Elena Bovina, with a 6-3 6-1. I saw the first set on BBC television. It was my first time to see Maria play, I was looking to be impressed because I had a major hunch about her, and impress me she did.
����������� But it was her mouthwatering third-round match with 11th seed Jelena Dokic which really confirmed my fanship of Maria. I've been a fan of Jelena since she thrashed top seed Martina Hingis 6-2 6-0 in the first round of Wimbledon 1999 as a sixteen-year-old, and Maria showed that she is in a similar class of brilliance as she powered to a 6-4 6-4 victory over Jelena (who had never previously lost before the fourth round at Wimbledon, but was in the middle of a major slump).
����������� Sadly, Maria failed in her attempt to become the first-ever wild card to reach the quarter-finals of the women's singles at Wimbledon, as she came unstuck against compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 33rd seed. Played out on Court 4 due to a backlog caused by rain, the match was a terrible anticlimax to the glamour of the third-round match on Court One. Maria recovered from 1-6 0-2 by winning six games in a row to take the second set 6-2, and was even a break up at 4-3 in a topsy-turvy third set... which she eventually lost 7-5. She climbed 35 places to #56 in the rankings.

Maria followed that up with an extremely impressive run at Manhattan Beach. She thrashed Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 6-1, upset 14th seed Nadia Petrova 6-2 2-6 7-5 to reach the third round, and thrashed Kim Clijsters 6-1 in the second set of what turned out to be a 6-4 1-6 6-1 victory for the world number one.

Maria lost to Elena Likhovtseva 7-6 6-1 in the first round of Toronto. She made a stunning d�but at the US Open as she hammered Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1 6-1 in the first round, but Emilie Loit messed up her rhythm with junk-shots to stop her 6-3 6-4 in the second round (preventing a much-anticipated third-round clash with Jennifer Capriati).

Maria got an immediate chance for revenge as she drew Emilie Loit in the first round of Shanghai, and she upset the seventh seed 6-3 6-7 6-3. She beat Selesian player Mar�a Antonia S�nchez Lorenzo 4-6 6-3 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals, where top seed Elena Dementieva took revenge for Birmingham 6-4 7-6. Maria broke into the top fifty at #47.

Maria won the first WTA Tour titles of her career at the Tokyo Japan Open. She beat Jin Hee Kim 6-2 6-0, Selesian player Akiko Morigami 6-1 6-3, Claudine Schaul 7-5 7-6, Jie Zheng 6-3 7-5, and Anik� Kapros 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7/5 - after trailing 2/5) to claim her first WTA singles-title in her first-ever final. She climbed 15 places to #33. She also won her first WTA doubles-title with Tamarine Tanasugarn, beating Ansley Cargill and Ashley Harkleroad 7-6 6-0 in the final.

Maria reached the semi-finals of Luxembourg, beating junior Wimbledon champion Kirsten Flipkens 6-2 7-6, Sofia Arvidsson 6-1 7-6 and Anca Barna 4-6 6-3 6-2. But she couldn't repeat her Manhattan Beach heroics against Kim Clijsters, who beat her 6-0 6-3 in the semis. Maria won her second WTA doubles-title at Luxembourg, again with Tamarine Tanasugarn, beating Elena Tatarkova and Marlene Weing�rtner 6-1 6-4 in the final.

Maria won her second WTA singles-title at Qu�bec, beating Els Callens 6-3 6-4, her gorgeous compatriot Alina Jidkova 6-1 6-2, and fourth seed Laura Granville 1-6 6-2 6-2 in the semi-finals. She had just taken the first set 6-2 against Milagros Sequera in the final, when Sequera fractured her ankle and had to retire - Maria and I were both sad that she won a final in that way. She reached a career-high #31, and finished the year ranked #32.

Maria was runner-up at the Siemens Women Tennis Trophy, an exhibition-tournament at Ciney, Belgium in December. She beat world number four Am�lie Mauresmo 6-1 1-6 7-5 in the semi-finals, and was beaten in the final by world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne 1-6 7-6 (14/12) 7-6 (7/5) after holding eight match-points! This was an extremely impressive performance against the top players - very encouraging for the future, not least 2004.

Maria began 2004 as a promising 16-year-old ranked #31 in the world. She finished the year as a Major champion ranked #4, with the Wimbledon and WTA Tour Championships crowns to her name along with three smaller WTA singles-titles and one doubles-title!

Maria began the year with the Champions' Challenge exhibition-tournament in Hong Kong, beating Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-4 in the semi-finals and finishing runner-up to Venus Williams, who beat her 7-5 6-3 in the final.

Maria reached the third round of the Australian Open, defeating Conchita Mart�nez Granados (not to be confused with 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Mart�nez) 6-4 6-3, and Lindsay Lee-Waters 6-1 6-3. She fell to sixth-seeded compatriot Anastasia Myskina 6-4 1-6 6-2 in an error-strewn match, and explained that she was still learning her trade. Her ranking rose to #27.

Maria trounced Yuka Yoshida 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open, but was beaten 7-6 6-1 by the wonderful Daniela Hantuchov�, who was enjoying an upswing in fortunes that week after a miserable year.

At Memphis, Maria beat Conchita Mart�nez Granados 6-2 6-2, Tatiana Panova 2-1 retired (respiratory illness), and Amy Frazier 6-2 6-4 to set up the semi-final I'd looked forward to all week against top seed Vera Zvonar�va. Vera won 7-6 6-2 and went on to win her only singles-title of 2004; Maria and Vera were runner-up in the doubles, losing to �sa Svensson and Meilen Tu 6-4 7-6 in the final. Maria's singles ranking rose to #22.

Maria reached the fourth round of Indian Wells, beating Flavia Pennetta 6-3 4-6 6-4 and 14-year-old Sesil Karatancheva 3-6 6-3 6-2 - billed by the media as a grudge-match because Karatancheva had vowed to "kick Maria's ass off" because Maria had been "too scared" to play a match against Karatancheva at the Bollettieri academy!
����������� Maria lost 6-2 6-1 to Anastasia Myskina in the fourth round. "But we're very good friends," said Maria.

Maria likewise reached the fourth round at Miami, beating Shinobu Asagoe 6-2 3-6 6-0, Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi 7-5 6-2, and losing to top seed Serena Williams 6-4 6-3. Williams was playing her first tournament since Wimbledon 2003 due to a knee-injury... and went on to win the title! Maria broke into the top 20 at #19.

Maria took a month off and returned at Berlin, where she beat Dinara Safina 6-1 1-6 6-3 and Petra Mandula 4-5 retired (right-shoulder strain). She pushed sixth seed Jennifer Capriati hard before losing 5-7 6-4 6-1.

At Rome, Maria beat Tatiana Perebiynis 6-4 7-5, and continued her domination of Elena Dementieva by embarrassing the sixth seed (who would go on to reach the finals of the French and US Opens) 6-1 6-4. But in the third round she lost 7-6 6-0 to Silvia Farina Elia. It was an unfortunate pattern of the first half of 2004 that whenever Maria lost the first set on a tiebreak, she seemed to wilt in the second.

Maria reached her first-ever Major quarter-final at the French Open, beating Barbara Schwartz 6-3 6-0 and Rita Grande 6-2 6-0 to set up a mouthwatering third-round match with Vera Zvonar�va - the girl who had really started the Russian Revolution by beating Venus Williams at the French Open 2003. Maria beat Vera 6-3 7-6, and followed that up with an easy 6-3 6-1 fourth-round victory over Marlene Weing�rtner. "I don't think anything can stop me - unless I lose!"
����������� But lose she did, 6-1 6-3 to 14th seed Paola Su�rez in less than an hour of play. Maria was very nervous, with a winner-to-unforced-error ratio of 11:40, and was hindered by rain which delayed the match both before it began and after the first set, and made the clay court very heavy, favouring the more consistent Argentine.
����������� Maria's ranking, which had oscillated in and out of the top 20 during the claycourt season, went up to #15 after the French Open.

Maria returned to Birmingham - the tournament where it all began for her in 2003 - and won the third WTA singles-title of her career there. I had the very great pleasure of attending all her matches: she overpowered a game Jamea Jackson 6-2 6-2, overcame Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-3 in very hot and almost unbearably bright sunshine, overwhelmed Alicia Molik 6-3 6-1 with one of the most brilliant performances I've ever seen on a tennis-court, and overcame a second-set choke to fight past second seed Patty Schnyder 6-1 6-7 6-3.
����������� This set up a mouthwatering final against the gorgeous 16-year-old Tatiana Golovin, who won the first set 6-4. Then Tatiana upped the pace but started making many more errors, as Maria eliminated her own errors and improved her serve to power through 4-6 6-2 6-1.
����������� And the mouthwatering final day didn't end there, as Maria also won the doubles-title with her fellow 17-year-old Russian, the ultracute Maria Kirilenko, who is her best friend on the Tour. The Super Maria Sisters beat Lisa McShea and Milagros Sequera 6-2 6-1 in the final.

After pulling out of Eastbourne in order to rest, Maria arrived at Wimbledon raring to go. She cruised through the first two rounds, beating Yulia Beygelzimer 6-2 6-1 and Anne Keothavong 6-4 6-0 to set up a mouthwatering third-round match against Daniela Hantuchov� - runner-up at Eastbourne the week before. Maria seemed to be in a zone where she was seeing the ball in slow motion as she stormed past Daniela 6-3 6-1 with an awesome display of power-hitting.
����������� In the fourth round, Maria was more sporadic as she overcame Amy Frazier - conqueror of second-seeded French Open champion Anastasia Myskina - 6-4 7-5. In the quarter-finals, she was up against 11th seed Ai Sugiyama, who tormented Maria by getting almost every ball back. Maria was five points away from defeat when serving at 4-4 30/40 in the second, but she showed amazing passion to fight back for a 5-7 7-5 6-1 victory. I've never seen a player as delighted and excited as Maria after that win. "These are the moments you live for, yes."
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria staged an even more amazing recovery to beat Wimbledon 1999 champion Lindsay Davenport 2-6 7-6 6-1, after saving two break-points that would have put her 0-3 down in the second, just prior to a 52-minute rain-delay. Everyone was writing Maria off at that point, but she changed the rotation of the Earth, taking the initiative to get Davenport off-balance so that she [Maria] could dominate the rallies against the player who would finish the year ranked #1.
����������� This set up a final against Serena Williams, who was going for her third Wimbledon crown in a row, and went into the match as the heavy favourite. But Maria won 6-1 6-4 to become the third-youngest women's singles champion in Wimbledon history, and the lowest seed (13th) ever to win this title. Williams played way below her best, admittedly, but this was largely because Maria kept her constantly on the back foot with a dreamlike blend of pace and placement. Williams had a 4-2 lead in the second set, but Maria reeled off four games in a row with the help of two brilliantly instinctive lobs. She broke Williams after a long game at 4-4 that contained the most amazing rally, and had no trouble in serving for the championship.
����������� Maria shot up from #15 to #8 in the rankings after winning Wimbledon.

Just because Maria won Wimbledon didn't mean she was ready to start dominating the WTA Tour. It was only natural that she should rest on her laurels a bit, and now we were in the American hardcourt season, where the ball doesn't shoot through like it does on grass after Maria has blasted it.

Maria withdrew from Los Angeles for rest and recovery, and returned to action at San Diego. She made a winning start, beating Lilia Osterloh 6-3 6-3 and Gisela Dulko 6-0 6-1. But she lost her quarter-final to French Open champion Anastasia Myskina 7-5 6-2 after leading 5-2 in the first set.

At Montr�al, Maria beat Kristina Brandi 6-1 6-4, but lost in the third round 4-6 6-4 6-4 to Vera Zvonar�va - the first time in Maria's career that she ever lost to a lower-seeded player at any tournament where she herself had been seeded! It was a baseline duel of awesome quality, with Vera showing her ability to win points from seemingly irretrievable shots.

Sadly Maria had to miss the Athens Olympics, as only four players from each country are allowed to compete in the women's singles, and there were five Russians ranked above Maria going into Wimbledon when the places were allocated. Despite missing the Olympics, Maria climbed one place in the rankings to #7.

Maria prepared for the US Open by playing New Haven, where she suffered a shock defeat in her opening match against Mashona Washington - the last time she would lose her opening match at any tournament until Moscow 2007! At the US Open itself, she struggled past Laura Granville 6-3 5-7 7-5 and Jelena Jankovic 6-0 6-7 6-1, then lost to the hard-hitting Mary Pierce - former champion of the Australian and French Opens - 4-6 6-2 6-3 in the third round.

Maria's next stop was Beijing, where she beat Tatiana Panova 6-1 6-1, and was leading 5-2 when Jelena Jankovic retired with a foot-injury. But Maria lost her semi-final 6-2 6-2 to US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. "When somebody has played so well and just won a major, and another title last week, they're basically unstoppable."

Maria then played a couple of smaller WTA tournaments to boost her confidence and help her to qualify for the season-ending WTA Tour Championships, and she won them both. At Seoul, she cruised to the title for the loss of just 15 games, beating Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-1 6-3, Miho Saeki 6-3 6-1, Samantha Stosur 6-2 6-1, Anne Kremer 6-0 6-2 and, in the final, the not-unattractive Marta Domachowska 6-1 6-1. "But to compete with the top ten players, there are a lot of things I have to improve on."

Maria had a slightly tougher time at the Tokyo Japan Open, where she was defending the first title of her career. She survived a scare against Samantha Stosur to win 6-4 1-6 6-3, then beat Youlia Fedossova 6-3 6-4 and Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-2 6-3. In the final, she avenged her New Haven defeat with a 6-0 6-1 thrashing of Mashona Washington to extend her win/loss record in finals to 6-0! This victory also pulled her ranking back up to #7 after it had drifted down to #10.

At Z�rich, Maria overcame terrific resistance from Daniela Hantuchov� in her opening match. Daniela led 5-2 in the second set, served for it at 5-3, and had two set-points on Maria's serve at 4-5 15/40. But Maria held on for a 6-4 7-5 win, and in the quarter-finals she scored a highly impressive 6-3 6-4 victory over four-times Major champion Venus Williams. In the semi-finals, Maria beat Elena Dementieva 4-6 6-2 6-3 with a performance of amazing intensity. This was enough for Maria to qualify for the WTA Tour Championships.
����������� Maria was red-hot favourite to beat the unseeded Alicia Molik in the final and win her first Tier I title, especially when she won the first set 6-4. Unfortunately Maria suffered a right pectoral-muscle strain, her serve went soft and she lost 4-6 6-2 6-3. :-(

At Philadelphia, Maria was leading 2-6 6-4 3-0 when Jelena Kostanic retired with a groin-injury. She avenged her Z�rich loss by beating Alicia Molik 3-6 6-1 6-3 in the quarter-finals, but sadly her pectoral injury flared up again and she withdrew before her semi-final against Am�lie Mauresmo, with five days to recover before her first match of the WTA Tour Championships.

Maria not only recovered in time, but won the WTA Tour Championships in five whirlwind days! She came through the round-robin phase by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 6-4, and winning another high-quality encounter with Vera Zvonar�va 6-4 7-5 - Vera's tremendous fighting spirit wasn't quite enough to overcome Maria's 58 winners! Maria lost 7-5 6-4 to Am�lie Mauresmo, but it didn't matter as both players had already qualified for the semi-finals.
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria achieved her first win in four matches against Anastasia Myskina, 2-6 6-2 6-2. This set up a repeat of the Wimbledon final against Serena Williams. "I am just so excited to be in the final that I couldn't care less about my chances," enthused Maria after Myskina had said she had no chance.
����������� Maria won the final 4-6 6-2 6-4. Williams was hampered by a stomach-muscle injury that reduced her serves to powder-puffs by the end of the match, but Williams fought like a wounded tiger, and Maria deserves credit for pulling out the victory from 0-4 down in the final set. "To be able to beat top players and playing five days in a row with my body, it's not very easy."
����������� Having gone into the WTA Tour Championships ranked #6, Maria's victory gave her a year-end ranking of #4 (behind Davenport, Mauresmo and Myskina).

Maria wasn't on the team that won the Fed Cup for Russia, but there was a storm of controversy in her absence, as Anastasia Myskina threatened to boycott playing Fed Cup if Maria joined the team. Myskina and others have criticised the disruptive courtside behaviour of her father Yuri Sharapov, who has caused several code-violations against Maria for illegal coaching, and has also been accused of shouting rude things against Maria's Russian opponents on the WTA Tour.

Maria beat Lindsay Davenport 7-5 6-3 in an exhibition at Baltimore on 17th December, and thrashed Angela Haynes 6-2 6-1 in an exhibition at Tampa on 18th December (the latter was to raise money for the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund).

Compared with the other members of my Eternal Fanship, Maria enjoyed an absolutely stellar year in 2005, winning three WTA singles-titles, reaching the semi-finals of three Majors (and losing only to the eventual champion at all four), and failing to reach the semi-finals only four times in fifteen tournaments. She lost only three times to players ranked outside the top 16, and this commendable consistency helped her to become world number one for the first time on 22nd August; she held this position for seven non-consecutive weeks.

And yet her year was disappointing, after the very high hopes raised by her spectacular tournament-victories at Wimbledon and the WTA Tour Championships in 2004. After failing in the defence of her Wimbledon title, she suffered a recurrence of the right pectoral-muscle strain first sustained in October 2004, and played only five tournaments for the rest of 2005.

The year began very promisingly, with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Venus Williams in an exhibition at Chiang Mai on 2nd January, after which she showed her generosity by donating $10,000 to Thailand's tsunami relief-fund.

However, the Watson's Water Challenge exhibition-tournament at Hong Kong was not so rosy, as Maria lost 6-7 6-3 6-1 to Elena Dementieva in a round-robin match, then pulled out of the tournament with a stomach-virus (thus missing out on an intriguing showdown with 15-year-old Nicole Vaidi�ov�, who had beaten her 5-3 in a World Team Tennis rubber on 14th July 2004).

But she hit the ground running at the Australian Open, starting with a 6-3 6-1 victory over 15-year-old qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva, who had given her such a torrid time at Indian Wells 2004.
����������� In the second round, Maria survived a scare to beat Lindsay Lee-Waters 4-6 6-0 6-3, then stormed past Li,Na 6-0 6-2 to reach the fourth round, where she overcame another slow start to knock out 15th seed Silvia Farina Elia.
����������� In the quarter-finals, Maria overcame stifling heat (over 35�C) to see off US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6 6-2 6-2. "This was one of the toughest matches of my life. I need a wheelchair right now."
����������� This set up an intriguing semi-final against Serena Williams, whom Maria had sensationally beaten in the Wimbledon and WTA Tour Championships finals in 2004. It looked like a repeat of the Wimbledon final as Maria served for the match at 6-2 5-4. But she missed her chance, and again when she served for it at 5-4 in the third (she missed three match-points in that game), and Williams's tremendous fighting spirit carried her to a 2-6 7-5 8-6 victory (and on to the title, as she beat an exhausted Lindsay Davenport in the final).

Maria bounced back from that disappointment the very next week, winning her first WTA Tier I title at the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open with victories over Maria Vento-Kabchi (7-6 6-0), Elena Likhovtseva (6-3 6-3) and Shinobu Asagoe (6-1 7-6) to reach the final. There, on a fast surface that favoured serving, she beat world number one Lindsay Davenport 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7/5). She moved up to #3 in the rankings (behind Davenport and Serena Williams).

Maria was due to play Tatiana Golovin in her opening match at Paris, but sadly she pulled out of the tournament with flu and an upper respiratory illness (ironically Daniela Hantuchov� had pulled out of the same tournament for a similar reason in 2004, when she too was due to play Golovin). Maria dropped back to #4 in the rankings as Am�lie Mauresmo moved from #4 to #2 by reaching the Paris final.

Maria recovered in time for Doha, where she won her second title of February with a series of victories over attractive players: Gisela Dulko 6-1 6-1, Selesian player Marion Bartoli 6-3 6-2, Daniela Hantuchov� 6-2 6-4, and Alicia Molik 4-6 6-1 6-4 in the final. She moved back up to #3 in the rankings (behind Davenport and Mauresmo).

At Indian Wells, Maria beat Angela Haynes 6-1 6-2, Dinara Safina 6-2 6-3, Fabiola Zuluaga 4-6 6-2 7-5, and Mary Pierce 6-4 6-3 to set up a semi-final showdown against Lindsay Davenport, whose #1 ranking she was now threatening to usurp. "Why would you want to get to number 20, and then not want to be number one? It's like 'shoot for the moon'. If you miss, you'll still be among the stars."
����������� But she missed by a long way in the semi-finals, as Davenport inflicted a humiliating 6-0 6-0 scoreline in 49 of the less productive minutes of Maria's career. Davenport was on fire, while Maria was tired, and struggled in windy conditions against Davenport who relies on physical strength rather than timing for her power. It was only Maria's second official loss of the year, but her coach Robert Lansdorp voiced his concerns that she might be burning out after her continent-hopping schedule of early 2005.

But Maria bounced right back with one of her best tournaments of the year at Miami. She stormed past Eleni Daniilidou 6-0 6-4, Marissa Irvin 6-2 6-0, and Shinobu Asagoe 6-1 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
����������� There she faced Justine Henin-Hardenne, who was playing her first tournament since the US Open 2004 after struggling with an energy-sapping viral infection, but who rivals even Maria in the mental-strength department. Maria led 6-1 *4-1, and had three match-points serving for it at 5-4 (40/0), but Henin-Hardenne fought back to win that set on a tiebreak (8/6) before Maria wrapped up a 6-1 6-7 6-2 victory. Maria was hampered by a back-injury in that match.
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria raised her game superbly to overpower a rejuvenated Venus Williams - who had beaten her sister Serena in the previous round - 6-4 6-3 in front of a hostile crowd. "Everyone is hungry and everyone wants to beat me, so I know that I have to be a real fighter and big-point player if I want to win."
����������� Maria lost the final 6-3 7-5 to Kim Clijsters, who was then ranked #38 after missing the best part of a year with a career-threatening wrist-injury, but who was enjoying an unbelievable upswing in fortunes, coming from outside the top 100 to win the titles at Indian Wells and now Miami.
����������� Maria: "You just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back. Running from corner to corner is like a piece of cake for her. The biggest surprise is that it was her 14th straight match and I didn't feel like she was physically fatigued. I'm not at the point where I can do that."

Maria then took a four-week break from competition, during which time she starred in TV-adverts for Nike Free shoes and Palmolive deodorant, celebrated her 18th birthday ten days early with an extravagant party in New York, and moved up to #2 in the rankings (behind Lindsay Davenport) on 11th April when Am�lie Mauresmo's Amelia Island 2004 runner's-up points came off. She did not interrupt this break to play Fed Cup for Russia.
����������� There are some who believe that Maria's commercial interests distract her from tennis. But I believe it's important to rest her body from the rigours of professional tennis and to pursue other interests, and I believe Maria is smart enough to get the balance right.

Maria returned for the European red-clay season, starting at Berlin where she beat Anna-Lena Gr�nefeld 6-2 6-2 and Selesian player Peng,Shuai 6-2 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals. But she lost 6-2 6-4 to Justine Henin-Hardenne, who was absolutely dominating the 2005 claycourt-season.

At Rome, Maria beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4 6-2, Mary Pierce 7-6 6-4 and Elena Bovina 6-2 6-2 to set up a semi-final against Patty Schnyder - a match which, had Maria won it, would have made her the fourth-youngest world number one in the history of the WTA Singles Rankings (behind Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Tracy Austin - unfortunately by the time Maria did become #1, it was too late to displace Steffi Graf as the fourth-youngest). But after winning the first set, Maria lost her rhythm and panicked as Schnyder found her top form to inflict a 3-6 6-3 6-1 defeat.

In the first round of the French Open, Maria survived an almighty scare against her fellow 18-year-old Russian, Evgenia Linetskaya, who had a point for 4-1* in the third set before Maria pulled out a 6-7 6-2 6-4 victory. "These are the sorts of matches I play for. When you come off the court and you feel like you were losing the whole match, and all of a sudden you pulled it out, it's those moments that you feel you've trained for and worked hard for."
����������� Maria overcame a minor ankle-injury to see off the hard-hitting Aravane Reza� 6-3 6-2 in the second round, then beat the adorable Anna Chakvetadze (her third 18-year-old opponent in a row) 6-1 6-4, and Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2 6-3 (due to rain, the match was suspended overnight with Maria leading 6-2 3-3).
����������� This set up a quarter-final against Justine Henin-Hardenne. My hopes were high after Henin-Hardenne had laboured for 3h15m to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova (saving two match-points) the day before, and Maria started quite brilliantly, even serving and volleying on clay! But Henin-Hardenne was on top form, and her tactical mastery of clay enabled her to return Maria's best angles even more acutely, and to make Maria run to the net (for dropshots) or to that dreaded forehand-sideline. Henin-Hardenne won 6-4 6-2, and went on to win the French Open, completing a 24-0 win/loss record for 2005 on clay (Henin-Hardenne's only loss of 2005 prior to Wimbledon was to Maria at Miami).

Maria only committed to Birmingham the day after she was knocked out of the French Open, but she enjoyed her return to grass as I enjoyed attending the tournament again - apart from the first day when her and Maria Kirilenko's defence of the doubles-title failed at the first hurdle, as the Super Maria Sisters lost 6-4 6-0 to Tamarine Tanasugarn and Selesian player Marion Bartoli (this was Big Maria's only doubles-match of 2005).
����������� Maria played brilliantly in her opening singles-match to beat Anne Kremer 6-3 6-0 despite going down a break early on, but had to survive an inspired performance from serve-volleyer Samantha Stosur in the third round, who played a blinder in the second set before Maria won 6-3 3-6 6-1.
����������� She survived an even bigger scare in the quarter-finals before beating Eleni Daniilidou 7-5 2-6 6-1. Already suffering with a sore throat, Maria needed treatment on her right thigh and left buttock in the second set, by the end of which she looked like she was limping out of the tournament. But she responded magnificently in the third set, going for broke to win it 6-1.
����������� This set up a mouthwatering semi-final with Tatiana Golovin (a rematch of the 2004 final), which Maria won 7-5 6-1. The first set was the most entertaining women's tennis I saw in 2005, with brilliant winners - and delightful grunting! - from both girls.
����������� In the final, Maria successfully defended her title with a 6-2 4-6 6-1 win over Jelena Jankovic in cold, windy conditions that weren't conducive to high-quality tennis.

Maria opened her defence of the Wimbledon title with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Nuria Llagostera Vives, followed by a 6-0 6-1 drubbing of 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva - the young upstart who had threatened to "kick her ass off" at Indian Wells 2004, and who had beaten Venus Williams en route to the French Open quarter-finals.
����������� In the third round, Maria beat Katarina Srebotnik 6-2 6-4 - after being broken in the first set for the only time before the semi-finals! In the fourth round, she cruised past 16th seed Nathalie Dechy 6-4 6-2 without playing anywhere near her brilliant best - nor needing to.
����������� In the quarter-finals she faced a much tougher challenge from eighth seed Nadia Petrova, who served huge and put pressure on Maria by coming to the net. Maria raised her game from the previous two rounds to post a 7-6 (8/6) 6-3 victory, but there was only one break in the entire match, and one wonders how differently it might have turned out had Maria not saved a break-point with a dead netcord whilst serving for the match.
����������� But Maria's title-defence ended in the semi-finals as she fell 7-6 (7/2) 6-1 to an inspired Venus Williams - Wimbledon champion of 2000 and 2001 (and now 2005), but seeded 14th after a deep slump. Maria did very well to keep it close for as long as she did (she fought back from *2-5 in the first set), but as hard as Maria continued to fight, Williams was simply too hot to contain, and Maria looked close to tears at one point in the second set.
����������� "I'm still only 18, I need to get stronger, get a bigger serve, and maybe then I'll be harder to beat next time."

Maria beat Jamea Jackson 5-0 in a World Team Tennis rubber on 23rd July, but pulled out of San Diego with a lower-back injury. Nevertheless, despite Maria's inactivity on the WTA Tour since Wimbledon, she was guaranteed to overtake world number one Lindsay Davenport in the rankings on 22nd August, since Davenport herself was sidelined with a lower-back injury, and would not be defending the many ranking-points she won in the corresponding weeks of 2004.

Maria had a chance to become #1 on 15th August if she could reach the semi-finals of Los Angeles. In her opening match, she faced her best friend on the Tour, Maria Kirilenko, for the first time ever in a professional singles-match, and won 7-6 6-2.
����������� In the third round, she suffered a recurrence of the right pectoral-muscle strain that bothered her in the last few weeks of the 2004 season, and it was really just by the sheer strength of her will that she battled past Anna Chakvetadze 4-6 6-4 7-5 in a gruelling 2h18m marathon. Anna led 2-0* and *3-2 in the third set, but was injured herself with a left-groin strain; she took a medical time-out, started crying after a fall, was in tears as she shook hands with Maria, and left the court sobbing.
����������� Maria: "I'm not playing 100% physically. I'm serving 92 miles per hour, and I'm not hitting my forehand."
����������� Anna: "Maria was a fighter and she fought all the way. That's why she won. I pulled my muscle in my leg, so I didn't feel so well. I was really upset because I felt I could win the match."
����������� This set up a mouthwatering semi-final against Daniela Hantuchov�. If Maria had won, she would have gained enough ranking-points to become #1 on 15th August. But sadly she pulled out before the match - and out of Toronto too. "Playing with pain for a top athlete isn't right, and it's more important to be ready for the big ones."

So Maria became #1 on 22nd August instead. "It's a dream come true to be able to win a Grand Slam [sic] and become number one in the world. That definitely puts a smile on my face. The computer doesn't lie. You have to achieve something to get there, and it's been an amazing two years. It's been hard work and dedication, and the achievement has been amazing."
����������� But Maria lost the #1 ranking the following week after Lindsay Davenport won the title at New Haven.

Maria had never been beyond the third round of the US Open before, and her first round opponent, Eleni Daniilidou, looked very dangerous on paper having given Maria such a torrid time at Birmingham, and sensationally beaten Justine Henin-Hardenne in the first round of Wimbledon. But Maria came safely through with a 6-1 6-1 scoreline that concealed a very tough first set in which Daniilidou had game-points in each of the first four games - but it was Maria who took a 4-0 lead.
����������� She had a much easier time in the second round, crushing Dally Randriantefy 6-1 6-0 despite very windy conditions which she hates playing in. "I'm really glad I had a piece of chocolate-cake last night, or else I would have been blown away out here!"
����������� Maria had a tougher match against Julia Schruff in the third round, surrendering a break of serve before sealing a 6-2 6-4 win.
����������� Maria faced an intriguing fourth-round showdown against the very talented Sania Mirza, who has some of the most flairsome groundstrokes on the tour, and can hit flashy winners from anywhere. But Mirza has a relatively weak serve, so it was tough for her to resist a 6-2 6-1 win for Maria. Nevertheless, Sania had break-points or game-points in many of the games that she lost (she actually did break Maria in the middle of the first set), but Maria was just ruthless in fighting for every game.
����������� In the quarter-finals, Maria overcame ninth seed Nadia Petrova 7-5 4-6 6-4 in a bizarre match full of momentum-shifts. Maria led *4-0, but Petrova fought back to 4-4 before Maria managed to close out the first set 7-5. Maria had a mental lapse in the second set, seemed to be out of the woods with Petrova serving at 2-5 (0/30) in the third, but Petrova managed to recover to 4-5 (40/15) before Maria finally secured her victory.
����������� This set up a semi-final against her nemesis Kim Clijsters, and it looked like Maria was going to lose with embarrassing ease as she faced three match-points on her serve at 2-6 5-6 (0/40). But she hit brilliant shots to save five match-points in that game, and pulled out the second set on a tiebreak (7/4). Unfortunately Maria's serve - which she had failed to hold even once in the first set - let her down again in the third set, and a 0-4 hole proved too deep to climb out of as Clijsters won 6-2 6-7 6-3 (and went on to win her first Major title).
����������� Maria: "I kind of gave it all I had in the tiebreaker. In the third, I kind of ran out of gas. It's pretty tough because physically I still have to get a lot better. This is not going to happen overnight. I'm only 18 and it's going to take time. My body is still growing, and I'm still adjusting."
����������� Maria's coach Robert Lansdorp was sacked after the US Open, after he argued with her father Yuri during a match, regarding Yuri's shouting to Maria.
����������� By going further than Lindsay Davenport at the US Open, Maria regained the #1 ranking on 12th September. This time she would hold it for six consecutive weeks.

Maria reached the semi-finals of Beijing by beating Shahar Pe'er 6-0 5-7 6-2 and Shinobu Asagoe 6-4 6-1 to set up another mouthwatering match with Maria Kirilenko. Unfortunately Big Maria's pectoral strain flared up again, and she retired with Little Maria leading 6-4 *2-1. Both Marias were in tears. Little Maria went on to win her first WTA singles-title.
����������� "It's something that I can't control. It's a very mysterious injury. It was getting worse and worse. It's kind of up and down, and it comes unexpectedly."

Maria played her first-ever professional tournament on Russian soil at Moscow, but it was marred by an opening match in which she was trailing 1-6 2-4* (30/0) to Anna-Lena Gr�nefeld when the latter was forced to retire suddenly with a nasty ankle-sprain. Ironically, Maria led 6-1 4-2 in her quarter-final against fellow Russian Dinara Safina, but managed to lose 1-6 6-4 7-5 despite clawing her way back from 1-5 in the third.
����������� Maria chose not to defend her runner's-up points from Z�rich 2004, and on 24th October she dropped from #1 to #3 behind Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters.

Maria pulled out of Philadelphia with a sprained right thumb, but was fit for the start of the WTA Tour Championships at Los Angeles, where she was the defending champion.
����������� In her first round-robin match, Maria overcame her lack of recent match-play to beat Patty Schnyder 6-1 3-6 6-3.
����������� In her second round-robin match, she scored a stunning 6-3 5-7 6-4 victory over year-end #1 Lindsay Davenport to guarantee her place in the semi-finals. Davenport had already qualified herself, but she was still motivated enough to fight back after Maria led 6-3 4-2* (with break-point for *5-2), and Maria had to save break-points at *1-2 (15/40) in the third set before scoring the crucial break in the next game.
����������� In her third round-robin match, Maria decided to conserve her energy by letting Nadia Petrova win 6-1 6-2. "I'm absolutely exhausted. Throughout the whole day I'm like a walking zombie."
����������� In her semi-final against Am�lie Mauresmo, Maria led 5-2* and *5-3 (30/0) in the first set. But sadly her pectoral strain flared up again, and unable to hit big serves or forehands, she slumped to a 7-6 (7/1) 6-3 defeat. Maria dropped to #4 for her year-end ranking (behind Davenport, Clijsters and Mauresmo).
����������� "Without the injury, I felt like I was in control, and that still gives me a lot of confidence for next year."

The first half of Maria's year was plagued by injuries - first to her right shoulder and then to her right ankle - but it ended up being the best year of her career so far as she won her second Major title at the US Open, beginning a 19-match winning-streak that also brought her the titles at Z�rich and Linz, and stopped just two matches short of regaining the world #1 ranking. She won five titles altogether, as earlier in the year she had won Indian Wells and San Diego. And she had a very consistent year: only once losing before the semi-finals.
����������� I find it ironic that all Maria's titles of 2006 came on hardcourts, when in 2004 she was unbeaten on grass, but struggled on hardcourts because more balls came back. Her game improved in so many ways in 2006: her physical condition, movement, forehand, variety, willingness to come to the net, defensive play, and adaptability to windy conditions.

Maria started the new year by pulling out of Gold Coast with a right-shoulder injury. Prior to 2006, this injury was misdiagnosed as a pectoral-muscle strain. The sources of her pain were, in fact: (a) a tight region in the back of her right shoulder that she had trouble loosening and would eventually grow sore under stress, and (b) a dislocated rib. She started working with a new trainer, Dr. Walt Landers, who manipulated the ligaments in her shoulder.

Maria came close to pulling out of the Australian Open due to the pain in her shoulder, but ultimately decided to play. "The doctors have told me it can't get any worse. I'm going to have to suck it up and do the best I can."
����������� Maria arrived in Australia with low expectations, but came through her first-round match without pain, thrashing Sandra Kl�sel 6-2 6-1. Then she survived a second-set scare against Ashley Harkleroad as she struggled with a blister on her left sole, but came through 6-1 7-5, saving three non-consecutive set-points at *4-5 in the second.
����������� Maria crushed Jelena Kostanic 6-0 6-1, although the 1h08m match was tougher than the bagelstick implies. This set up a mouthwatering fourth-round match with Daniela Hantuchov�, who had just knocked out defending champion Serena Williams. In a brilliant match with spectacular winners from both girls, Maria played better in the decisive moments to win 6-4 6-4.
����������� Maria faced Nadia Petrova in the quarter-finals for the third Major in a row, and edged through 7-6 6-4 in a poor-quality, error-strewn match. She then lost 4-6 6-1 6-4 to Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semi-finals - Maria played a brilliant first set, but then Henin destroyed her rhythm and timing with relentless retrieving, using a mixture of topspin, slice and short angles to make Maria play many balls outside her comfort-zone.
����������� While it was frustrating to see Maria lose in the semi-finals yet again, she did exceed the expectations that she had going into the Australian Open, and most importantly, she emerged injury-free.

Maria began her defence of the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open by beating Lisa Raymond 6-4 6-4 and Samantha Stosur 6-1 6-4 to reach the semi-finals. There she suffered a dispapsinating 6-3 6-1 loss to Martina Hingis: the five-time Major champion who dominated women's tennis as a 16-year-old in 1997, but didn't play at all from October 2002 to January 2006 exclusive, due to persistent foot-injuries. Prior to her comeback, Hingis had said that Maria was the player she most looked forward to playing. On this occasion, Maria had no answer to Hingis's legendary guile and precision as the Swiss Miss used the quickness of the court to her own advantage.

At Dubai, Maria avenged her defeat in the Wimbledon 2002 Girls' Singles final by thumping Vera Dushevina 6-1 6-0. Forced to play her quarter-final and semi-final on the same day due to rain, Maria enjoyed one of the best days of her career as she avenged her Tokyo loss to Martina Hingis 6-3 6-4, then extended her head-to-head record against Lindsay Davenport to 4:1 with a 3-6 6-1 6-3 win to reach the final. Then tiredness caught up with her, and she lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne 7-5 6-2 after leading *5-3 in the first set. She dropped from #4 to #5 in the rankings as the points from her Doha 2005 title came off.

Maria won her first title since Birmingham 2005 at Indian Wells. In cold, windy conditions, she scored routine victories over Jamea Jackson 6-4 6-3 and Lisa Raymond 6-4 6-0 to reach the fourth round, where she had to save a set-point at *5-6 against Shahar Pe'er before winning 7-6 6-1.
����������� Maria made light work of big-serving Anna-Lena Gr�nefeld, winning their quarter-final 6-1 6-3. She then scored a second revenge against Martina Hingis, overpowering the Swiss Miss 6-3 6-3 in their semi-final despite another sole-blister. "The score doesn't show how physically and mentally challenging every point was," said Maria.
����������� The final against Elena Dementieva was played in even colder, windier conditions, which made it a poor-quality, error-strewn match. But Maria kept it short and sweet to win 6-1 6-2, as she was better able to hit through the wind, and broke Dementieva's serve at will. With this title, Maria moved back up to #4 in the rankings.

Maria kept up her excellent form to reach the Miami final again. She beat Li,Na 6-2 6-4 (recovering from 1-4 in the second set) and Maria Elena Camerin 6-2 7-6 (recovering from 2-5 in the second set, saving eight set-points!). In the fourth round, she won the battle of the Super Maria Sisters as she saw off her best friend on the Tour, Maria Kirilenko, 3-6 6-4 6-1. And she scored an impressive 6-3 6-3 win over Anastasia Myskina in the quarter-finals.
����������� It's always something special when Maria plays Tatiana Golovin, and their Miami semi-final was one of the most memorable matches of 2006. Maria looked to be cruising to an easy victory at 6-3 *5-1, but Tatiana staged a remarkable fightback, saving four match-points on Maria's second attempt to serve for the match at 5-3, and taking the second set 7-6 (7/5) with an amazing forehand winner that hit both the netcord and the baseline!
����������� Maria took control of the third set by breaking for *3-2, but as she hit a virtual winner to save break-point at *4-3 (30/40), Tatiana suffered a horrific sprain to her left ankle. She did play one more point after getting her ankle heavily taped, but retired in tears with Maria leading 6-3 6-7 *4-3 (ad in) after 2h43m of play. Tatiana was sidelined until July (apart from her ill-advised decisions to play the French Open and Wimbledon).
����������� Even with a day off to recover from that marathon, Maria looked sluggish and disinterested in the final, hardly even grunting as she went down 6-4 6-3 to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Maria moved up to #3 in the rankings on 17th April as Justine Henin-Hardenne failed in the defence of her Charleston title. But Maria slipped back down to #4 on 15th May as her own points from Rome 2005 came off.

Maria wasn't going to play again until Rome anyway (week of 15th May 2006), but her break from tournaments turned out to be even longer than planned as she bruised a bone in her right ankle whilst practising on 24th April. She pulled out of an exhibition in Mexico (she went there anyway to launch her new perfume), out of Rome, and then out of Istanbul (after making a late entry in the hope of getting some match-play ahead of the French Open). By that time, she also had an ingrowing toenail.

So, just like Tatiana Golovin, Maria went into the French Open with an ankle-injury, and no match-play since Miami. It was the third Major in a row that she entered with limited match-play due to injury, and the organisers did her no favours by forcing her to play on the historic opening Sunday - rejecting her plea for a Monday start after turning her ankle again on Friday.
����������� In one of the most exciting matches since Wimbledon 2004, Maria played brilliantly in the first set, but found herself facing match-point for her earliest exit since New Haven 2004 at *2-5 (30/40) in the third set. She was up against the same opponent, Mashona Washington, who had beaten her then, and she had to save two more non-consecutive match-points as Washington served for it at 5-3. It may have taken pigeons landing on the court to save the second match-point, but Maria saved the other two with forehand winners, and pulled out a very gutsy 6-2 5-7 7-5 victory.
����������� Maria's next two matches were much more straightforward, as she beat Iveta Bene�ov� 6-4 6-1 and Alicia Molik 6-0 7-5 (Molik had only recently come back after a year out with an inner-ear infection) to reach her sixth consecutive Major fourth round.
����������� But Maria's lack of preparation finally caught up with her as she lost 7-5 2-6 7-5 to a bullish Dinara Safina. And she squandered unbelievable leads in both the sets that she lost: in the first set she led 5-3* and muffed two set-points, and in the third set she powered to a seemingly comfortable 5-1* lead, but went into panic-mode as she lost the next six games! Maria explained: "It's in your hands and you've got to finish it off; all of a sudden you start thinking. You go into a different world, and you make dumb decisions."
����������� It was the first time that Maria had lost before the quarter-finals of any tournament since the US Open 2004 (ending a run of 26 consecutive quarter-finals), and before the semi-finals of any tournament since Moscow 2005, where she also lost to Safina after blowing a substantial lead.
����������� At the French Open, it was observed that Michael Joyce had been upgraded from Maria's hitting-partner to her main coach.

Maria made her usual late entry into Birmingham, and I couldn't be there for her opening match as I had been misinformed that she had entered Eastbourne - not that I missed much, as she reportedly played very badly in beating world #143 Ahsha Rolle 6-4 6-2. And I was far from impressed with her error-strewn 6-2 6-4 win over Li,Na - the 200th singles-victory of her career.
����������� Maria played brilliantly to dismiss Mara Santangelo 6-2 6-2 in the quarter-finals, but she missed out on a mouthwatering final with Vera Zvonar�va and a hat-trick of Birmingham singles-titles as she crashed out 6-4 6-4 to Jamea Jackson. For the mighty Maria to lose on her favourite surface to a player ranked #81 - and it was only her fourth-ever loss on grass - I can't think of a bigger upset in women's tennis that year. Jackson is powerful and athletic, but if I had a pound for every forehand Maria netted that day, it would go some way towards paying my expenses for that week! ;-)

At Wimbledon, Maria reached her sixth semi-final of the last nine Majors, only to see her win/loss record in Major semi-finals deteriorate to 1:5 (the exception, of course, being Wimbledon 2004). She started with a 6-2 6-0 beatdown of Anna Smashnova with a performance of amazing power, touch, multidimensionality and footwork, then saw off Ashley Harkleroad 6-2 6-2 with a slightly streakier display. But her third-round match against Amy Frazier was like pulling teeth, and despite the 6-3 6-2 scoreline, Maria looked vulnerable.
����������� In the fourth round, Maria had a torrid time against the solid groundstrokes of Flavia Pennetta: best known for her three Tier III claycourt-titles. The girl from Brindisi would have felt at home in the fierce heat, and Maria had to toil for 2h27m to complete a 7-6 3-6 6-3 victory.
����������� Maria said she would have to "step it up" for the quarter-finals the next day, and she looked magnificent as she stormed to a 6-1 4-0* lead against seventh seed Elena Dementieva, who has a poor serve and is not at home on grass. The second set became very tight as Dementieva reduced Maria's lead to *4-3 and had two break-points for 4-4. But Maria held for 5-3, and served out to love for a 6-1 6-4 victory.
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria was beaten 6-3 3-6 6-2 by eventual champion Am�lie Mauresmo. It was a very sporadic performance from Maria, and Mauresmo induced it to be so by serving and volleying, and negating Maria's abilities by hitting balls down the middle of the court to rob her of angles, and using heavy topspin and slice to rob her of pace. Maria let herself down with some poor volleys, and by wasting energy running for unreachable balls. Maria recovered from 3-6 *1-3 (0/40) with brilliant aggressive tennis to win the second set with five games in a row, but it didn't work when she tried to do the same from 0-4* in the third. "I just thought I had all the momentum in the world going into the third set, but I didn't use that to my advantage," reflected Maria in her US Open quarter-final press-conference.

At the end of Wimbledon, I identified the three players that Maria had the most difficulty beating: she was then 0:3 against Mauresmo, 0:4 against Kim Clijsters, and 1:4 against Justine Henin-Hardenne. Between then and the end of the US Open, she beat all three! :-)

Maria's first-ever win over Kim Clijsters came in the final of San Diego, where she won her 12th WTA singles-title without dropping a set! She recovered from *2-4 to beat Vasilisa Bardina 6-4 6-1 and set up a mouthwatering third-round match with Vera Zvonar�va - their first meeting since the WTA Tour Championships 2004. Maria moved ahead 3:2 in their head-to-head with a 6-4 6-4 win after Vera had fought back from *1-5 to 4-5* in the second set.
����������� Maria beat defending champion Mary Pierce - who was playing her first tournament since February due to a right-foot injury - 6-2 6-3 in the quarter-finals, then saved 8 of 9 break-points to beat Patty Schnyder 7-5 6-4 in the semis.
����������� In the final, Maria beat Clijsters 7-5 7-5, but the two sets were very different. With Maria serving first, the first set featured seven breaks of serve, although Maria was never down a break. The second set went with serve until Maria broke to win in the very last game - which was against the pattern of play as Maria had had to save 6 break-points in the set, without having any against Clijsters until she reached championship-point. And Maria's win snapped Clijsters' winning-streak of 24 matches in North-American summer hardcourt-tournaments!

At Los Angeles, Maria dismissed qualifier Anastassia Rodionova 6-3 6-1, then thrashed Selesian player Marion Bartoli 6-1 6-2, punishing short balls and weak second serves with 38 winners. In the quarter-finals, she avenged her Moscow 2005 and French Open 2006 losses to Dinara Safina 6-2 6-4, although once again she had trouble closing it out as she led 5-3* in the second set and had to save break-points at *5-4 (15/40).
����������� The fatigue of playing 9 matches in 13 days caught up with Maria in the semi-finals as she lost 7-5 6-2 to Elena Dementieva (after fighting back from 1-5* in the first set), against whom she had a 5:1 head-to-head going into the match. She then pulled out of Montr�al citing fatigue. At the time, I was really perturbed that Maria couldn't last two weeks in a row - even without any three-setters. But what I didn't know then was that it was her last loss before a 19-match winning-streak - the longest on the WTA Tour in 2006! :-)

Maria won the US Open - her second Major title! She started by giving 17-year-old Micha�lla Kraj�cek an hour-long tennis-lesson, winning 6-3 6-0. In the second round, she avenged her loss at the same stage of the US Open 2003 with a 6-0 6-1 demolition of Emilie Loit: Maria won the first set without losing a single point after 1-0* (15/15), and the second could so easily have been a bagel too, as Maria dropped serve from 6-0 4-0 (40/0) up! Maria hasn't won 6-0 6-0 since ITF Peachtree 2002 - I guess she must be getting soft in her old age! ;-)
����������� Maria faced more resistance from Elena Likhovtseva than from her first two opponents combined, winning 6-3 6-2 in windy conditions. In the fourth round against Li,Na, Maria was broken in the second game of the match, and allowed Li to extend her lead to 4-1*! But Maria reeled off five games in a row to take the first set, and stormed through the second for a 6-4 6-2 victory. But the statistics were abysmal in the windy conditions: Maria had a woeful W:UE ratio of 5:25 to Li's 8:30!
����������� Maria's quarter-final was Tatiana Golovin's first in a Major, and although Maria extended her head-to-head against Tatiana to 4:0, it was, as always highly competitive: just the two sets, but 7-6 7-6 in 2h12m! In the first set, Maria recovered from 1-3* to serve for it at *5-4, but had to save two set-points at *5-6 (15/40) before winning the tiebreak 7/4! Maria also failed to serve out the second set at *5-3 - memories of Miami, where she was also taken from *5-3 to a tiebreak - but this time, she won the tiebreak 7/0!
����������� The semi-final was a stark contrast in that Maria did drop a set, but it only took 1h36m as she threw a couple of bagels around Am�lie Mauresmo's neck for her first win in four meetings! Maria beat the world number one 6-0 4-6 6-0 to advance to her first Major final since Wimbledon 2004.
����������� Maria improved her record in Major finals to 2:0 as she dominated Justine Henin-Hardenne - who was playing her fourth Major final of the year, but had won only the French Open. Maria recovered from a nervous start and a 0-2* deficit to break back immediately with the help of an amazing one-handed backhand half-volley dropshot-winner, and didn't have to face another break-point in the match as she broke Henin again at 4-4 in the first set and 3-3 in the second, and sealed a 6-4 6-4 victory on her first championship-point at 40/15. I was overjoyed as Maria shed forever the tag of being a 17-year-old one-Major wonder.
����������� Maria: "There's nothing like winning your first Major, but to win your second, it's kind of like a cherry on the cake. But there are a lot more cherries that I'm gonna put on that cake, so I'm looking forward to having them."
����������� The new US Open champion moved up to #3 in the rankings, and also qualified for the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships.

Maria's next tournament was Moscow, and in her opening match she battled past Ekaterina Bychkova 6-4 7-5, after Bychkova had served for the second set with set-point at 5-3 (40/30). This set up a mouthwatering quarter-final with Anna Chakvetadze, but as Friday the 13th would have it, Maria pulled out before the match with a right-foot strain, and Anna went on to win the title. The walkover does not count against Maria's winning-streak, which now stood at 8 matches.

Maria won her 14th WTA singles-title at Z�rich. She toiled for over two hours to beat Shahar Pe'er 6-4 7-6 (7/4), saving a set-point at 4-5 in the second. Her mastery of the decisive moments was too much for 17-year-old Timea Bacsinszky, whom she beat 6-4 6-3 in the quarter-finals. In the semis, Maria saved a set-point at *5-6 (30/40) in the first set before downing Katarina Srebotnik 7-6 (7/3) 6-2.
����������� This set up a mouthwatering final with Daniela Hantuchov�, although it looked set to be an embarrassing one for Daniela as she dropped the first set 6-1. But she dug deep, absorbed Maria's powerful, deep, low-bouncing groundstrokes exceptionally well, and hit some lovely touch-volleys as she won the second set 6-4 by dint of a break in the first game; Daniela saved five break-points as she served it out at 5-4! That stopped a 12-set winning-streak for Maria. Daniela hung in well in the third set, but a break in the fourth game was enough for Maria to secure a 6-1 4-6 6-3 victory and extend her winning-streak to 12 matches.

At Linz, Maria won her fifth WTA singles-title of the year and the 15th of her career. First she extended her head-to-head over the dangerous Eleni Daniilidou to 4:0 with a 7-5 6-1 victory - the first set was very tight up to 5-5*, with Maria having to save several break-points.
����������� This set up Maria's first-ever meeting with Ana Ivanovic, who is one of the most promising younger players on the Tour. Maria won 7-6 (7/3) 7-5 despite wasting three set-points at *5-4 in the first, and a 5-2* lead in the second. "She played some amazing tennis," said Maria.
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria ended Patty Schnyder's hopes of qualifying for the Sony Ericsson Championships with a 7-5 7-5 victory after blowing a 5-3* first-set lead with five set-points. Maria said, "I felt I couldn't quite put three good games together. A little bit of that is fatigue, and a little bit is lack of concentration."
����������� In the final, Maria beat defending champion Nadia Petrova 7-5 6-2, after a first-set scare in which Maria went from 4-2* up to facing two set-points at *4-5 (15/40)! But the missed opportunities seemed to break Petrova's spirit, and she rolled over for Maria in the second set. "Just shows you: no matter how tired you are, the mind will always win," said Maria, who extended her winning-streak to 16 matches and moved up to #2 in the rankings.

The Sony Ericsson Championships at Madrid began with three players in the running to finish the year as world number one: Justine Henin-Hardenne, Maria, and Am�lie Mauresmo - in order of how well they'd have to do.
����������� Maria started her round-robin play with a 6-1 6-4 win over Elena Dementieva that had more breaks than holds of serve! Maria tightened up when serving for the match at *5-3 (30/0) in the second, but broke to win in the next game. Dementieva said, "She is playing like a number one now, and I don't think anyone else at the moment can play close to her game."
����������� Maria overpowered Kim Clijsters 6-4 6-4, which almost guaranteed her a place in the semi-finals. But while the first set was comfortable - with no break-points against Maria - the second was very tight as Maria failed to serve out the match at *5-2, and had to save two more break-points at *5-4 (15/40) before sealing victory with an ace.
����������� Maria went into her third round-robin match only needing to win 5 games (and not lose 7-5 6-0 or 6-0 7-5) to guarantee her place in the semi-finals. But she was in no mood for tanking as she blitzed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 6-4 to extend her winning-streak to 19 matches, of which the last 5 were wins over top-9 players!
����������� This set up a semi-final against Henin-Hardenne, who only had to reach the final to become year-end #1, while Maria had to win the title to do that. Henin produced an inspired net-rushing performance to win 6-2 7-6 (7/5) against a sluggish Maria, who at least fought back from 3-5* in the second set to force a tiebreak.
����������� Mauresmo could have finished the year at #2 by winning the final, but Henin's victory there ensured that Maria finished the year ranked #2.

The year 2007 was a watershed for Maria. She struggled with a persistent right-shoulder injury that restricted her serve throughout the year, but more importantly, she allowed several other players to have their way with her, including - for the first time in her career - some players who are younger than herself (Ana Ivanovic, Agnieszka Radwanska and Victoria Azarenka). And to lose as lopsidedly as she did to Ana and both Williams-sisters (she collected just five games in two matches with Serena) could have a huge psychological impact on future match-ups.

Maria is renowned for her mental strength and intensity, her hunger and passion, but there were signs in 2007 that these may be have been waning - which is not surprising, given all the extra hours she had to dedicate to her injured shoulder. I observed most of the following when watching her play at Birmingham:

Maria's year certainly had some highlights - but most of them had very bad downsides. She reached her first-ever Australian Open final and first-ever French Open semi-final. But both these tournaments ended with dispapsinatingly one-sided defeats by Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic respectively, and in fact she lost earlier and earlier with each successive Major, with a crushing fourth-round defeat by Venus Williams at Wimbledon, and her US Open title-defence ended shockingly early with a third-round loss to Agnieszka Radwanska. She spent seven more weeks as world #1 after reaching the Australian Open final (bringing her career-total thus far to 14 weeks), but was down to #5 at the end of the year.

The only true highlights of Maria's 2007 were her successful defence of San Diego - her only title of the year, having won at least two in every year from 2003 to 2006 - and an amazing return to form at the Sony Ericsson Championships, losing only in a marathon 3h25m final to the very dominant Justine Henin. These were about the only two tournaments she played in 2007 where her shoulder seemed to be fine.

Maria began 2007 by saying she'd had her best off-court season ever, in terms of training and being injury-free. She started her year as runner-up at the Watsons Water Champions Challenge exhibition-tournament in Hong Kong. In the first round (quarter-finals), she beat #166-ranked Selesian doubles-specialist Yan,Zi 7-5 6-3, though it should have been much easier as Maria led *5-2 in the first set and 5-1* in the second. Maria said: "It's always weird coming back after just training for so long. You're never going to play your best tennis in your first match. I was disappointed that I let her back in the match at 5-2. Against the top players, if you let them back into the match, they gain confidence really quickly and the match might be over."
����������� In the semi-finals, she beat world #8 Elena Dementieva in a high-quality match: 4-6 6-2 6-3. "To be in that situation, to get out of it, to come up with a win, I think that's definitely going to help me," said Maria.
����������� Maria lost the final 6-3 7-6 (10/8) to her old nemesis Kim Clijsters. Maria lacked her usual intensity, but fought back from *0-2 to *4-2 in the second set. She squandered a 4/1* lead and a set-point in the tiebreak, and also lost to Clijsters in a rare doubles-match (Maria hasn't played any doubles on the WTA Tour since Birmingham 2005). "You're never going to guarantee a win in every single match. At some points in the match, I felt a little bit flat," said Maria after the singles-final.

At the Australian Open, Maria reached her third Major final of her career - and regained the world #1 ranking. But she came perilously close to losing in the first round of a Major for the third time in her career as she survived a 6-3 4-6 9-7 marathon against world #62 Camille Pin in 40�C heat (the Extreme-Heat Policy for 2007 - which Maria criticised even in her runner's up speech at the end of the tournament - didn't allow them to close the roof or suspend matches that had already started; the 2008-revision will allow matches in progress to be suspended at the end of the set).
����������� In a dramatic third set, Maria blew a 5-0* lead and three match-points (two at 5-2* and one at 6-5*), then was two points from defeat as Pin served for the match at *7-6 (30/15). Maria also struggled with a stomach-injury. I was relieved not so much that she won, but that she didn't end up in hospital or even dead!
����������� Maria said: "It's inhuman to play three hours in that kind of heat - I don't think our bodies were made to do that. I was so delusional I couldn't think. You're not really worrying about how you're playing or what you're doing - you're just trying to focus on winning every point as quickly as possible. Heat is one of the most dangerous things for players. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to recovering."
����������� Maria's second-round match, played in the coolness of early evening, was much more straightforward as she dismissed Anastassia Rodionova 6-0 6-3 in 58 minutes. "All my brain-cells were restored today, so I was able to think a little bit out there," said Maria. "It was nice to get a quick one in there."
����������� In the third round, Maria saw off Tathiana Garbin 6-3 6-1. Reportedly it was a "ragged display" (Maria got broken twice in the first set, in which she was 0-2 down), but she was much too powerful for the 30th seed. "As the match went on, I moved a lot better - I saw short balls a lot quicker and put more pressure on her," said Maria.
����������� This set up a mouthwatering fourth-round match against Vera Zvonar�va, and being on the Rod Laver Arena evening-session - the only one televised by the BBC - it was time for them to put the "vera" back in "coverage"! ;-)
����������� The first set was very tight, competitive and exciting, and the only break came against Vera in the 11th game as Maria won 7-5. Vera threw in a bad service-game at the start of the second, burst into tears, and it all went rather flat after that - although Maria did throw Vera a lifeline when she failed to serve it out at *5-2 and Vera saved a match-point at *3-5 (30/40), Maria served out a 7-5 6-4 victory after an amazing game of three deuces at *5-4, in which Maria recovered from 0/40.
����������� With this win, Maria led Vera 4:2 head-to-head. Maria said: "I knew she was going to be a challenge. I just had to go out there and step up to it. I felt like I needed to come up with something better than I did in my previous rounds. I felt like I was a lot looser. I was going for my shots a bit more."
����������� This set up a mouthwatering quarter-final with rising star Anna Chakvetadze, seeded 13th and playing in her first Major quarter-final - although they both played below their best, being hampered by sore right shoulders. Anna led *4-2 and *5-3 (two separate breaks) in the first set, but lost it 6-7. It was Maria who led *5-3 in the second set, but Anna made a fight of it before Maria eventually broke for a 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 victory.
����������� Maria said: "Against a girl like that, who gets a lot of balls back, it's just a matter of who can be a little bit smarter, who can get an extra ball back, who is a little tougher. I thought I did the job really well today.
����������� "Sometimes I feel like I don't know if she knows what she's doing! I feel like she tricks herself into her own game. She definitely has a lot of variety. If she wants to step in, she has a lot of power behind her strokes."
����������� Anna said: "I think I need to improve to be more aggressive on important points especially because, yes, she was a little bit more aggressive than me. But it's tough to be aggressive because Maria, she's hitting the ball so hard! Especially in the warm-up, I thought, 'She will kill me!'"
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria overpowered her old nemesis, fourth seed Kim Clijsters, 6-4 6-2. It wasn't a very high-quality match by all accounts, but it did bring a head-to-head - in which Maria had trailed 0:4 - to 3:4 before the injury-plagued Clijsters retired in May.
����������� Maria said: "I felt I played a much better match all round today. Couldn't quite get the serve and return together in the beginning, but overall I was really focused. I did the right things at the right time, and was patient when I had to be patient; I played a smart game."
����������� This set up a surprising final against Serena Williams: the dominant force in women's tennis in 2002/2003, but ranked #81 and looking very much out of shape after only playing four tournaments in 2006 due to a left-knee injury. I thought Williams - who only had to face one top-ten player en route to the final - would be a sitting duck for Maria. But I failed to heed previous warnings about Maria facing #81-ranked Americans: she had lost to Mashona Washington at New Haven 2004 and Jamea Jackson at Birmingham 2006.
����������� The final left Maria and her fans shellshocked, as an inspired Williams - playing as well as when she was dominating the sport - thrashed the world #2 6-1 6-2. Maria looked nervous from the start, didn't serve well at all, didn't have a Plan B, didn't move her feet like she can, and Williams ruthlessly exposed Maria's lack of mobility, repeatedly forcing weak, defensive shots, and hitting winners at will rather than self-destructing as she so often does in recent years. She never gave Maria a chance to play well - except for the three service-games in which Maria did come up with the goods.
����������� Maria at least looked great that day: sleek and slender, wearing an attractive dress and a flower in her hair. It was so sad to see this beautiful girl sitting after the match looking utterly humbled, with tears welling in her eyes.
����������� Maria was gracious in defeat: "She showed what she's capable of as an amazing champion. She came out and she played really flawless tennis. I was trying to find ways to get into the match, get in the rallies, trying somehow to find a way to get an opening, through a door, but I wasn't able to do it. In the end, everything took its toll, and not only did I run into someone too good, but looking back, I think I was emotionally a bit drained."
����������� Williams said: "It was an awesome win because I had so many critics: so many people talking bad and saying negative things, and saying I wasn't fit when I felt that I was really fit. I think it's all because I have a large bosom and a large ass. I could lose 20 pounds, and I'm still going to have these knockers and I'm still going to have this ass."
����������� With world #1 Justine Henin electing not to defend reaching the Australian Open 2006 final for personal reasons, Maria rose to the top ranking for the third time in her career - having spent seven nonconsecutive weeks at #1 in 2005, she would now spend a further seven weeks there.

I could have told Maria that it was a mistake to play Tokyo Pan Pacific Open the following week. After a first-round bye, she continued to struggle on serve, with 17(!) double faults in a 2h13m marathon-win over Francesca Schiavone: 7-5 2-6 6-1. "It takes time to get used to everything," said Maria. "I came from Melbourne - the sun, outdoors - and now I'm playing indoors under the lights on a different surface."
����������� And she served 14 more double faults in the quarter-finals, when she overcame 31-year-old Ai Sugiyama 4-6 6-0 6-1. Maria said: "I'm not going to win too many matches serving the way I'm serving. I don't think I'm going to get away with it too many times, especially against higher-ranked players. I've been able to step up my game in other ways, and I can't keep worrying about [my serve]. It's just a matter of going out there and focusing on what I'm doing well. I can't let it affect me."
����������� In the semi-finals, 19-year-old Ana Ivanovic became the first player who is younger than Maria ever to defeat her on the WTA Tour, the ITF Women's Circuit, or in a Major! Ana, who served extremely well, was leading 6-1 0-1 when Maria retired with a left-hamstring strain.
����������� Maria said: "My left hamstring has been having tightness since the Australian Open, but after a Grand Slam [sic], you are tight all over. But this was a sudden sharper pain after I landed after the serve. I started to feel pain in the second game of the first set. I tried to go on, but you can't get away with it when you are playing against a top player."

In February, Maria became a goodwill ambassador for UNDP, and immediately gave $100,000 to projects dealing with the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which could have harmed her in her mother's womb had her parents not fled from Gomel to Nyagan.

Maria pulled out of Dubai (week of 19th February) with her left-hamstring injury, and returned to action - after five weeks out - as defending champion at Indian Wells, where she needed to reach at least the semi-finals to remain world #1. She had only just started serving again, and in the second round, she stuttered past the cutiful Micha�lla Kraj�cek 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 with 50 unforced errors and 11 double faults. Once again, she had trouble closing out as she led *5-2 in the first set and 5-2* in the second. She was too ill to do a press-conference, though she was quoted as saying, "These matches get the rough stuff out of the way."
����������� It was a similar story in the third round, as she let a *5-2 first-set lead become 5-5*, and committed 47 unforced errors on her way to a 7-5 6-2 win over Nathalie Dechy in brutal heat. "Knowing it was going to be pretty hot today, I was ready," she said. "From yesterday, I was just getting hydrated, as well as mentally being prepared for going out there, and getting ready to play a three-set match."
����������� This set up a mouthwatering fourth-round match with Vera Zvonar�va. Maria led 6-4 5-3*... then lost 8 games in a row as Vera won 4-6 7-5 6-1. It was Vera's third win in seven meetings with Maria, and the first time that Vera had ever beaten a reigning world #1 - and it cost Maria the #1 ranking (she dropped to #2), which she had held for seven consecutive weeks for a career-total of 14 weeks. Maria served 13 double faults, was broken in 8 of her 14 service-games, and finished the tournament with a total of 144 unforced errors - one gross, if I may use the expression! ;-) Not to take anything away from Vera's superb fighting-spirit and supreme talent!
����������� Maria said: "It's strange. Serving for the match, the only unforced error I really made was a swing-volley. After that, I just deflated a little bit. I wasn't moving well at all, I missed a lot of first serves, and that obviously gives your opponent so much confidence. Sometimes you run into someone who's a great competitor. She just started swinging, and wasn't making a lot of errors. Her balls were getting deeper and deeper as the match went on."
����������� Vera said: "I didn't really pay attention to the score that much. I was concentrating on every point, trying to get my game together, and I was just fighting for every point. I think that's why I was able to turn it around. I've beaten Maria in the past as well, so we always had tough matches. When I look back at it, I would say, 'Yeah, I was pretty good in tennis. I beat a number-one player in the world.' I would love to see that I did everything I could to be the best player I can - that's the most important thing."

Maria lost more valuable ranking-points (whilst remaining at #2 until after the US Open) and confidence as she came up against a nightmare-draw at Miami, where she had reached the final in 2005 and 2006. Playing without Michael Joyce for the first time since 2004 (his mother was dying of cancer), her coach for the tournament was Eric Basica, who has been as high as #1125 on the ATP rankings.
����������� After a first-round bye, Maria scored a straightforward 6-3 6-2 victory over 17-year-old Chan,Yung-Jan, despite windy conditions and a rain-delay.
����������� In the third round, she played Venus Williams for the first time since losing to her at Wimbledon 2005, but extended her head-to-head against the elder Williams-sister to 3:1 with a 2-6 6-2 7-5 victory, although between them they made 25 double faults and 91 unforced errors in the wind. Maria recovered from 0-2* in the third set by breaking back immediately; Venus led *5-5 (40/15), but Maria still managed to break and then serve it out - much to the dismay of the partisan crowd.
����������� Maria said: "I'm a fighter and a big competitor. That's why I play the sport. I enjoy the battle of it, and a lot of my matches depend on who fights more in the end."
����������� In the fourth round, Serena Williams avenged her sister's defeat with an even more lopsided thrashing of Maria than in the Australian Open final: this time 6-1 6-1 in 58 minutes. "I believe there could be a similar score if I'm playing well," said Serena, who improved her head-to-head over Maria to 4:2. Her father Richard Williams was even more insulting, advising Serena not to hit to Maria's forehand all the time "for the simple reason that you would win."
����������� Maria said: "I guess when you feel you need to hold your serve against someone like her, and someone that's serving so well, it puts extra pressure on your serve, because you know that you have to hold your serve."

On 2nd April, Maria pulled out of Charleston and announced that she would be out of action for at least five weeks, revealing that she had been struggling with her right shoulder since the start of 2007, as well as the left hamstring that we already knew about. This meant that her long-awaited Fed Cup d�but had to be put on hold once again - she had definitely been planning to play for Russia in the first round of the World Group.
����������� On 11th April, Maria revealed that she had had a cortisone-shot, and gave us the following details about her shoulder: "I have abnormality in the tendon and bursa, which in human language translates to tendonitis, which in PG language translates as inflammation."

Maria came back as a 20-year-old at Istanbul - playing the week before a Major for the first time since New Haven 2004, which she never likes to do. She was a long way from her best as she edged past world #95 Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4 7-6 (7/1) in 2h15m in the second round. "It was a difficult match, and I was not expecting much from myself, because I just came back from one of my worst injuries," said Maria. "I didn't feel 100%."
����������� In the quarter-finals, she beat Agnieszka Radwanska - to whom she would lose at the US Open - 6-2 3-6 6-0. "I'm happy for seeing [that] my shoulders are healthy," she said. "It's good for me to play tough matches like this."
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria suffered one of the bigger upsets of her career as she crashed out 6-2 6-4 (with many breaks) to the very talented but #59-ranked Aravane Reza�, who said: "It is the best result of my career - this is the fruit of my work."
����������� Maria said: "I am glad that I came here and I played a few matches before Roland Garros, though it is unfortunate to lose in the semi-finals. I have been working very hard in the last weeks."

Maria reached her first-ever French Open semi-final, which certainly exceeded my expectations, given her relatively poor claycourt-record, her lack of preparation, and speculation that she might miss the French Open after pulling out of Rome with her right-shoulder injury.
����������� She had a tough first-round draw in home-player Emilie Loit, in cold, damp, heavy conditions, which are the worst for Maria on clay; she played the match in leggings to protect a groin-injury. Maria won the first set easily enough, but was rushing through points early in the second - in stark contrast to her usual walk to the back fence between every point. Maria made some worrying errors; Loit served for the second set at 6-5, but she does tend to falter when it comes to the crunch, and Maria hit seven more winners from that point onwards as she wrapped up a 6-3 7-6 (7/4) victory.
����������� "I love the competition," she said. "I love those moments, you know. This is what tennis is all about for me. My shoulder is still not where I want it to be, but I just love competing and I have a lot of respect for this tournament. I'm willing to go out there and I'm willing to fight as much as I can. And even without a serve, I'm good enough to win many matches." And this was the press-conference in which she uttered the immortal words, "Is it me or is it so hot in here? I'm sweating profusely." (It's definitely Maria that is hot!)
����������� In the second round, Maria scored a straightforward 6-2 6-1 win over Jill Craybas, although Maria was broken to love at 6-2 *5-0! She said: "I feel like a cow on ice. Especially on clay. It's not as natural for me, just because I don't play that much on it."
����������� In the third round, Maria saw off Alla Kudryavtseva - a #103-ranked qualifier who couldn't even walk up the steps to Court Chatrier without tripping. Maria won 6-1 6-4, but in a foreshadowing of Wimbledon 2008, she played some of the worst tennis I've ever seen her play to go 1-4* down in the second, before Kudryavtseva totally collapsed and gave Maria the last five games. Kudryavtseva said, "I had pressure because of her big name."
����������� Maria was wincing and flexing her right shoulder between points. "I can't expect a lot from my shoulder this week. As long as I know I can't damage anything further, then I'm cool to play. I probably spend about an hour, hour and a half doing rehab every single day just on the shoulder."
����������� This set up a fourth-round match against 14th seed Patty Schnyder, whom many people expected to beat a struggling Maria on clay. And she certainly would have done, had she been mentally stronger, as she served for the match three times in the third set and had two match-points!
����������� Schnyder started the match by moving Maria into all sorts of awkward positions to take a 6-3 *2-1 lead. But Maria made a positive commitment to go for her shots, Schnyder became passive, and Maria won the second set 6-4 (despite failing to serve it out at *5-3).
����������� The third set had 11 breaks and only 5 holds, with Schnyder serving for the match at 5-4 (with one match-point), 6-5 and 7-6 (with her second match-point). Maria secured a vital hold in the penultimate game, despite being booed by the crowd for serving an ace when Schnyder apparently wasn't ready. Maria got a time-violation with Schnyder serving at 7-8 (40/15), but took the last four points to win 3-6 6-4 9-7, and was booed off court.
����������� Maria said: "It's tough being a tennis-player, and at the same time being Mother Teresa and making everyone happy. I figured I wasn't going to beat her by being a clay-court player, so I just started moving in, hitting the ball and attacking. I figured if I was going to lose this match, I would lose it on my own terms."
����������� Schnyder said: "At the end, she was the big champion. I'm the little one who could not win."
����������� This set up a mouthwatering quarter-final against Anna Chakvetadze, who was playing her second Major quarter-final after losing her first to Maria at the Australian Open. I think it's disgraceful that the BBC did not deign to televise either of these quarter-finals.
����������� Sadly, an untimely bout of flu had taken its toll on Anna: "I had a day off yesterday to keep my energy for today's match, but it didn't work. Very, very bad I felt today."
����������� Maria recorded a clinical 6-3 6-4 victory to reach her first-ever French Open semi-final. "When I come to the tournament, I know in any tournament that I play, whether it's on clay or mud or whatever it is, I know what I'm capable of, and I believe in myself, and that's the most important thing."
����������� If there had been any doubt that Ana Ivanovic was the youngest player ever to beat Maria on the WTA Tour, the ITF Women's Circuit, or in a Major when she beat Maria by retirement at Tokyo, she certainly erased them by blitzing Maria 6-2 6-1 in the semi-finals. Maria's serve wasn't working, so she couldn't take the initiative, and she was making horrendous groundstroke-errors - even on her usually reliable backhand. Ana, who has one of the best forehands on the Tour, played very well and served very well, but Maria played so badly that Ana didn't even get a chance to choke on the verge of reaching her first Major final.
����������� Ana said: "Maria likes to dominate, but I knew she's not a great mover, so I tried to play the ball deep and put her under pressure."
����������� Maria, who was very gracious in defeat, said: "Despite losing today, I think this was a very positive two weeks for me, considering I was out for so long. You know, I still got to learn, and, you know, move forward from this loss."

I was very pleased that I got to see Maria at Birmingham once again (in spite of her late finish to the French Open), and she reached her second final of the year.
����������� Maria began in the second round with a 6-4 6-0 win over #120-ranked qualifier Lilia Osterloh. Although it was Osterloh dictating at the start of the match and having three break-points in Maria's first service-game, Maria never dropped her serve, and raced through the second set with some brilliant winners. "I started playing clay-court tennis. I needed to adapt as soon as possible, and once I got my first hit, it was all right."
����������� That was on the Wednesday, but persistent rain-delays meant Maria had to play four matches in the last two days. In the third round on Saturday, she beat talented 16-year-old Tamira Paszek 6-3 4-6 6-2 in a wonderful match - notwithstanding Maria's alarming rash of unforced errors to drop the second set from *4-3 up. She stepped it up brilliantly in the third.
����������� I missed Maria's quarter-final as I chose to watch Daniela Hantuchov� play Selesian Marion Bartoli instead. Maria scored an easy 6-2 6-3 win over 31-year-old Elena Likhovtseva. "It's difficult to come out not having played for two days, cold turkey," said Maria. "I got sloppy in the first match [of the day], but I was much better in the second: I stepped in more. The shoulder was a little bit heavy today, but I hope it will recover."
����������� In the semi-finals on Sunday, Maria beat Marion Bartoli 7-5 6-0. The first set was anything but straightforward, as play was held up for 34 minutes with Maria leading 3-2*, as a woman in Stand C had a very nasty fall and had to be airlifted to hospital, and then an elderly man sitting right in front of me in Stand D fainted in the 18�C heat and had to be removed by trained first-aiders! The air-ambulance distracted Maria in her service-game at 4-4, but when Bartoli served for the first set at 5-4, she threw in two consecutive double faults, and Maria won every game left in the match.
����������� This set up a repeat of the Birmingham 2005 final against Jelena Jankovic: by this time ranked #3. It was a high-quality match with full-blooded hitting from both girls. Maria took the first set 6-4, was twice a break up in the second (*1-0 and *3-2), and was 3-0* up in the third (which became *3-3), and three points away from the title at 5-4* (15/30). Jankovic was as tight as a drum midway through the third set, yet Maria calmed her down with a stream of unforced errors. Backed by some loud Serbian supporters, Jankovic closed out a 4-6 6-3 7-5 victory, thanks to Maria leaving a lob that was in to get broken for 5-6*, and missing a return off a woefully short second serve at championship-point.
����������� Maria said: "Playing ten sets in two days is something I haven't done since my junior-days, and I'm tired. But I'm not complaining. Coming into the week, my goal was to play five matches, so I couldn't be more pleased."
����������� Jankovic said: "I thought Maria was the better player, but I had more luck."

The Wimbledon-draw was particularly unkind to Maria: even as the second seed, she had three-time champion Venus Williams lurking as a dangerous 23rd seed in her eighth of the draw. But that and her shoulder-problems didn't stop her talking up her chances of regaining the crown she won in 2004: "If I could do it a few years ago when I was a skinny little girl the size of spaghetti, then I definitely can do it now."
����������� In the first round, she saw off 17-year-old Chan,Yung-Jan 6-1 7-5, although the second set got rather worrying as Maria was broken back from a *4-2 lead, and had to fight through two deuces at *4-4. She was certainly taking longer between points than she did at the French Open and Birmingham.
����������� "Doctors have given me the green light as long as I can manage the pain. Some days, I do not have much confidence in my arm," she said. "I was a little passive, especially on her second serves, which I attacked really well in the first set, but didn't really take advantage of in the second."
����������� Maria put in a much more impressive performance in the second round, as she thrashed the beautiful S�verine Br�mond 6-0 6-3. S�verine played with a lot of variety, but Maria had an answer to everything, although she was beginning to struggle with the increasing wind in the second set: "I had a lot of Marilyn Monroe moments!" she said.
����������� "She's a very tough grasscourt-player: she has good slices, serves, volleys, and that's clearly what she did last year to get to the quarter-finals. In the past, when I'd play that kind of opponent, I probably wasn't patient enough. I used to go for too much off the slices, then try to win the point as quickly as I could. That's one of the things that I've definitely improved.
����������� "It's tough for me at that level to withstand that level of play for a long period of time. I played a great first set, and then the intensity and level dropped. That's what I'm a lot better at. I have the confidence on the court when I'm in those situations, and when it's tough, I'm able to dig it out - not just mentally but physically as well.
����������� "I know it's only gonna get tougher from here, but I'm willing to go out and accept the challenges, have those horse-blinders, be in my own bubble, just play and enjoy."
����������� This set up a third-round match with Ai Sugiyama, who had given Maria such a torrid time in the 2004 quarter-finals. But Maria put in a performance of sheer brilliance to see off the 31-year-old 6-3 6-3. She was timing the ball so sweetly, and on this match alone, she looked ready to win her second Wimbledon-crown. She served superbly, as though she didn't even have a shoulder-injury, and there were none of those alarming rashes of unforced errors that had marred her recent performances - just a momentary lapse of concentration at the beginning of the second set, when she got broken. She had to wait until 2-3* to get the break back, and all credit to Sugiyama for getting six games on the board against Maria on this form.
����������� It began raining heavily at 6-3 *5-3 (30/0), but they played on for five points to finish the match before play at Wimbledon was suspended until Monday. The shy Sugiyama was angry with the decision to play on: "It was too wet to play. The last two games were really slippery. I couldn't really refuse to play. It's not easy to say anything."
����������� Maria said: "I try not to step in anyone's shoes, because I'm usually not their size. She actually asked the umpire to come down on the court on match-point - I was like, 'no, please!' I mean, if we would have stopped at match-point, that would have been a bit funny: I would have been waiting in the locker-room, waiting to play the last point of the match, easily until Monday if it rains today!
����������� "My serve worked really well. I had a great percentage of first serves. The average speed was higher than it's been in the last few months."
����������� [Re. her shoulder] "It needs a couple of hours a day, or even two-and-a-half hours a day. I have ice, massage, strength-work, acupuncture - you name it, I do it."
����������� This set up the much-anticipated fourth-round clash with Venus Williams, who had been taken to three sets by Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round and Akiko Morigami (who served for the match at 5-3) in the third round, which had had to be finished on Monday while Maria had two days off.
����������� But Williams played unbelievably better than she did in the third round, while Maria was only a shadow of the brilliant player I saw in her second- and third-round matches. She struggled in just about every single service-game, facing numerous deuces and break-points. She made no impression on the Williams-serve all match, not even getting a look at a break-point. It didn't help Maria that it was very windy, either. Williams crushed Maria 6-1 6-3, and went on to win her fourth Wimbledon-title. The match lasted 1h29m (excluding two rain-delays), although 22�m were spent on Maria's marathon service-game in the third game of the second set.
����������� Maria said: "At the end of the day, her first serve was averaging 115mph, and my fastest serve was that speed. I couldn't really give myself any chances on the return. I think that put a little extra pressure on my serve. I think I did a good job of trying to find a way in the second set, but in the end, I just didn't have enough."

Maria pulled out of Russia's Fed Cup World Group semi-final tie (14th/15th July) with her ongoing shoulder-injury. "All the scans and tests show improvement in my shoulder, but I still have a tremendous amount of swelling in the area," she said. But her withdrawal angered Russian tennis-officials: chief coach Vladimir Kamelzon said: "Her closest advisers are Americans, and they would never allow her to play for Russia." Senior commentator Anna Dmitrieva said: "All she wanted was to be included in the Fed Cup team so she would be eligible to play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics."

Maria won her only title of 2007 by successfully defending the Tier I at San Diego. She played brilliantly all week, dropping just 15 games in four matches before the final. Her shoulder was much better (though not completely healed), and her serve was once again the weapon it was in 2003-2006.
����������� She opened her defence with a 6-1 6-3 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn in the second round, serving 9 aces and saving all 6 break-points she faced. "The shoulder's still not perfect, but right now, I know it's not going to get any worse," she said. "If I keep doing the right things, I know it will get better."
����������� In the third round, Maria extended her head-to-head against Tatiana Golovin to 5:0, although this was the only one of those five matches that wasn't tough: 6-0 6-3. "It was not as easy as it looked," said Maria. "About half of those first games went to deuce. I gave back two breaks in the second set [*3-0 became 3-3*], and was lucky to get the win in straight sets. I just played the tougher points well."
����������� In the quarter-finals, Maria thrashed the previous week's Stanford-finalist Sania Mirza 6-2 6-1. "I thought I did a really good job of serving well and stepping it up when I had to," said Maria. "I stepped inside the court and played my game."
����������� This set up a mouthwatering semi-final against world #6 Anna Chakvetadze. Anna was on a winning-streak of 12 matches, having just won Cincinnati and Stanford, and beaten Venus Williams in the quarter-finals here. But Anna - who already had a 0:4 record against Maria - sounded beaten even in her quarter-final press-conference: "I'll have to try and do my best tomorrow, but I don't know what my strategy against Maria will be. I'm tired now, and will have to see how I feel on the day. I'll try to move her around and hope for the best."
����������� Maria demolished Anna 6-3 6-2. Maria served extremely well - for once in 2007 - and Anna's legs started cramping near the end.
����������� Anna said: "I think I did not recover from yesterday's match. I think I gave all my power to the quarter-final match - it was nearly three hours. I felt very tired. I wasn't able to fight like yesterday, because I didn't have much time to recover. Maria played very well and hit a lot of winners, but I couldn't run to some of the shots she made."
����������� Maria said: "The quality of the first set was better than the second, where I didn't have to give as much. I thought the first set was pretty competitive. Once I got the first break in the second set, I felt like I was on cruise-control. It was a little too easy."
����������� In the final, Maria overcame world #17 Patty Schnyder 6-2 3-6 6-0 for her first title since Linz 2006. Maria's groundstrokes were sharp in the first and third sets, and the second set just boiled down to Schnyder converting a critical break-point to lead *5-3. Maria sealed victory with a magnetic off-forehand winner onto the sideline, and now leads Schnyder 6:1 head-to-head.
����������� Maria said: "I'm really happy with how I was hitting the ball today. Patty is a tough opponent, and I was aware I couldn't give her even a little opening as she would have taken advantage. I was really pleased to get the win over her. I don't think we've ever played an easy match. She's a lefty, so she makes it extra tricky for everyone. In the second set, I lost that extra step, and once you give her a little edge, she's going to get a lot of balls back. I hesitated for too many balls, and I knew I had to step in and hit it again."
����������� Schnyder said: "Today she went for her shots and most of the time made them, so she deserved this win. When she gets on a roll like that, she's really difficult to compete against. [At] the beginning of the third, she tried to be more aggressive. The first break I got, she hit three returns on the line: two on the baseline that were impossible to handle. She went for those shots and she got it. She really deserved to win."
����������� Maria said: "I could easily play 30 tournaments a year like some of the other girls if I really wanted to win a tournament, but that's physically impossible for me. I play the big ones, and the ones that count, and that I feel that I'm ready for. If I didn't win one before this one, then so what? I've won plenty before."
����������� 2007 was the last year that the San Diego tournament was held, so it's pretty cool that Maria won the last two editions. "It means a lot to me to know I was the last-ever champion of such a great tournament like San Diego," she said.

Maria's next stop was Los Angeles, and she had a tough second-round match against the dangerous Eleni Daniilidou, leading 7-6 (7/5) 3-1 when Daniilidou - who was suffering from a flu-virus that was doing the rounds in the locker-rooms - retired with breathing-difficulties and left the court in tears. Maria said: "In the first set, she played some of the best tennis she's ever played against me. In the beginning of the second set, the points were a little shorter."
����������� In the third round, Maria had an even tougher match against the cutiful Micha�lla Kraj�cek, winning 7-6 (7/4) 6-7 (3/7) 6-4 in 2h48m. Micha�lla was up *4-3 (40/30) in the third, but Maria fought back, and after Micha�lla saved two match-points on her own serve, Maria sealed victory with a crosscourt backhand return-winner.
����������� Maria, who struggled with her serve, said: "Serving against the wind, and playing against the wind with that sun, especially in the beginning, was pretty difficult. It definitely felt like a break-fest out there. I felt like I was going to the Death Eaters and they were going to eat me up! She was starting to serve really well. Some of those second serves she had on match-point were over 100mph. It's good to be in different situations where you have to pull it out and didn't play your best."
����������� Maria had lost to Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals here last year, but she improved her winning-record against Dementieva to 7:2 by beating the world #13 6-3 6-4, although she let 6-3 4-1* (with a break-point) become *4-4. Maria said: "I wasn't making one first serve. She was putting more pressure on my second serves. It's never over until it's over against her. The good thing is: mentally I was able to stay strong, and I didn't get too frustrated. I wasn't in my top energy, but I was seeing the ball clearly."
����������� This set up a semi-final against Nadia Petrova, but Maria pulled out 20 minutes before the match with a lower left-leg strain. "I could not lift my foot up on the serve, and I could not run to more than two or three balls. It is just so weird how it came on. I have done it all in the last two hours: anti-inflammatories, deep-tissue massage, an ice-bath; I even had acupuncture in my ear. I'm not going to sit here and say this or that is the cause, because I don't know."
����������� Nevertheless, Maria's San Diego title and Los Angeles semi-final were enough for her to win the US Open Series.

Maria pulled out of the following week's Toronto tournament, citing fatigue after all the matches she'd played in the last two weeks. "I entered the event on the basis that my participation depended on my health and performance during the course of the summer," she wrote on her official website.

Maria opened her defence of the US Open with a blistering 6-0 6-1 victory (and she led 6-0 5-0) over Roberta Vinci in 50 minutes. Wearing her much-publicised red evening-dress, Maria served superbly, hit 30 winners, went to the net at every opportunity, and showed no signs of her shoulder- or leg-injuries.
����������� Maria said: "My serve becomes better when I jump forward and I move in. If I can add these things to my game now, it'll only make me a better player in the coming years. And to come in to defend my title when I am healthy, that's the best part."
����������� And the second round was a mirror-image of the first, as Maria blitzed Casey Dell'Acqua 6-1 6-0 in 51 minutes, with another 30 winners.
����������� Dell'Acqua was generous in her praise: "She played extremely well. I felt like I was on the back foot every point. If she got a first serve in, I was completely out of the point. She didn't give me a thing. I didn't get a free point. She is really focused out there. I think she'll most definitely go all the way. If she plays like that consistently, she's going to be hard to beat."
����������� Maria said: "This summer, I definitely feel like I'm playing better tennis, and one of the biggest factors is I feel healthy, and I'm not thinking about preventing something, or making something worse or not. I feel like I'm playing freely, and I know what I'm capable of doing on the court. When you don't feel 100%, it's pretty tough to do that, because you feel limited to your game. It's kind of refreshing to go out there and just be thinking of what you need to do to win the match.
����������� "It's only going to get tougher from here, so I'm looking forward to the challenge. My job out here is to be professional about what I do, respect each opponent, and go into each match thinking that it's going to be the toughest match of my life."
����������� But Maria came crashing down to Earth with a bump in the third round. Playing in the day-session (and therefore wearing a white dress instead of the red one in which she had been invincible), Maria's defence of her second Major title ended with a 6-4 1-6 6-2 loss to 30th seed Agnieszka Radwanska, as the 18-year-old became only the second player younger than Maria ever to beat her on the WTA Tour, the ITF Women's Circuit, or in a Major. From 4-6 *0-1, Maria won eight games in a row to lead *2-0 in the third set... then lost the last six games.
����������� Radwanska used the unusual and rather cheeky tactic of standing way in to receive serve - often right up to the service-line - and then retreating at the last moment. And Maria served 12 double faults. Radwanska said: "I knew that she hates it if somebody moves when she is serving. She was also very nervous with this, so I was trying to do something like this. So I knew I had a chance if I did it, and she made so many errors on her second serve."
����������� Maria, however, said: "I don't worry about what my opponent is doing. I usually don't think about where my opponent's standing. It will interesting to see if she does it again next time I play her. A lot of girls in her position on a big stage, in a big stadium, against a top player, sometimes get a little nervous. She held on there, and all the credit to her for winning the match.
����������� "When I won many games in a row, you'd think I'd have the momentum in the third set with a break. But I just didn't feel that way inside of me for some reason. I don't feel like I had that belief that I usually do. I don't know whether I put a lot of pressure on myself coming into this event, because I felt like I was starting to play a lot better. I felt really good. I don't know what happened. I could sit here and blame the wind and blame my opponent. But there are no excuses. I'm not going to throw myself a pity-party here."
����������� With Maria managing to defend only 90 of the 700 ranking-points from winning the US Open 2006, her ranking dropped from #2 to #4.

Maria was in Moscow to support the Russian Fed Cup team as they defeated Italy 4:0 in the final - but due to her persistent shoulder-injury, Maria was unable to play herself. She just practised with the Russian team, and cheered them on from the stands. Maria said: "I was visiting a doctor in Toronto, who said the best way to get rid of that 20% nagging shoulder-pain that I have left is if I don't put any impinging overhead-pressure on it for the next three weeks, which basically means I can't hit anything over my head."
����������� Anna Chakvetadze, who won the opening rubber of the final, didn't think it would have been right for Maria to play anyway. "If you haven't played Fed Cup all year, it wouldn't be fair just to show up for the final. It's not fair to all the other girls who committed themselves to the team's cause," she said. I agree with Anna's argument, and I think Maria did exactly the right thing by showing up but not playing, for scripture says that she who humbles herself shall be exalted.
����������� An ITF official was quoted on Maria's chances of playing the Beijing 2008 Olympics despite never having played Fed Cup: "Her presence in Moscow certainly didn't hurt. She was injured and couldn't play, but by being here, she clearly demonstrated her commitment to the Fed Cup, and that will certainly enhance her chances. It's a big plus for her."

Maria pulled out of Stuttgart (week of 1st October) with her right-shoulder injury, and was also planning to give Moscow a miss - but she wild-carded into the Russian tournament the week before it began, saying she felt fine. This proved to be a mistake, as she lost her second-round match to 18-year-old Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (11/9) 6-2, despite leading 5-3 (40/0) in the first set and having three more set-points in the tiebreak! It was Maria's second loss in a row - and both were to players younger than herself. It was also the first time since New Haven 2004 that she'd lost her opening match of a tournament.
����������� Maria said: "It all could have been different if I had played better in the first set, but it didn't go my way. Maybe I was too self-assured at 5-3. But it all went downhill after."
����������� Maria's ranking slipped from #4 to #5 - having been in the top 4 almost continuously since 16th November 2004 (the exception being three weeks in February/March 2006). On 29th October, she dropped to #6 - her first time outside the top 5 since 2004.

Maria pulled out of Z�rich and Linz with her right-shoulder injury - she was defending champion of both tournaments. Her sacrifice appeared to have paid off as the lucky loser who replaced her at Z�rich - Agnieszka Radwanska - beat Daniela Hantuchov�, who could have overtaken Maria in the Race to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships.
����������� However, Daniela did overtake Maria in the Race - by winning Linz! This meant that Maria and Daniela were tied at 2431 points each, and Daniela qualified ahead of Maria because she had played 26 tournaments in the year to Maria's 12. However, Maria got into the Sony Ericsson Championships anyway, when Venus Williams pulled out a few hours after Daniela won Linz.

So Maria went to Madrid for the Sony Ericsson Championships, and she came up with amazing form at perhaps the most unlikely time of her career so far. It was fitting that she found herself facing Daniela Hantuchov� in her first round-robin match. I thought Daniela had a good chance of beating Maria, seeing as Maria had played (and lost) only one match since losing in the third round of the US Open. But Daniela made a nervous start, then found Maria in top form; Daniela fought bravely in the second set, saving four match-points (one with a Hawkeye-challenge), but she couldn't stop Maria winning 6-4 7-5.
����������� Maria said: "For my first match, I think I did a good job being solid and just concentrating on what I had to do in order to win the match. I didn't worry about the other things like my shoulder, you know, or how I was gonna play. Like the doctors say, it can't get any worse playing. It's just a matter of going out there and not thinking that it's gonna hurt. I know what I can do. I know I've done it before, and I know if I'm not thinking about this or that, and I'm loose, then I play great. I'm here to fight for every point."
����������� Maria qualified for the semi-finals by beating world #2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-7 6-2 6-2 in her second round-robin match. Maria lost the first set after double-faulting at *5-6 (40/15), but won every game from 2-2* in the second, and the same in the third. This result also meant that Ana Ivanovic qualified for the semis instead of Kuznetsova (Daniela was already out of contention).
����������� Maria said: "She hurt me in the first set, but I got hold of myself, and stayed tough and positive, which was really good. I'm really happy I didn't just stay home and quit the season and not come out here! This will only make me physically stronger."
����������� Maria has been known to tank dead round-robin matches at this tournament before, but even though she and Ana Ivanovic had already qualified for the semi-finals, their final round-robin match was important, as it was known that the winner would have a mouthwatering semi-final against Anna Chakvetadze, while the girl who didn't win would have to face dominant world #1 Justine Henin.
����������� Maria thrashed Ana 6-1 6-2 to avenge her 6-2 6-1 loss in the French Open semi-finals - which she cited as her main motivation rather than avoiding Henin in the semi-finals. Ana looked nervous, while Maria seemed to have a magnet to the lines.
����������� Maria said: "I gave it my all, even though we both knew we'd already made it to the semis. We're both really big competitors, and we both wanted to win this match, and I don't like losing to the same player twice in a row. I really wanted to get my revenge whether this match counted or not."
����������� This set up a mouthwatering semi-final with Anna Chakvetadze, which was beyond my wildest dreams when the tournament began! Anna had lost five of her last six matches coming into this tournament, and although she rediscovered her form at Madrid, she did benefit from Serena Williams's retirement and an overplayed Jelena Jankovic as she qualified for the semis. Anna went the same way as Maria's three round-robin victims, as Maria thrashed her 6-2 6-2 in 1h14m to extend her head-to-head against Anna to 6:0, and to advance to a final against Henin.
����������� The momentum did start to go Anna's way when she was *0-4 in the second and managed a couple of easy holds of serve, but it was too little too late, and she looked close to tears. A telling statistic is that the players had five break-points each: Maria converted four, Anna not a one.
����������� Anna said: "It was tough today, because there were so many easy mistakes from me."
����������� Maria said: "I had break-points against me and I was able to serve my way out of it, and then I got some rhythm. I felt confident. It's pretty incredible, because if someone told me about two weeks ago that I was going to play the Championships, I would have been just happy to play. To be here is great, and to be in the final is even better. The most important thing is I've been able to serve without thinking about hurting my shoulder. I'm serving and playing freely."
����������� Maria lost a 3h25m marathon-final (the 12th-longest match in WTA history) to world #1 Justine Henin, who thus finished the year on a winning-streak of 25 matches since losing to Marion Bartoli in the Wimbledon semi-finals. I got the most terrible headache from following live scores on the Internet! Henin broke for *2-1 in the first set, but Maria broke back immediately, and again to take the set 7-5 (and end Henin's 12-set winning-streak) after a final game of 10 deuces and 8 set-points! The second set went with serve until *4-4, then three breaks in a row left Henin to serve it out 7-5.
����������� In the third set, Henin broke for *2-1, but Maria staged an impressive fightback to level up at *3-3. But Maria was very tired, had difficulty breathing due to a congested nose, her shoulder was hurting, and Henin won 8 of the next 9 points to lead 5-3*. After a game of 6 deuces and 4 championship-points, Maria got caught in no-man's-land and poked a forehand into the net to lose 5-7 7-5 6-3.
����������� Henin said: "This was one of the best moments of my career. To finish an amazing year with an amazing match - the longest I've ever played - makes me very happy. In the third set, it was much more mental and physical. It was a tough last game: we were both dead. What a way to finish the season."
����������� Maria said: "It's been a pretty rough year for me with all the injuries, and two weeks ago, I didn't even know if I was going to play here, let alone get to the final. I only came here hoping to get as many matches as possible, and this happens. It's more than I expected. I'm so thankful to have got here. I hope we can play many more times so I can get my revenge."
����������� Maria was in tears at the presentation-ceremony, which she explained on her official website: "I'm usually not a very emotional person when it comes to crying and stuff, but after this match, I just had tears running down my eyes because I couldn't believe that I was able to finish this year on such a good note. It's like I cried everything out that was stuck inside of me: all the emotions, stress, thoughts.... Ahhh, what a relief."
����������� Maria rose one place to a year-end ranking of #5, making 2007 the fourth year in a row in which she'd finished in the top 5.

Maria played an exhibition against Anna Chakvetadze at Singapore on 30th December - just 12 days after Anna had been tied up by burglars who broke into her house! (Anna was reportedly still nursing some injuries where they had hit her, including a minor finger-injury). Maria put in a dazzling array of blistering first serves and baseline-winners to win 6-0 7-6 (12/10), although Anna led 5-2 in the second set. Maria said: "Anna started playing great in the second set, and all of a sudden I found myself in a battle."

Showing improved mobility and net-play, Maria made a perfect start to 2008, winning her third Major at the Australian Open without dropping a set, making her long-awaited Fed Cup d�but by winning two rubbers for Russia, winning her second Doha-title, and taking an 18:0 win/loss record into the semi-finals of Indian Wells. She also won her first-ever claycourt-title at Amelia Island, and became world #1 for three weeks when Justine Henin retired in May, giving her a career-total of 17 weeks at #1.

However, Maria's right-shoulder injury returned with a vengeance to ruin the second half of the season for her. She first re-injured it when stretching for a backhand at Indian Wells, and while I have insufficient evidence to blame it for her poor form at the French Open (where she lost in the fourth round), she did cite it as her reason for withdrawing from Miami and Eastbourne, and when she crashed out of Wimbledon in the second round, the BBC commentators said her service-action had gone faulty: that she was hitting the ball behind her, and that she was facing the side-stands but not uncoiling into her serve.

After winning her opening match at Montr�al, Maria pulled out of that tournament, and was out of action for the rest of the year, missing the Beijing Olympics, the US Open, the Fed Cup final, Z�rich and Linz, and the Sony Ericsson Championships at Doha. Her ranking plunged to #9, but because she won a Major, I consider 2008 to be the third-best year of her career behind 2004 and 2006. She won 89% of her matches (32:4) - the highest winning-percentage of anyone in 2008 - and I believe she would have continued to dominate the WTA Tour for the whole year, but for that <resists the temptation to insert the present participle of a very emotive verb> shoulder-injury.

Maria started the year as runner-up at the JB Group Classic exhibition-tournament in Hong Kong (which doesn't count against her official 18:0 start to the season). In the first round (quarter-finals), she thrashed 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-2, then said: "I've had one of the best off-seasons that I've had in my career. I was able to play some good shots and get myself out of trouble."
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria beat Anna Chakvetadze 6-4 6-2 to extend their unofficial head-to-head to 8:0. The first five games went against serve, with Maria making forehand-errors, before Maria's serve started working. Anna had some "wonderful moments", but couldn't put Maria under any concerted pressure. Maria said: "I missed a few shots, but as long as I do the right things by the time the Australian Open comes, everything will be working."
����������� In the final, Maria lost 6-4 6-3 to Wimbledon-champion Venus Williams in sweltering heat. Williams dominated with big serves, hard, deep groundstrokes, and her speed around the court. Games went with serve (and without break-points) until *4-5, when Maria missed a couple of backhands. In the second set, Maria was erratic, but saved two championship-points at *2-5 before Williams served it out in the next game.
����������� Maria said: "When your opponent is serving big and serving consistently well, you really have to take your chances on opportunities you have on second serves, which I think I did a poor job on. It felt like a matter of three or four points here and there, which would have easily changed this, but that is what tennis is about."

Maria won the third Major of her career at the Australian Open. The surface had changed to Plexicushion, which suits Maria's game better than the Rebound Ace of 1988-2007 as the ball tends to bounce lower, helping her to take the ball early, and giving her more pay-off for her hard, flat groundstrokes.
����������� Maria started with a somewhat-tougher-than-expected 6-4 6-3 win over #102-ranked Jelena Kostanic To�ic, which set up an intriguing second-round clash with former world #1 Lindsay Davenport, who had returned from a year's maternity-leave in September 2007, winning three Tier III/IV titles.
����������� I was pretty worried about the Davenport-match, but Maria turned in a brilliant performance to win 6-1 6-3. I saw it on BBCi, and Maria was on another planet: she was particularly determined and ruthless, moved particularly well, and her groundstrokes were particularly sharp, precise and accurate. "I approached it like a final," she admitted.
����������� In the third round, the sexy Elena Vesnina was a tasty mouthful for Maria to devour: 6-3 6-0, although it was closely contested until Maria broke for *4-3. "When it got close, I felt I had a huge advantage," said Maria.
����������� In the fourth round, Maria thrashed 11th seed Elena Dementieva 6-2 6-0 in 1h02m, allowing Dementieva to win just 37% of points on her (Dementieva's) first serve and none at all on her second serve! "I wanted to make sure I kept my focus all the way through," said Maria.
����������� This set up a quarter-final against dominant world #1 Justine Henin, who had won 32 matches in a row since losing to Marion Bartoli in the semi-finals of Wimbledon 2007. Maria snapped Henin's winning-streak by tearing her apart like a ravenous greyhound: 6-4 6-0. Maria outplayed Henin with big serves, powerful groundstrokes, spreading rallies, plenty of forays to the net, and dipping passes to Henin's feet. Maria did have a little stutter at the end of the first set, as she let 5-2* become 5-4*, and was lucky to close it out there after a marathon-game of four deuces. But she won the second set with absolute authority, putting Henin under constant pressure with her returns.
����������� Maria: "I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do. I was trying to get every single ball out there. I felt like I was in my own bubble today. It's amazing when you go out on the court and feel you're doing the right things to beat such an amazing player as her."
����������� With this win, Maria improved to 3:6 against Henin, and that head-to-head was set in concrete when Henin abruptly retired from tennis in May.
����������� Maria went into the semi-finals as the overwhelming favourite against Jelena Jankovic, who was struggling with a lower-back injury. And so it proved, as Maria thrashed the third seed (who would go on to finish the year ranked #1, despite not having won a Major) 6-3 6-1 in 1h03m. And again, Maria's only moment of concern was when she let 5-0* in the first set become *5-3.
����������� Maria: "I was up 5-0 and playing too good for my own level. I was playing solid tennis and doing all the right things, but I let it slip. She's always dangerous when she's down. I was happy I was able to close that first set out and then get through the second.
����������� "I think that I've been able to execute the things that I've been wanting to do, and I've been able to do it consistently - not just for three, four games and then have a major letdown. The most important thing is to be at your best for a long period of time."
����������� Jankovic: "Everything she hit, each strike was amazing. She didn't make a mistake. She was just on a roll. I was thinking, 'When is she going to wake up from her dream?'"
����������� This set up a glamorous final against fourth seed but world #3 Ana Ivanovic, who was playing in her second Major final (the first being the French Open 2007 - she froze in that final, but would return to win the French Open 2008).
����������� Maria and Ana looked great and sounded great (in terms of their grunting), although the match wasn't that great, as both girls played brilliantly in patches but also made some horrendous errors, and never really played their best at the same time. Perhaps the 34�C heat was to blame.
����������� Maria was playing brilliantly as she took a 4-2* lead, but then completely disintegrated, throwing in three double faults at *4-3. Then Ana hit top form, hitting winners at will until she had Maria serving at *4-5 (0/30). But then Ana's winners suddenly turned into wild mishits - including an infamous dropshot into the bottom of the net at 15/30 - and Maria took the first set 7-5.
����������� The second set was more settled, games going with serve until 3-3*. Then Ana threw in a bad service-game, and it wasn't long before Maria sealed her third Major by converting her third championship-point at 5-3* (30/40).
����������� Both girls gave very emotional speeches: Ana started crying as she thanked the crowd, and Maria was close to tears herself as she dedicated her victory to her coach Michael Joyce's mother Jane, who died of cancer in 2007.
����������� Ana: "In some important moments, I mishit a lot. I knew I had to be aggressive, and that type of game will obviously cause more mistakes. I felt a little bit let down with my forehand, making some big mistakes in crucial moments."
����������� Maria: "This was probably the toughest draw that I've ever had in a Grand Slam [sic], but I'm the champion here. When you're putting the work in, it just seems so hard, and you never know when that work's gonna pay off. When you're going through tough moments, you never know when you're going to have good moments. I'm just so thankful that I got this one, especially after some of the tough losses that I've had. I don't think I'm at the peak of my career yet. I've got many things I can still improve."
����������� Despite winning the Australian Open, Maria remained at #5 in the rankings.

Maria made her long-awaited Fed Cup d�but on 2nd February, as Russia beat Israel 4:1 in the first round of the World Group. Playing against a partisan crowd at Ramat Hasharon, Maria levelled the tie at 1:1 with a 6-0 6-4 win over Tzipi Obziler - after leading 5-1 in the second set - and said: "It was very weird to come on court being down one-love. Usually when I play a match, both players start at the same level. I got really anxious and excited as I was close to finishing my first Fed Cup match."
����������� Maria then put Russia 2:1 up with a 6-1 6-1 drubbing of world #17 Shahar Pe'er, who said: "I couldn't win the important points. Her unforced errors were only on the points which weren't important."
����������� Maria: "She actually gave me confidence because she was encouraging the crowd. In a way, I felt she was telling me: 'I need their help; I can't do it on my own.'"
����������� Anna Chakvetadze sealed the tie 3:1 with a win over Obziler, and sadly, Maria played no further part in Russia's 2008 Fed Cup campaign. She missed the semi-finals in April (Russia beat the United States of America 3:2) because they had agreed that she would only play in one of the first two ties, and the final in September (Russia beat Spain 4:0) due to her right-shoulder injury.

Maria extended her official start to the season to 14:0 as she won her second Doha-title (the first was in 2005 - she now has a perfect 9:0 record at Doha). In the second round, she dropped her first set of the year against #126-ranked qualifier Galina Voskoboeva before winning 6-4 4-6 6-1 in very windy conditions. "It was very difficult to play my game, and I just had to do whatever it took to survive to another day," said Maria.
����������� In the third round, Maria beat qualifier Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-2 6-2, and in the quarter-finals, she thrashed 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki 6-0 6-1 in less than an hour - so dominant that she was uncharacteristically rushing between points. Maria lost only 8 points in the first set, but had to save four break-points at 6-0 *4-1. She said: "I think it was easy because I did all the right things today. There were a few games which were close, but I did well to win them."
����������� In the semi-finals, Maria avenged her US Open 2007 loss by beating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 6-3. Before the match, she said: "I was hoping she would win today so I could get an opportunity to go out and play against her again."
����������� And after the match: "It wasn't an easy match as she got a lot of balls back, but I was able to dig in and get winners myself. At the beginning of the match, I was down a break, and at that stage, I was just trying to get my feet into the match. I was very close to being down 3-0, and that's a tough position to be in."
����������� This set up a mouthwatering final with Vera Zvonar�va: Maria won 6-1 2-6 6-0 to extend their head-to-head to 5:3. Vera, of course, would go on to make another final at Doha later in 2008 - at the season-ending championships! Vera was only ranked #27 going into Doha, but she would finish the year at #7 - two places above Maria.
����������� The game at 6-1 *2-5 felt very important at the time, as Maria saved four set-points (including 0/40) and had two game-points before Vera was fifth time lucky to take the second set. But Maria rampaged through the third in 20 minutes, dropping just 8 points!
����������� Maria: "I had a really slow start. I was kind of sleeping in the beginning of the match. I had to get myself going somehow and I did, and I played really, really well. I had so many opportunities in the beginning of the second set but I didn't take them, and she's the type of opponent that's going to play her best tennis when she's playing from behind and has nothing to lose. That's happened to me with her before. Her level just comes up, and mine dropped. I felt like my energy was going down. I wasn't moving or hitting the same way, and I needed something to get me going. I think that first game of the third set was very important. There were a couple of rallies at the start of it when I scrambled to win them, which gave me a lot of confidence. I felt like things were changing after that."
����������� Vera: "It was a tough one. She started off really well and I didn't really know what to do. She was really aggressive and didn't give me a chance. Then I found my game a little bit better and caused her trouble in the second. I think the first game of the third set was an important game on my serve. I lost it, and then she took a 3-0 lead, and it was really tough to stop her after that."

Maria pulled out of Dubai with a virus, so her next tournament was Indian Wells. As at Doha, she started in the second round against a #126-ranked qualifier: this time thrashing St�phanie Cohen-Aloro 6-1 6-0 in 58 minutes in windy conditions. "Obviously, you never know what kind of tennis you're going to produce in these kind of conditions," said Maria. "Against an opponent that didn't give me much rhythm, I think I handled it pretty well."
����������� In the third round, Maria extended her head-to-head against Eleni Daniilidou to 6:0 with a 7-5 6-3 victory, having led 5-3 in the first set. Maria said: "It was a very scratchy match from my side from the beginning. I was just not seeing the ball well, not moving that great. She doesn't quite give you a lot of rhythm, which I should pick up really fast, and I didn't do that well today. You know, I wasn't moving well throughout the first set. I was Grandpa Joe out there! But it got better towards the end of the second set. I started seeing the ball better and moving in. I was just not moving in after my shots at all."
����������� In the fourth round, Maria had a tough match against beautiful world #24 Alyona Bondarenko, who had thrashed a fading Am�lie Mauresmo 6-1 6-2 in the previous round! Maria won 6-2 5-7 6-4 in 2h45m. She made 68 unforced errors, but seemed to put added zip on her serves and groundstrokes after Bondarenko went up 4-3* in the third set. This was the match in which Maria first re-injured her shoulder, when stretching for a backhand.
����������� Maria: "I did a solid job of winning that first set, and had so many opportunities in the second set to finish it off. I was up a couple of breaks and just couldn't. I was like a little kid doing a beaded bracelet. I would put four beads together and they would all fall down, and then I'd start all over again. I felt like I was pretty close to being down and out, because I wasn't able to produce good points for a long period of time. I was just tough in the end, and it gets me through a lot of matches."
����������� This set up a mouthwatering quarter-final clash with defending champion Daniela Hantuchov�: then ranked #8. With Maria on a 17-match winning-streak in 2008, and Daniela on a 9-match winning-streak at Indian Wells, something had to give!
����������� Daniela before the match: "It's going to be an exciting match. Maria's obviously in great form, so it will be a good test for me. I feel like I own this place and I'm confident, but obviously if I want to win, I have to play my best. I think mentally she's one of the toughest players. Even though sometimes her game is not there, she never fights against herself. She is always on her side, and that's what makes her so strong."
����������� Maria before the match: "Considering two of the three titles she's won were here, of course those would be her words. She's playing well this year, but this is a different part of the year and a new match. We've played each other numerous times, and we know each other's games well. I've had success here, and over the years, I've played great tennis and had many good memories here. But, you know, it all comes down to the person that takes their chances and is more solid."
����������� That person turned out to be Maria. Daniela led 5-2* in the first set and had two set-points - including 5-4* (40/30) - but she couldn't take her chances, and Maria ran out a 7-6(2) 6-1 winner.
����������� Maria: "In the first set, I felt like I didn't even belong on that court, but I finally got my groove back. My level just was so low in that first set. I was making so many errors, and she had that first set in her hands, but she just didn't take her opportunities. She did everything better than I did in the first set, and somehow I ended up winning it. That gave me the confidence, and in the end of that set, I started to pick it up. The second set was great."
����������� Daniela: "I had my chances and didn't take them today. I lost my concentration in that first set, and she took advantage of that. But she's playing very well, hasn't lost this season, so she really deserves it. Obviously I feel like it's my tournament, so I'm very disappointed. But I feel good about my game right now, and am happy to have come back and played well after being sick."
����������� Maria's unbeaten start to the season was stopped at 18 matches by world #3 Svetlana Kuznetsova, who won their semi-final 6-3 5-7 6-2 to level their head-to-head at 4:4. Kuznetsova was more aggressive and hit closer to the lines than Maria.
����������� Maria: "I was playing with a much slower pace than I normally play with. I wasn't going for my shots as I normally do, and I wasn't seeing the ball that good. I'm human. I'm allowed to make a few mistakes in my life and career. That kind of was the story today. There were a couple of important points that could have changed the match, and she ended up winning them. I think from that she gained confidence, and kind of steamrolled after that in the third set. She's a very tough, tough player. She's not number 2 or 3 in the world for nothing. I give her a lot of respect for her consistency and how strong she is, and how many balls she gets back."
����������� Kuznetsova: "I don't think Maria played like always she can play. Neither did I. The first set was so-so, the second better, and in the third, we both got our game. It was a good match."

Maria pulled out of Miami citing a shoulder-injury: "It's a combination of both [the shoulder and general fatigue]. I reached out for a backhand return and tweaked it a little bit. It's nowhere near as bad as last year, but you become very cautious and a bit scared. I'm playing a lot of tennis, been flying a lot. It's pretty much been non-stop with all the tournaments I've been playing, and Fed Cup as well. It takes a toll on your body and your mind as well. You feel like you have to go out on the court and spend a lot of emotion and energy out there, and sometimes you just don't have it for every match.
����������� "As a 20-year-old, I've got to kind of stand up and make some mature decisions that will help me throughout my career, you know. I'm sure that there's a pretty big fine [Miami is a mandatory tournament], but the body is more important than a fine."

Maria then turned her attention to the claycourt-season. Unlike previous years, when she would just play a couple of European red-clay tournaments within three weeks of the French Open, in 2008 she started with the American green-clay tournaments in April. "I'm actually glad in a way that I get to start early and I get a heads-up on my feel on clay. Year by year, I feel better on [clay]. I feel more confident."
����������� Maria focused her training on leg-strength in preparation for the long, draining rallies on clay (particularly red clay, which is slower than the green Har-Tru of Amelia Island and Charleston). "I'll have to use that strength. Every day that I was working, I was like, 'This is for the French. This is for my third round. This is for my fourth. This is for my quarters.' It's a mental thing."

Maria reached her first claycourt-final and won her first claycourt-title at Amelia Island. In the second round, she thrashed world #149 Barbora Z�hlavov� Str�cov� 6-1 6-3, forcing the qualifier into fits! Z�hlavov� Str�cov� threw her racket, slammed it against her shoe and the ground, and yelled at herself and even the umpire.
����������� In the third round, Maria edged past claycourt-specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-6(3) 5-7 7-6(1) in 3h27m. Maria was up a set and a break, but then found herself *0-3 down in the third. She won 5 games in a row to lead 5-3*, but she was rattled by a controversial line-call, and went *5-6 down before dominating the last two games.
����������� Maria: "I think I should have won the match in two sets, to be honest. But I stopped hitting the ball, and I kind of let her back in the match. It's the game of tennis: it can change really fast. This is her specialty; this is where she does best. She grew up on this stuff, and she's very familiar with it.
����������� "When you're down 5-6 after being 5-3 up, you're just trying to think of the right things, and just focusing on what you have to do in order to win point by point. I played a really good game to get it even, and I just thought. 'You have to do the same thing in the tiebreaker.' In those situations, after three hours or so, it all comes down to the heart and how tough you are. The forehands or backhands don't mean much after that."
����������� In the quarter-finals, Maria came through another tough three-setter against Alyona Bondarenko: 6-7(9) 6-3 6-2. Maria squandered three set-points in the first-set tiebreak, but the momentum turned in her favour when she broke for *4-2 in the second; Alyona lost her composure and never recovered.
����������� Maria: "I was really tentative when I had those set-points. Somehow, I scrambled my way out of it in the second. She looked like she was getting a little tired. I thought I recovered pretty well, considering it was a short turnaround [since her third-round match]. I was pretty impressed with the way I mentally hung in there. I could easily have let it go in the second set with the way I let the first set get away. I would have loved to have finished this match off as quickly as I can. But I'm here to learn. I want to get as many matches in as I can before the French."
����������� Maria advanced to her first claycourt-final on a walkover as Lindsay Davenport pulled out of their semi-final with a fever, giving Maria a much-needed day off after playing for a combined duration of 6h11m on Thursday and Friday! "I came into this tournament wanting some practice, but you have to be careful what you wish for! I've obviously been playing a few more hours than I wanted to in the last few days," admitted Maria (after saying all the right things about Davenport's withdrawal).
����������� In the final, Maria was facing 18-year-old world #34 Dominika Cibulkov�: one of the shortest (5'3") and fastest players on the WTA Tour, and playing in her first WTA singles-final.
����������� Maria led 3-1* in the first set; Domi fought back; Maria served for the first set at *5-4, but it went to a tiebreak in which Domi led 4/2, and Maria needed three set-points (6/5*, *7/6, 8/7*) to win the first set 7-6 (9/7).
����������� Domi led *2-1 in the second set before taking a medical time-out to get her left quadriceps-muscle wrapped. Domi couldn't run so well after that, and Maria took advantage with ruthless spreading rallies. Maria won 7-6(7) 6-3 to become the first player to win three WTA singles-titles in 2008.
����������� Maria: "She's a jack-rabbit: she gets to everything! I was making a few unforced errors in that opening set, but I didn't let that bother me. I still had to go for my shots, because that's the way I play. Try to move in, look for short balls and come in more often. I sometimes hesitate doing that even on hard courts. On clay, it's just so much more important. Hopefully with experience, I can be able to move in a little bit more, and take a few more balls out of the air."
����������� [Re. her semi-final walkover] "Obviously, a big advantage. It's a lot easier on the body just practising for an hour than going out and playing a match against a tough opponent. I had a few tough ones earlier in the week, but my body held up throughout the tournament."
����������� Domi: "I had a lot of chances. I missed so many easy shots. I made quite stupid mistakes today. If you want to beat her, you can't make this many mistakes. Today I felt a little more tired... and I pulled the muscle some time in the first set. I tried to end the points a little quicker after that. I didn't want to run around on the court after that, as it would feel worse."
����������� Maria's excellent start to 2008 was finally rewarded with a rise in the rankings on 14th April, when she rose from #5 to #4.

In the second round of Charleston, Maria scored her first double bagel since ITF Peachtree 2002 as she won 6-0 6-0 against world #151 Bethanie Mattek, who had won the doubles at Amelia Island! Maria converted all six break-points she had.
����������� The third round was a bit tougher, as world #66 Tatiana Perebiynis had a set-point in the first set before Maria won 7-5 6-2. This set up a quarter-final against Maria's old nemesis Serena Williams, who had sprained her right ankle in the previous round. "I'm looking forward to getting my revenge," said Maria.
����������� But it was not to be, as Maria's head-to-head against Serena deteriorated to 2:5 with a 7-5 4-6 6-1 loss on Maria's last day as a 20-year-old. Maria had a set-point at *5-4 in the first set, then lost 10 points in a row. She won only 9 points in the third set.
����������� Maria: "If I did take that set-point, or if I had taken a couple of those important points, I would have won the second and the match would have been over in two. I gave it all I had in the first two, and I think I ran a little bit short. My body is adjusting to the clay faster. I'm moving on it a lot better than I used to."
����������� Maria's ranking rose one more place to #3, as her Charleston quarter-final was enough to cross the narrow gap between her and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Maria pulled out of Berlin (week of 3rd May), saying she wasn't fit without citing a specific injury. "I informed the WTA several months ago that if I played Charleston, I would have to pull out of Berlin. Now they are forcing me to give an injury for the reason why I am pulling out, or they will give me an additional fine on top of the $125,000 fine already given to me. I am a very giving person, but I refuse to give any more of my money to the WTA Tour. So I want everyone to know that besides getting sick the past few days, I am healthy and I am looking forward to playing Rome."
����������� Maria rose to #2 in the rankings on 12th May - after Ana Ivanovic failed to defend her title at Berlin.

Maria's relationship with the WTA was further strained when they tried to force her to do a four-hour photo-shoot on the eve of Rome. "I have set my own personal rules when it comes to doing shoots, and I never do shoots before tournaments, because they are mentally draining and I want to just focus on my tennis. Now the WTA is telling me [that] if I don't do this shoot, they will fine me over $300,000. As you can see, the WTA Tour loves to fine players," ranted Maria. In the end, the WTA compromised by reducing Maria's shoot to 90 minutes.
����������� The second round of Rome saw a repeat of the Amelia Island final between Maria and Dominika Cibulkov�. This time, Maria won 6-2 3-6 6-4: she needed seven set-points to win the first set, and struggled with her serve in the second and third before ultimately overpowering her much shorter opponent. She failed to serve out the match at *5-3 in the third (two double faults), but broke in the next game to seal the win in 2h50m.
����������� Maria: "I knew I had a really tough opponent. I guess I can just say I'm lucky to get through it. It isn't easy to hold serve against someone who hits back so well. She definitely [outplayed] me a few times today. But I know where I went wrong."
����������� In the third round, Maria showed more power and depth, and took another two hours to see off 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 7-6(3). Maria was 1-5* down in the second set, won 5 games in a row, but failed to serve it out from *6-5 (30/15).
����������� Maria: "I'm making way too many unforced errors. That's something I'm going to have to work on, because not too many players are going to let me back in the set like Wozniacki today. I went to sleep at 2 or 2:30 [after her second round], and waking up was very difficult this morning, but obviously experience helps in those situations. The most important thing now is recovery."
����������� In the quarter-finals, Maria scored her 300th career-victory to avenge her 2005 loss to Patty Schnyder, against whom she is now 7:1, but it was another tough match: 6-7(3) 7-5 6-2. Maria recovered from 2-5 in the first set, saving three set-points at 4-5 before losing it anyway on the tiebreak. The match took 2h44m and finished close to midnight, so Maria didn't get to bed until 03:24!
����������� Maria: "I looked at my watch because I knew you guys would ask me that question. For some people, like me, I had two night-matches, two late nights. It's a pretty short turnaround to be able to compete.
����������� "In the beginning of the match, I was just making too many errors. As the match went on, I for some reason became a little more comfortable, I started playing a little smarter, stepped in and started doing what I do best, which is being aggressive and not letting my opponent get back into the points. This is just practice for the French, and I want to play a lot, but I've got to be careful with what I wish for, because I'm having a lot of court-time!"
����������� Maria pulled out of her semi-final with a left-calf strain sustained during that quarter-final, giving Jelena Jankovic a walkover. "Last night, I had 2� to 3 hours of treatment and it felt good, but when I woke up this morning, it was really sore. They said I need maybe three days off before they test it again," said Maria.

On Wednesday 14th May, Justine Henin shocked the tennis-world by announcing her immediate retirement from tennis, despite holding the world #1 ranking and the French and US Open titles, and being widely expected to add to the seven Majors that she won in her career. Henin asked the WTA to remove her from the rankings (had she not done so, she would have remained #1 until the French Open came off on 9th June), so Maria rose to #1 on 19th May, having previously held the top ranking for seven weeks in 2005 and another seven in 2007.
����������� Maria's reaction to Henin's retirement was pretty disturbing for her fans: "If I was 25 and I'd won so many Grand Slams [sic], I'd quit too."

Maria looked anything but a world #1 as she struggled through the early rounds of the French Open. In the first round, in windy conditions that kept blowing red dust up into her face, she beat world #103 Evgeniya Rodina 6-1 3-6 8-6. Maria served 17 double faults and made countless cheap groundstroke-errors, and at *3-4 in the third, when she faced three break-points including 15/40, she was in great danger of becoming the first top seed at the French Open to lose in the first round in the Open Era.
����������� Maria: "I was quite tentative. I was giving her the opportunities to take control of the points, and not really playing the way I play my game. I was trying to maybe be somebody else that I'm not, and that can get you into trouble. It did today."
����������� It was a similar story in the second round against #106-ranked qualifier Bethanie Mattek, whom Maria had beaten 6-0 6-0 at Charleston. After winning the first set easily, Maria was in a hurry to finish the match as darkness fell on Thursday evening, but Mattek started playing inspired tennis, and it was suspended for the day at *2-3. Maria was just as erratic on Friday, dropping the second set but completing an unconvincing 6-2 3-6 6-2 victory.
����������� Maria: "I'm not a clay-court specialist that's going to stand 10 feet behind the baseline and retrieve balls back. I'm going to stick to my guns and do what I do best. You're going to have to hit more balls, and you're going to have to move a few extra steps to the ball. You have to be more patient. I'm definitely getting better at that, and I'm getting smarter out there."
����������� Maria actually managed to get her third round done in two sets for once: 7-6(4) 6-0 against world #38 Karin Knapp, who played very well in the first set, with big serves and huge groundstrokes. But Maria raised her game to a much higher level than in her first two rounds to win a tight first set and then storm through the second as Knapp took a nap.
����������� Maria: "It was like my twin sister was here, and then Maria actually made her flight and made it for the second set. I definitely became a lot more aggressive and stepped in, and didn't give her too many easy balls."
����������� [Re. 36 double faults for the tournament so far] "I've double-faulted numerous amounts of times in my career. It's fine."
����������� This set up a fourth-round showdown against 13th seed Dinara Safina, to whom Maria had lost in the fourth round in 2006 after leading 5-1* in the third set! And Safina pulled off another unbelievable comeback this time: Maria led 7-6 5-2* (after saving two set-points in the first-set tiebreak, which she won 8/6), actually had a match-point at *5-3 (40/30), and also led *5/2 in the second-set tiebreak before losing the last 5 points of the set. Maria had nothing left for the third, so Safina won 6-7(6) 7-6(5) 6-2 to level their head-to-head at 3:3.
����������� Maria: "I had many opportunities, but I guess it was a combination of not taking those chances and being a little unlucky at times. It went in the wrong direction really fast."
����������� Safina even repeated the feat in her quarter-final, recovering from 4-6 2-5* and match-point down at *3-5 to beat Elena Dementieva; she then beat Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach her first Major final.
����������� On 9th June, just three weeks after Maria regained the #1 ranking, she lost it to Ana Ivanovic, who won the French Open for her first Major (although once the quarter-finals were completed, it was already known that whoever won the Ivanovic v Jelena Jankovic semi-final would become #1). Kuznetsova's failure to reach the final made Maria #2.

Much to my disappointment, Maria declined to make her usual late entry into Birmingham following her French Open defeat, as she wanted to clear up any niggling injury-concerns ahead of Wimbledon. She then pulled out of Eastbourne citing her right-shoulder injury, although I was surprised that she even entered, considering that she never likes to play the week before a Major.
����������� Due to a strange quirk in the rankings, Maria dropped to #3 on 16th June as her points from reaching the final of Birmingham 2007 came off, but Jelena Jankovic overtook her despite not playing Birmingham herself when she was the defending champion! You see, the rankings only count each player's best 17 tournaments from the last 52 weeks, and Jankovic had 100 points from her 18th-best tournament to replace her Birmingham 2007 points, while Maria had only played 15 tournaments in that period. Maria went back up to #2 on 23rd June when Jankovic's points from 's-Hertogenbosch 2007 came off, but with the Wimbledon-seedings being based on the 16th June rankings, Maria was seeded third for Wimbledon instead of second.

Maria payed dearly for something - whether it was her shoulder-injury, her decision not to play a grasscourt warm-up tournament, or her decision to wear shorts - as she crashed out of Wimbledon in the second round: her earliest-ever exit from Wimbledon, and from any Major since the US Open 2003.
����������� There was little sign in the first round of things to come, as Maria beat St�phanie Foretz 6-1 6-4, blowing the #105-ranked qualifier away with a brilliant display of hard, sweet hitting - although she once again struggled to close out the match, errors creeping into her game as she lost two games from 6-1 *5-2.
����������� In the second round, however, Maria crashed to a disgusting 6-2 6-4 loss against world #154 Alla Kudryavtseva. It was very windy, and Maria made countless cheap errors - so often in the past, she's been strong enough mentally to find a way to win, but this time, she just couldn't snap out of it, and the BBC commentators said that her service-action had gone faulty.
����������� Maria: "I thought I played a really solid first round, felt pretty comfortable. But you just never know what's going to happen on a given day. You might go out there, not feel great, or your game's not quite there. Your opponent can take advantage of that - especially somebody that is playing a top player, that has not much to lose. Sometimes those opponents are the most dangerous ones.
����������� "It was a bit swirly out there, and I felt like she was going for her shots, and I was becoming more tentative as she was hitting the ball deeper. I was basically not playing my game, and that's always tough, because if it's not you out there, things don't go too well."
����������� Kudryavtseva: "It's very pleasant to beat Maria. Why? I don't like her outfit. If I'm not afraid to go and play her, I'm not afraid she can catch me in the dressing-room and tell me: 'You don't like my outfit? You're wrong!' I will say: 'Well, I'm sorry; that's just my opinion.'"
����������� Maria's early exit saw her drop back to #3 in the rankings of 7th July.

Maria's next tournament was Montr�al, where she played with a new racket. Prior to the tournament, she wrote: "Ever since Indian Wells and that backhand-incident, I haven't been able to get my arm up and close to my head without some sort of impingement and grinding, so I've been trying different rackets with different weight-balances that are a bit more flexible, and the strings looser to get as much tension away from my arm as possible. So for the last week, I have been playing with a new frame."
����������� Maria started Montr�al with a chance to regain the #1 ranking, but she withdrew after just one match, and it turned out to be her last tournament of the year, which she would finish ranked #9.
����������� On 30th July, Maria struggled to a 7-5 5-7 6-2 win over world #56 Marta Domachowska in the second round, serving 17 double faults, and twice needing treatment on her right shoulder. She got the win but immediately pulled out of the tournament, giving third-round opponent Ai Sugiyama a walkover.
����������� Maria: "Bad news, because I'm withdrawing. It was pretty obvious out there. Coming into this tournament, I wasn't quite sure if I was going to be able to compete. Tomorrow I will go for an MRI.
����������� "It's obviously unfortunate. You know, you try to do every little possible thing you can. But at the end of the day, when you go on court and you're thinking about aggravating things - you're thinking about an injury - it's not really the way to play. It's tough to go on court and not be close to even 50%. I'm too good of a player to go out there and try to fight through something that I think can eventually become something serious.
����������� "In the last few weeks, I've been trying to find a solution to the aggravation I did to the shoulder back at Indian Wells in one of my matches. I haven't found the solution yet. I just spoke to a couple of doctors, and they advised me to try to find the cause of the problem, what's causing my bursitis, because they think there's something else behind it rather than just that."

On 31st July - the day after her match at Montr�al - Maria pulled out of the Beijing Olympics, for which she had bent over backwards to be eligible. "There's no chance of me competing in Beijing," she said. "The timing is so unfortunate, and this makes me more sad than anything.
����������� "After yesterday's match, I knew there was something seriously wrong with my shoulder. After taking a few different exams and MRIs this morning, the doctors found two small tears in the tendons of my shoulder.
����������� "There are so many mixed feelings, because last night they were almost positive there was something wrong with my nerve, which could have ultimately been much more serious. But after the tests this morning, for the first time in a while, they were able to give me a different answer and a different problem. But, on the other hand, this is something that needs a lot of time to heal, which really hurts me to say that I have to miss the Olympics."
����������� Maria was replaced with Vera Zvonar�va, who won the Bronze Medal as part of an all-Russian podium-sweep (Elena Dementieva won Gold, and Dinara Safina won Silver).

On 1st August, Maria also pulled out of the US Open - the first Major she would miss after playing 23 Majors in a row since her Major d�but in 2003. "It hurts me so much to miss the Olympics and the US Open, you have no idea," she said.
����������� "[Dr. David] Altchek looked at all my tests from April and today, and informed me that I have been playing with a moderate tear in my rotator-cuff tendon since April. He actually couldn't believe that I've been playing this long with this injury. You can imagine that I was not very thrilled to hear that my medical team did not see this tear in my shoulder back in April. The good news is that it didn't get much worse since April, but we could have started the healing-time back then instead of now.
����������� "Once I'm healthy, I'm sure I'll look at this as a blessing in disguise. Right now it's a bit painful, of course, but every athlete goes through these patches, and I'm just grateful that this isn't as bad as it could have been. The doctor does not believe that I need surgery, and is sending me to work with a specialist in Arizona next week to do extensive rehab and strength-work, and he believes that I should be ready to play in two to three months."

On 4th August, Maria dropped one place to #4 in the rankings as her points for winning San Diego 2007 came off, and she dropped to #5 the following week as Los Angeles 2007 came off. On 18th August, she dropped to #6 as Elena Dementieva won the Gold Medal at the Olympics and rose to #5; however, Maria was back at #5 the following week as Dementieva lost her points from her New Haven 2007 semi-final. On 8th September, Maria dropped back to #6 as the US Open 2007 points came off and Dementieva reached the semis of the US Open 2008.

On 26th September, Maria announced that she would not play again in 2008, pulling out of Z�rich and Linz. "I've been progressing really well, but it's taking a lot longer than I had selfishly planned. Therefore, my team and I decided to 'shut it down' for the season."
����������� Also, her agent Max Eisenbud was quoted on 13th September as saying: "She's resolved not to try to work through the pain. She's not coming back until the problem is corrected."

So the only thing of interest to Maria-fans left in the WTA Tour season was to see whether she would qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships on the strength of just nine tournaments, even though we knew she wouldn't play there. She officially failed to qualify on 24th October, when Vera Zvonar�va won her Linz quarter-final to seal the last two places for herself and Venus Williams. Maria finished at #9 on the Race - the same as her year-end ranking, which plunged from #6 to #9 as her points from the SEC 2007 came off, and because Vera rose from #9 to #7 after reaching the final of the SEC 2008.

After ten weeks of shoulder-rehabilitation (and working on other parts of her body) from early August to mid-October, Maria started hitting and serving again, but she felt "the same exact pain that I have had in my shoulder since March". On 15th October, she underwent minor arthroscopic surgery on her right shoulder: a simple and successful operation that lasted 22 minutes. She had a full range of motion two weeks later.

Maria resumed full-time training in early December, and her practice-sessions were said to be intense.
����������� Maria: "I know this entire process has made me stronger and more hungry. I miss competing so much. I am trying to do everything possible to be ready for Australia, but I have promised my doctors, coach and family that I will not rush back. But the great news is that we have taken care of the problem that has been bothering me so much over the last couple of years, and now is the time to get into what I call 'match-shape'. I know my shoulder will be 100% by Australia; I just need to see if I have enough tennis-training to be ready for that level."