Maria Sharapova, the stunning blonde professional tennis placer from Russia, began her career with one heck of an accomplishment. She was only 17 when she defeated Serena Williams at the Centre Court to win her first Grand Slam. Let’s consider for a second that Serena Williams just as her sister, Venus, were dominating the tour and Serena herself had won the tournament on three previous occasions. Maria Sharapova was at her first Grand Slam final, playing at the lawn courts of the All England Club, a place were the Williams sisters seemed invincible. Sharapova still managed to outplay Serena and win her first Slam. Petra Kvitova, on the other hand, just managed to arrive to her first Grand Slam final, and this time she was facing one Maria Sharapova, a now mature player who despite fighting with many injuries had managed to win 3 Grand Slams. In a surprisingly lopsided final, Kvitova beat the higher-seeded Sharapova 6-3, 6-4. It’s strange how this all works. For starters many believed that Sharapova would had the confidence needed to win this game. She has been here before. But it wasn’t a good game for her. She seemed distracted and insecure about her game. Kvitova was secured, and kept on pushing Sharapova until she broke down. It was quite a great way to win Before Wimbledon in 2010, Kvitova's career record on grass was 0-4. She is 16-2 on the slick surface since, including a run to the semifinals here last year before losing to Serena Williams. At 21, Kvitova is the youngest Wimbledon champion since what only seems appropriate one Maria Sharapova bsck in 2004 when she was only 17. Kvitova is also the first Czech to win the tournament since Jana Novotna won The Championships at Wimbledon back in 1998. Not only that but Kvitova is only the third left-handed woman to win the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. The last was Martina Navratilova, who won her ninth Wimbledon title in 1990. Just to put that into the right timeframe, that happened just a few months after Kvitova was born. Kvitov is known for her fast left-handed serve. She sure enough took good advantage of her potent serve against Sharapova at the Wimbledon Final. As a matter of fact, Kvitov had 36 aces, the third-most of any woman on the All England Club. Her height is a help in the speed of her serve, there are few female players as tall as Kvitov, and her left-handedness allows unusual shots, such as the slice out wide to the backhand of right-handed players which as Sharapova discovered, can be quite difficult to return. Sharapova is currently ranked World No. 5. Including this latest hiccup in the Wimbledon Final, Sharapova has been in 5 Grand Slam finals. Her Grand Slam final record is 32. At the end it was all about mental toughness. Maria was unable to ket a grip in the key moments of the game. She double-faulted twice in a row to lose serve and fall behind 4-2 in the first set. Sharapova turned her back to the court and gave herself a little lecture before smacking herself on her left palm with her racket. It was all uphill from there on.
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