John Inverdale should be excited about the first women’s semi-final on Court Philippe Chatrier on Thursday, though he may try hard to mask his feelings, since Marion Bartoli will be sharing the BBC commentary booth alongside him in Paris.
Inverdale is the man who made the disparaging remarks about Bartoli’s physical appearance ahead of the Wimbledon final last year. He has since apologised, claiming a bout of hay fever was responsible for the injudicious comments.
There should be no such gaffe on Thursday, come hay fever or flu, for on one side of the net will be Maria Sharapova and on the other, Eugenie Bouchard. Both Sharapova and Bouchard are leggy blondes but, to counter Inverdale’s assessment, that has not been enough for them.
They have been scrappy, too, and would have not reached this far if not for their ability to fight.
Sharapova lost the opening set against Samantha Stosur in the fourth round and Garbine Muguruza in the quarter-final and showed her battling side in coming through.
Ditto for Bouchard. The 20-year-old Canadian was down 5-2 in the first set and 4-1 in the third against Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, but rallied to win 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-5.
So, the two are not playing only for the millions they can make in endorsements; they take their craft seriously and are determined to succeed on the courts.
“I could have said, ‘I don’t need this. I have money, I have fame, I have victories, I have grand slams’,” Sharapova said in 2012 after overcoming a shoulder injury to win the French Open and complete a career grand slam.
“But when your love for something is bigger than all those things, you continue to keep getting up in the morning when it’s freezing outside, when you know that it can be the most difficult day, when nothing is working, when you feel like the belief sometimes isn’t there from the outside world, and you seem so small. But you can achieve great things when you don’t listen to all those things.”
That love of the sport is visible in her transformation on clay from what she called a “cow on ice” to the queen of the surface, boasting the best record among active players on crushed brick.
“I didn’t leave my Mom at the age of seven for nothing,” Sharapova wrote on her blog in 2007. “I didn’t spend six hours a day practising in the Florida sun at the age of nine for nothing.”
Growing up, Bouchard did not have to go through the trials that Sharapova did, but she does mirror that intensity. Given those similarities, it is no wonder Bouchard is being billed as the new face of women’s tennis, The Next Maria Sharapova – not the next Anna Kournikova.
While other young players, such as Sloane Stephens, have struggled under the spotlight, Bouchard seems to be relishing it and her results prove that.
She is the only 2014 Australian Open semi-finalist to make it to the last four at Roland Garros, but the Montreal native is not content just doing that.
“I just turned 20 three months ago and I feel old,” she said this week. “So I want to be the best player I can be as quickly as possible, because one day I will wake up and I will be 30.
“I think that’s the biggest thing to me, winning a grand slam [title]. The four best tournaments of the year.”
Sharapova was only 17 when she won her first grand slam title, defeating Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final. Bouchard was 10 at the time and was impressed by the Russian. “As a child I looked up to her,” Bouchard said after booking her semi-final clash with Sharapova.
“I remember when she won Wimbledon, I was watching her on TV and I thought: ‘Wow, what she’s doing is cool. I want to do the same’.”
arizvi@thenational.ae
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