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NASDAQ-100 OPEN

April 1, 2006

Maria Sharapova

MIAMI, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. You obviously had a tough match on Thursday, did that affect your game today?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I think physically it was very difficult to keep up with Svetlana today. She was able to come back from tough points and play a few more. I was just not able to keep up with that pace, and that was the key.
Q. Do you feel you at least tried to introduce a bit of variety into your game?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I tried to mix it up when I was down a break. Figured why not, try a little something, get the points over with a little quicker.
Q. Did you feel coming in like you were going to struggle a little, or did you feel like you'd be able to pull it out today? When you went out there, did you feel good?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Obviously, I felt a little tired but that's normal after playing four straight weeks. I mean, I'm not gonna feel great. My body's not gonna feel great. That's absolutely normal.
But, you know, I just have to give it all I had, and I tried. But, you know, at the end of the day, just come up short. That's all right.
Q. How frustrated were you? Can you talk about managing your frustrations as the match went on.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I wasn't frustrated. Not at all.
Q. Are you happy?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Am I happy? Yeah, I'm happy. I've done amazing. I mean, you know, to be able to win 11 straight matches, you know, get three finals in a row, I think that's pretty consistent.
Q. Did the crowd bother you at all today?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: The crowd? Why would they bother me?
Q. The whole air plane thing?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, that airplane thing, I think we got the point that there was a soccer match or something going on. It only circled around about 50 times. I mean...
It was pretty, pretty weird.
Q. You've beaten her the last couple times you played. Was there something different in her game today?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I just think I came up short on some of those long points. I just wasn't physically, you know, ready to run down a lot of balls. You know, when I hit great shots, she picked up the ball on the rise pretty early and was able to hit a bigger shot. And, you know, my feet didn't quite move, move to the second balls that she hit deep and hard.
Q. You attribute it to your play, not to her play?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No -- I mean, there are some things that, you know, you look to, I don't know, a way to keep her off balance. But, I mean, my game is, you know, never to worry about what other players are doing. I've always played by instinct. Of course there are some things in your mind where, you know, a person has a weakness or a strength and try to change it up, whatever.
But today, you know, I wanted to play my game but it was just hard. I couldn't really keep up with the pace of the match.
Q. You're not that far apart in age. You obviously left Russia when you were pretty young. When do you first remember becoming aware of Svetlana? Did you play her in Juniors?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, never.
Q. When was the first time you had awareness?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think when I started playing pro, yeah.
Q. You said you weren't frustrated at all throughout the match. Can you just talk about your mindset as you went down on some of the breaks. Just what was going through your mind? What were you telling yourself?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I was just trying to hang in there. I mean, like I said, it was just too good from her. You know, when you're down a set and a break, I mean, you just try to give it all you have in the end. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Like I said, I was just trying a few little different things. But just too good.
Q. What do you suppose went wrong with your forehand?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't know what went wrong. What did go wrong?
Q. You made an awful lot of errors.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: She probably forced the errors. She made me go for bigger shots. You know, sometimes when you try to go for bigger shots, you hit a few errors.
Q. You seemed a little withdrawn early in the match.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Withdrawn?
Q. Yeah.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Can you give me the definition of that?
Q. You didn't seem to have quite the intensity you often have.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, I was just calm. I mean, I don't know. No real reason. I wasn't sick or anything.
Q. What's been your perception of her career since she won that US Open?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Of her career?
Q. Uh-hmm.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think to be a Grand Slam champion, obviously never underestimate someone that's won a Grand Slam. She had a tough year last year but she's definitely playing a lot better. I haven't played her in a whole year, but she's definitely improved since I've seen some of her matches on TV from last year.
Q. In what aspect?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think she's gotten more confidence now. I mean, she's always going to be a big hitter. That's going to be always her strength. She's going to mix it up. She moves really well and makes you hit another ball. But I think confidence has a lot to do with it. When you're confident, you can do that all day.
Q. The crowd laughed at the very end there when you went after that shot.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: What?
Q. At the end when you went after that ball and made a noise, the crowd sort of laughed at that. Were you almost having a sense of humor at that point? That wasn't a grunt, it was something that sounded more conscious.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't know. I didn't really mean to do that. It just kind of came out (smiling).
Yeah, I guess -- I mean, at that point of the match, maybe trying all these different things, maybe if you laugh, something will happen.
Q. Were you concerned about how the crowd might perceive you after the Golovin match?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, I don't pay attention to that.

End of FastScripts...

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