Sharapova goes for second title

By Diane Pucin

Los Angeles Times

WIMBLEDON, England

Someone who should know has a simple conception of how today’s Wimbledon women’s final between 2004 champion Maria Sharapova and major final rookie Petra Kvitova will turn out.

“It’s such a tossup,” nine-time champion Martina Navratilova said. “It basically comes down to who serves better.”

Kvitova, a 21-year-old left-hander from the Czech Republic, has been past the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament only once, a loss to Serena Williams in a Wimbledon semifinal last year. Sharapova has three Grand Slam-level championships — U.S. Open and Australian Open wins to go with her Wimbledon title seven years ago. But Kvitova corrected an impression that, as the underdog, she has nothing to lose.

“Of course I have something to lose,” she said. “I’m going on the court for the win and not that I can lose for sure.”

Sharapova was 17 when she won Wimbledon in a 2004 upset over Williams, and she spoke almost nostalgically about being a young rookie in a major final.

“It’s something where you don’t really know what to expect and you almost have that feeling of nothing to lose,” she said. “And you go for it. I think that’s kind of what I did when I was here at that stage.

“I didn’t really know what was going to happen. I knew I was facing a really good opponent that had done well on grass and was a former champion. But that didn’t really bother me.”

“Maria probably has the best return of serve in the game,” Navratilova said. “I think Kvitova will get on top of the rally a little bit earlier. Once the ball is in play, Sharapova has the edge though.”