In Paris a fortnight ago, the women’s tour got what it wanted: a ripping yarn full of redemption and courage. Not to mention a hell of a photo, as a beaming Maria Sharapova, luminous in a little black tennis dress, hoisted the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen above her head.
It has become a commonplace to say that women’s tennis has been eclipsed by the brilliance of the men’s game. But if those two could meet in the final, in a rematch of their marvellous 2004 final, that would be a headline act to match anything in world sport.
So does Sharapova fancy another crack at Serena on Centre Court? At first, she laughed at the presumption of the idea. “A lot of things would have to happen first,” she said, in an exclusive interview. “We’d both have to get that far, for a start. It’s a long two weeks, most people don’t realise that.” But then she stopped and gave the question further consideration.
“Rivalries are important for the sport,” she conceded. “That’s what puts the men’s tour on such a high level.
“Still, a good rivalry isn’t easy to create. Firstly, you have to play someone many times, in the semis and finals of tournaments all the time. And secondly the two of you have to be pretty even and not one-sided.
Such scenarios have been rare in women’s tennis since Sharapova underwent a traumatic shoulder reconstruction in October 2008. Over the past four years, the sport has floundered through a succession of short-lived No 1s with no true pedigree. Think of Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, or even the fast-falling Caroline Wozniacki.
Now, after Paris, Sharapova has finally clawed her way back to the top. And as only the tenth woman in history to complete the career Grand Slam, her credibility is not in doubt.
Sharapova’s charisma can only help the Women’s Tennis Association as it seeks a new headline sponsor to replace Sony Ericsson, which declined to renew its £10 million-a-year deal at the end of last year.
In the words of marketing expert Richard Gillis: “Women’s tennis is struggling in the same way as boxing, in that the money generally comes from the USA, the UK and western Europe, but so many of the athletes are from eastern Europe now, and that doesn’t help the commercial side.
“Sharapova is the exception,” added Gillis, who writes the Unofficial Partner blog, “because even though she represents Russia in the Davis Cup, she is perceived as a citizen of the world.”
Sharapova is already awash with personal endorsements, which include big-money deals with Nike and Evian. And she certainly knows how to keep her sponsors happy. When she thumped down a second-serve ace to clinch the final point against Sara Errani at Roland Garros, she turned to her box and made a pointed gesture to her wrist. Her coach and family made sure they were ready to hand over her TAG Heuer watch as soon as she climbed up to embrace them.
Such reliability is a commercial asset, and Sharapova has been richly rewarded for it. In the latest Forbes magazine countdown of sport’s 100 highest earners, she is the leading female athlete at No 26. Oddly enough, her IMG stablemate Li Na, with whom she shares an agent, is the only other woman on the list at No 81.
So does Sharapova worry about the relative under-representation of women among the world’s highest-profile athletes? “It’s tough to speak for everybody,” Sharapova said, “because everybody has a different way of getting to the top of their sport.”
The gender gap doesn’t bother her, then? “No, because in tennis, we’ve really fought for the things we believe in. The first example is equal prize money, we fought so many years for getting that on the tour. And we finally achieved it.”
The advent of equal pay — which reached Wimbledon five years ago — has caused much quiet grumbling among the men. Even though they believe it is the underlying cause of their ongoing financial disputes with the grand slams, they feel they cannot say so openly.
But the drawing power of Sharapova, above anyone else on the WTA tour, does much to justify the new order. Sport is only as fascinating as the people who play it, and tennis clearly profits from her glamour, her sense of humour, and her determination to fight back from that torn rotator cuff in her serving shoulder — an injury that has ended careers on the spot.
“You don’t expect that something like that is going to happen at 21 years old in a tennis career,” she says now. “It is very rare, and it’s even rarer to come back from it.”
Sharapova’s victory at Roland Garros was the culmination of more than three years’ graft. And now, as her old self-assurance floods back, her repeated battles with Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova are beginning to give women’s tennis the sense of narrative it so badly needs.
Now, here is a plea to the sporting gods: please could you deliver the match we would all queue to see? Sharapova and Serena have played just one grand slam match in the past five years.
After all this time, a rematch would be like tennis’s answer to Manny Pacquiao v Floyd Mayweather, except louder and with more dirty looks.
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