Wimbledon 2011: Sharapova, Kvitova ready for final showdown

It's pretty unusual that a day before the finals at The Championships, the two contestants have to actually interact with the media.

On Friday, Russian Maria Sharapova, looking as elegant as ever, waxed eloquently on how she is not bothered about pressure, how Wimbledon is such a great place and how she wants to win it so badly - against Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic.

Nothing new with that really, except the fact she made it clear to the media that after the interview, she was going home to sleep. One of the questions was - will you do anything special to prepare for the final?

Sharapova smiled and said: "Maybe a little longer nap this afternoon. That's about it. It's a pretty similar routine, nothing special. Maybe watch some of the tennis."

There is no doubt, as a precocious teenager who won the ladies singles title in 2004, Sharapova has come a long way. After her early success at Wimbledon, she did win the 2006 Australian Open and then won the US Open in 2008.

And then came that big shoulder injury for Sharapova which threatened to end her career. The diva of tennis survived that as well and is now in her second Wimbledon final after a seven-year gap. Such kind of a gap between two finals is unusual, though in the wooden racquet era, Australian Goolagong-Cawley won her two Wimbledon titles nine years apart, in 1971 and 1980.

There are a few bonuses as well which await Sharapova if she wins the title as she will return to the top five in WTA rankings after a three-year gap. But going by her own admission, Sharapova is not losing focus.

"Well, you know, I'm a few years older, more mature. You learn and you grow and develop not only as a player, but as a person as well," she says.


And then she reflects on the bigger things. "I have gone through many more things in my life and career. But at the end of the day I'm not gonna be, you know, playing for my whole life. Tennis can only go to a certain point in your life," is Sharapova's mantra.

After all the philosophy, the conversation again moved towards Saturday's final against Kvitova. "Well, she's (Kvitova) got a lot of confidence coming in here, the sense of feeling of having nothing to lose, as it's her first Grand Slam final. Also being a lefty, I think that's quite dangerous on grass, because she's been using a lot of her strengths as a lefty and playing really well throughout the matches," Sharapova said.

For her part, Kvitova was looking equally relaxed. "Well, no, I'm not nervous. I'm looking forward for tomorrow, for sure. I slept well. So it's okay," said the Czech Republic player.

"I have nothing to lose and of course, I'm going on the court for the win," added a relaxed Kvitova. There seemed to be a streak of arrogance as well when Kvitova answered some banal questions.

The "I don't care" remark was made quite a few times, as if that's going to be her approach in the final.

It's been ages since a left-hander played a Grand Slam final. In 1998 at Roland Garros, Monica Seles finished as the runner-up.

And if you take a look at Kvitova, last year she was ranked 62 when she entered Wimbledon. And now she is World No. 8.