Beauty & Her Crown Of Jewels!

Though she makes you switch on the mute button of your TV, though she doesn’t quite make for exemplary tennis but it would be a hard exercise to list tennis viewers who don’t like to watch her play! She’s loved by millions, emerged as teen prodigy, an advertiser’s dream and the career slam achieved at Paris splashes the cream on a delightful career.

Her tennis career has fluctuated more than the crude oil prices over the last few years, yet there is something about her which makes her fans support with unperturbed zest. A major injury hampered her potential growth as a superpower in the women’s circuit after a dream debut, but since last year you can see her getting back to where it began; both in terms of unperturbed determination to win and the brand of tennis.

She had 3 slams in the first 4 years of her career; either indicating inconsistency or slow growth (remember - she had her first slam at the age of 17!). Whichever way you look at it, the following years saw her downfall and couldn’t answer the above doubts. Her off-field commitments overtook her tennis and you got a feeling that another bright prospect was slowly fading off, mind you not her commercial aspect!

Fast forward to 2011-2012, and women’s tennis has had its most glamorous poster-girl with some very good on-court form. 2 Rome Masters, 1 Cincinnati Open and now the long-time eluded French Open, things have changed for the blonde Russian and how! Though detractors will highlight the number of chokes she has had over the last 18 months, 10 finals and 3 semi-finals but only 4 wins to show for!

The French Open had her playing trademark tennis - fierce forehands, preferring to generate power rather than deceive the opponent with subtle volleys. Her followers over the years would have noticed a positive development in her game - the ability to move around with anticipation. Tennis players with successful careers have always had this attribute of flexible motion around the court; a feature that was missing from her armoury for a long time.

With > $25 million annual earnings she continues to be the highest paid female tennis player. Her glamour off-field and newly-rediscovered form on-field should ensure the above number doesn’t deflate. The French Open win has put her to the top of the rankings table and inconsistent tennis from fellow top seeds should augur well for the rest of the year, from the grass-court season followed by the Olympics and the hard-court season. Oh, I forgot to mention of the player referred to, but do I need to introduce Maria Sharapova?!