Maria Sharapova: Star Will Take Back Seat to Serena Williams at French Open

Maria Sharapova won earlier this week at the Italian Open and is in prime form heading into the French Open at Roland Garros, but she won't finish on top in Paris. As good as Sharapova has been this year on clay, she's going to take a back seat to Serena Williams at the competition.

First and foremost, Williams is channeling her younger years in 2012, posting the highest winning percentage (.931) of any player, man or woman. She's won 27 of her 29 matches, 10 percentage points higher than No. 1 Victoria Azarenka. Sharapova has posted "just" an .853 winning percentage so far this season.

If Sharapova draws Williams at any time throughout the bracket, she will fall short of her goal to obtain the career grand slam at Roland Garros. While she has been stellar on clay this season, notching an 11-1 record, her one loss came to Williams at the Italian Open.

While Sharapova has had great success on clay this season, Williams has been better, winning all 17 of her matches on the surface. She withdrew from her semifinal match against Li Na in Rome, citing lower back tightness, but you shouldn't believe that the injury will have any lingering impact on her. Conceding a walkover to Li just means that Williams is so determined to capture her first title at Roland Garros in nearly a decade that she would give up her chances of winning in Rome.

For all the talk that the clay surface hurts Serena's power game, it doesn't do any favors for Sharapova either. Her flat serve suffers on clay and under pressure, which will undoubtedly cause her to serve up a few meatballs to Williams, leading to some return aces.

Even if you believe that Sharapova matches up well physically with Williams, there is definitely a bit of a psychological factor in the Serena-Sharapova series. It has been almost eight years since Sharapova has beaten Williams, and while they've only played seven matches over that span, the past failures against Williams must be in the back of Sharapova's mind.

Her success on clay this spring makes her -- and this feels peculiar to even think, much less write -- the favorite heading into the Roland Garros event, which begins Sunday. And don't read too much into that withdrawal from her semifinal match last week in Rome because of lower back tightness. It means Serena is serious about winning this thing. In a sweet slice of irony, she is actually overplayed coming into Paris.

"I absolutely love clay," Serena said after winning in Madrid. "I played on hard court until I was 11, then until I turned 16 I only played on clay courts. It's really a myth about me not liking clay."

After granting Li a walkover in Rome, Serena explained: "I'm so sad and sorry I had to pull out of what has become my favorite tournament. This was a good week to get better, and I'm confident that I'll be 100 percent. I just want to relax and get ready for the next few months."

Pam Shriver, and ESPN analyst, watched Serena run through the Charleston tournament in early April.

"She looked great there," Shriver said from Los Angeles. "Actually, Charleston and Madrid are very similar surfaces, pretty fast for clay. She's playing it like clay but with an aggressive mindset. Through the years I think Americans have tried too hard to change their game, play more patiently, which means less aggressive.

"She's not changing her game on clay. She's still hitting it hard."

Just when you thought the WTA had been rescued from anarchy -- with Victoria Azarenka andMaria Sharapova solidly lodged at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, along comes Hurricane Serena to blow it all up. She beat the top two by identical scores of 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals (Sharapova) and final (Azarenka) of Madrid in something that has become her trademark.

Serena has now beaten the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked players in the same tournament seven times, the all-time record; her sister Venus is second, with four.

United States Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez watched Serena go 2-0 on the clay at Ukraine in April, sending the U.S. back to the World Group.

 

"Her style of game translates to any surface," Fernandez said. "Maybe she needs five shots to hit a winner instead of three. It's not that big of an adjustment for her. There's not a clay-court specialist right now like Justine Henin.

"I think Serena has a good shot in Paris, along with Azarenka and Sharapova -- even though they all prefer hard courts."