Sharapova's career Slam triumph: Highs and lows
Maria Sharapova completed her career Grand Slam at the French Open, a perhaps unlikely finish in a truly wacky women's draw. Sara Errani was her prey on Saturday in a 6-3, 6-2 match that wasn't really a rout. Errani pressed hard but couldn't match her foe's firepower, couldn't even play her game, as the cliché so often goes. The telling stats, winners/errors: Sharapova 37/29, Errani 12/11.
POSED: The champion posed before La Tour Eiffel, looking radiant in the afterglow in a decidedly Parisian frock.
DOUSED: Sharapova "suffered" a champagne offensive from her physical trainer, Juan Reque, who deserves a handsome raise in light of this result, and Cecil Mamiit, her hitting partner who's a former ATP No. 72 player. A champagne-drenched Maria is nothing new this clay-court season, though, as she went 16-0 for the duration of it.
CONFUSED: Veteran broadcasting ace Ted Robinson said on NBC that Sharapova will play the London Olympics after Wimbledon. John McEnroe's rejoinder: "For the [United] States or Russia?" Surely he knows better, but the response from Robinson that Sharapova's game is very "American" was odd.
QUOTED: From our own Steve Tignor, Virginie Razzano "should probably receive a Rafa-bite-sized piece of the winner’s trophy from" Sharapova, for her impact on the event in somehow taking out Serena Williams in the first round, Maria's perennial foil since beating Serena twice in 2004. (Razzano lost in the next round rather meekly, 6-3, 7-6, to Arantxa Rus, Kim Clijsters' own 2011 Roland Garros nightmare.)
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In abbreviated men's final news, @TheSlice has a lovely piece as to WAG-centric "Who wore it better?" between Maria Francisca "Xisca" Perello and Jelena Ristic. The Spin is never shy to weigh in on sartorial matters, and the answer here: Xisca, Rafael Nadal's girlfriend. Even so, both are trumped by Novak Djokovic's mother, Dijana, who unwittingly performed a great Carmen Sandiego impression yesterday. (Dijana has had her own go-round with Nadal before.)
—Jonathan Scott (Talk to me on Twitter @jonscott9.)
