Serena talks Sharapova and more in sublime interview
"Our past few matches have been pretty ... one-sided. Her game matches up really well against mine, so I think sometimes you just get that player."That's Serena Williams, speaking to NBC Sports Network's Michelle Beadle about Maria Sharapova on the heels of her 6-0, 6-1 thrashing of the Russian. See the full interview here in which Serena also addresses her "C-walk" celebratory dance, Grand Slams vs. Olympic Games, and more.
Serena has since been criticized in a few corners for her post-final strutting, to which she has not surprisingly said, "I don't care." The Spin's take: Leave her alone. It was an in-the-moment move that's hardly associated with gang warfare anymore. Let's all get over ourselves.
Sharapova has since revealed that a stomach virus hampered her in the gold-medal match. Still, she acknowledged her opponent's stellar play: "If I sat here and thought there was nothing I could do, that would probably be very disappointing. ... There are certainly things I could have done better but she was playing really good tennis." That's remindful of Sharapova's statement a few months back that it can't really be called a rivalry, Serena versus Maria, until she starts winning a few matches. In reality, she has won all of nine games in their last three clashes and hasn't beaten the 14-time Slam champ since 2004, when she shocked her in the Wimbledon final and then topped Serena also at the year-end championships.
Spin friend Nick McCarvel worked doggedly during these Olympics to bring tough-to-find (and tough-to-see-live) London clips to the tennis-centric corner of the Twitterverse. Good on him. You can follow McCarvel here.
TIRED OF BEING TIRED: Jelena Gencic, Novak Djokovic's junior coach, says he's extremely fatigued in some way and not admitting it. See here her appearance in CBS's 60 Minutes piece on the world's No. 2 player, who hasn't won a title since March and didn't garner a medal in London.
—Jonathan Scott (@jonscott9)
