Russian’s Debut Is a Real Winner

Robert Lansdorp treated the eager Russian family with his usual manner, which is to say he delivered the bad news with no softening qualifiers. The vaunted coach observed Maria Sharapova, then a pre-teen, and issued his verdict.

“I took a look at her,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, I think her forehand [stinks]. And her concentration is no good. They [the family] basically didn’t leave. They kept coming back for more, for more punishment. I was right. When you have someone who is very talented, everybody will start raving and never tell you the truth. But I really don’t care.”

It turned out Sharapova didn’t care either. Lansdorp’s tough words amused her, instead of scaring her, and if her dad had read about this famous coach when she was a child in Russia, well, this was where she would learn.

Graduation day came about four years later, on Wednesday at the Pacific Life Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The 14-year-old made her WTA debut and defeated Brie Rippner, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, in one hour 26 minutes. Rippner, at No. 74, is the highest-ranked player Sharapova has beaten. Rippner’s ranking was an injury exemption because she had ankle surgery last year.

Coincidentally, Sharapova’s first-round match followed compatriot Anna Kournikova’s. For most of last year, the teenager was touted by some as the next Kournikova. Her victory followed Kournikova’s 6-1, 6-4 exit against Lilia Osterloh, an interesting bit of symmetry. The struggling Kournikova not only has yet to win her first tournament but her ranking has stagnated at No. 67.

The comparisons between Sharapova and Kournikova aren’t many. Sharapova actually seemed to enjoy being interviewed, something you can’t say of Kournikova.

“I respect her,” said Sharapova, a wild-card entrant. “I’m just trying to do my own thing, just trying to be Maria Sharapova, not look for anyone else’s game. I try to be myself.”

She cannot play another WTA event until she turns 15, which is April 19. Her parents decided to bring her to the United States when she was 7 for her tennis. Sharapova, 5 feet 9 and 108 pounds, was born in Siberia and moved to Sochi when she was 2.

“It was a hard decision,” she said. “Of course it was great because I’m here doing an interview. In Russia, I could have been going to school with my friends and doing my homework and looking at Monica Seles on TV when I’m going to play her tomorrow.”

Sharapova is such a special case, she is one of the very few youngsters to split her time between Nick Bollettieri’s academy and Lansdorp. She lives near the academy in Florida and travels to Southern California frequently to train with Lansdorp at the South Bay Tennis Center in Torrance.

Lansdorp’s most famous protege was Tracy Austin, who won her second U.S. Open title in 1981, six years before Sharapova was born. “He makes jokes sometimes,” Sharapova said. “If you hit a bad forehand, he would say, ‘Oh my god, Tracy would kill that ball.’”

One of the few times Sharapova got rattled recently was when she was making her morning trip to get Lansdorp coffee.

“You always have to bring him coffee,” she said. “By the club there is a gas station where you get coffee. Someone is waving at me from the car, and you never expect Tracy Austin to be waving at you. I’m thinking, ‘Tracy Austin. At a gas station.’ I take the coffee and I forget to pay for it. So I had to go back and the guy said, ‘Didn’t you just come from there?’”

Lansdorp laughed at that one. He is delighted with his latest prodigy and long ago changed his mind about her forehand.

“Her forehand is starting to be a weapon and she can stay focused for a long time,” he said. “She’s a very good shot maker, and the girl has no fear.”

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