Sharapova Won’t Be Quieted

The sound and fury signaling the arrival of 16-year-old wild-card entry Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon was muted Tuesday -- at least by her standards -- and the quieter version prevented the shattering of champagne glasses around the All England Club.

With every shot, Sharapova emits a noise of some kind.

A grunt? A shriek? A screech?

Perhaps the sound is in the ears of the beholders.

Robert Lansdorp, Sharapova’s South Bay-based coach, says the young Russian sounds like a peacock in Palos Verdes. Serena Williams says she finds the sounds accompanying Sharapova’s shots amusing.

Remarkably, Sharapova, in her main-draw debut here, found herself in a competitive match on two fronts against American teenager Ashley Harkleroad on Court 2. Harkleroad couldn’t keep up when it came to hitting winners but she gave Sharapova some competition in the sound department, at one point yelling to her opponent, “Louder!”

Harkleroad chipped away at the wall of sound, but found herself overwhelmed by Sharapova’s baseline power in a 59-minute first-round match. Sharapova defeated the 18-year-old Harkleroad, 6-2, 6-1, hitting 32 winners.

“When you play somebody who’s really playing the best tennis that they are right now, and not missing one ball, hardly, there’s really nothing you could have done,” Harkleroad said.

The “Noises Off” assumed more prominence on what was a considerably calmer day than tumultuous Monday, which started with the stunning elimination of defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. Williams, the other defending champion, moved through her opening match Tuesday with relative ease, defeating Jill Craybas, 6-3, 6-3.

On the men’s side, second-seeded Andre Agassi fought off a brief lapse, beating British wild-card entry Jamie Delgado, 6-4, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4; and No. 10 Tim Henman of Britain finished strongly, winning a 24-point second set tiebreaker in defeating Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 7-6 (11), 3-6, 6-1.

Williams preceded Agassi onto Centre Court. It was her first match since leaving Paris in tears after a controversial loss to eventual champion Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semifinals of the French Open.

Williams cried at the news conference afterward and found that many fans were touched by that.

“They realized, even though I win a lot and do a lot of things, it’s like I’m human,” she said. “I’m just a young lady trying to make my way in life and you can’t expect everything to be perfect at all times.”

The No. 1 player in the world almost becomes a de-facto spokeswoman for the sport, and Williams was asked about everything from playing events in Africa, to the end of the traditional curtsy here, to being a role model.

“It’s important because not everyone can be 90 pounds,” she said. “Unfortunately, I think that is what our society has believed. All models these days are just drinking coffee, actually drinking wine, and that’s it.”

It was only a matter of time before she was asked about the noisy Sharapova.

“It’s only distracting if you make it distracting, and if you listen to it, it will be distracting,” Williams said. “I was playing on Centre Court last year, and I heard her [playing in a junior match]. But, I found it funny, if anything.”

Said Harkleroad: “Well, a lot of girls, before I played her, they say, ‘You know, her grunt is ridiculous,’ this, this and this. She just does it. I don’t know why. That’s what she does.

“Actually, I grunt pretty loud too. If I’m playing her, I’m trying to be a little bit more loud.”

It became an issue in Birmingham two weeks ago when Nathalie Dechy complained about the noise and the chair umpire issued a warning. Sharapova toned it down and has tried to keep it down since, but she seemed to get louder as Tuesday’s match progressed.

“I try not to make noise,” she said. “But it’s just something I’ve done all my life, since I’ve been playing tennis. Unless I control it, it’s difficult. But I try to control it, yes.”

She frequently travels to Southern California, from her base in Florida, to work with Lansdorp, and the veteran coach was pleased by what he saw of her match, liking her movement and shot-making on grass. He is not at Wimbledon because of recent hip-replacement surgery.

“I don’t know much about the noise,” Lansdorp said on Tuesday by phone. “I told her after Indian Wells, ‘You sound like a bird. A peacock in here in PV.’ She laughs at everything I say.

“I’ve been yelling at her, and her dad too. It’s penetrating. It’s so loud, so high pitched. I don’t know where she gets it, maybe she’ll lose it when she gets older.”

Off court, there was plenty of speculation about Hewitt’s startling four-set, first-round loss to qualifier Ivo Karlovic.

Former coach Jason Stoltenberg, who split with Hewitt after the French Open, hinted in a radio interview there was more to their breakup.

And another Australian great, 1958 Wimbledon champion Ashley Cooper, suggested Hewitt “become his own man,” in regard to his omnipresent parents.

“I think it’s too much of a pressure cooker,” Cooper told ABC Radio in Australia. “The fact that his mother and father travel with him constantly and are even present when he practices, I think ... there’s a build-up of tension there. I, quite frankly, would like to see him loosen the family strings a bit now and become his own man.”