Tennis greatness is measured in Grand Slam triumphs, but that doesn’t make the game’s best players immune to the lure of Olympic gold.
Maria Sharapova, who captured the third Grand Slam title of her career at the Australian Open in January, is eager to soak up the Olympic atmosphere. “The Olympics comes around only once every four years, and the US Open is there every single year,” she said. “It has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl.”
Part of the appeal to Maria is that the Olympics will be completely different from the week after week tournaments on the tour. “Usually, you have sort of an idea of what things are going to be like, but I’m really clueless,” she said. “One of the things I’m really looking forward to is the opening ceremony and walking with athletes from my country in front of thousands of people.”
Maria said she would love a chance to attend another sport, especially gymnastics or rhythmic gymnastics. “When I was younger I wanted to be a rhythmic gymnast,” she said. “In Russia, rhythmic gymnastics and figure skating are an art form and I was always intrigued by that,” added Sharapova, who recalled rollerblading with a makeshift ribbon as a youngster. “I’d be rolling around my garage,” she said. “I’d just be rollerblading and waving the ribbon. I thought I was in the Olympics.”
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