Maria Sharapova warns Edgbaston Priory organisers and AEGON Classic is disrupted by weather again
Jun 11 2010 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail
THE AEGON Classic’s most prized asset has warned tournament organisers they must learn from the debacle that made Centre Court unplayable yet again.
For the first time in seven years Russian megastar Maria Sharapova was forced to play on an outside court at Edgbaston Priory Club as the covers in the main arena failed once more.
Indeed the situation has become so farcical that, for the second day running, while most of the outside courts have enjoyed a packed programme, just 25 minutes play have been possible on Centre.
In fact, there was none at all yesterday and as hard as ground staff worked to prepare the surface Sharapova, world No.12 Na Li and No.3 seed Yanina Wickmayer were all shunted on to Courts One and Two.
And Sharapova, twice winner of the tournament, insisted things have to be done to improve the situation. “It’s obviously unfortunate with what happened to the court,” she said.
“I just hope that the organisation will learn in the future and protect it better because once we went on it yesterday it seemed pretty good and in good condition. But I am not really sure what happened after that.”
Sharapova managed just four games against Bethanie Mattek-Sands on Wednesday and as a result had to play twice yesterday as Classic chiefs pulled out all the stops to get the event back on track.
To their credit they managed to do just that and going into today they are just a handful of matches down on where they should be.
But moving their star names to the periphery of the club will not sit well with the WTA Tour, supporters or the players themselves and a serious review is in order.
Thankfully the competition avoided what would have been a catastrophic blow in the loss of their mainattraction.
Sharapova resumed 4-0 up against her American opponent and eased to a 6-0, 6-3 victory with a minimum of fuss.
She then returned in the evening to smash the awkward Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-1 in little more than an hour with a display of power hitting and surprisingly penetrative serving.
To do so in such testing circumstances was real shot across her rivals’ bows although she played down the effects of two matches in a single day.
“It is not the first time I have done it,” the 23-year-old said. “I did it a few weeks ago in Strasbourg and a lot of my junior days were spent playing six matches in a weekend..
“I knew that she would be a little bit fresher but it was good to warm up and play a set in the morning. I am pleased with my form.”
Sharapova faces Sesil Karatantcheva in today’s quarter-final which includes no Brits following the elimination of Laura Robson and Anne Keothavong. Champion Magdalena Rybarikova was also dumped out.
