Some rivalries are "born of a shared greatness that elevates both players on to a higher plane," according to Daniel Schofield of the London TELEGRAPH. Others are based on "mutual antipathy, mistrust and the occasional flash of malice such as that between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova." Their "bad blood" stems back 11 years. They are the two "most dominant figures in women's tennis." Their dominance, though, "applies to different spheres." On court, there is "little comparison." Williams holds 20 Grand Slam titles, two short of Steffi Graf's record, to Sharapova's five. In the "commercial arena, however, it is Sharapova, 28, who is the undisputed champion." Williams boasts "nearly twice the career prize money but is a distant second to the Russian's off-court earnings." With a "phalanx of sponsors ranging from Evian to Tag Heuer as well as her own confectionary line (Sugarpova), Sharapova is the world’s highest paid female athlete" with estimated annual earnings of $29.7M, which puts her 26th in Forbes' unisex list that has Williams 21 places lower (TELEGRAPH, 7/9).
FANS FIND A WAY: REUTERS' Michael Roddy reported a 24-hour strike by London's underground rail network was "not going
to stop" diehard Wimbledon
tennis fans from "getting to the tournament on Thursday." It
seemed like "business as usual at the grasscourt championship in south
London," although many of the spectators arriving at the main gates "had
to battle delays and traffic congestion to get there." Yvonne Westcarr,
an accountant from north London, said, "I
don't live anywhere near this side of the world." She drove with three friends for two
hours "through heavy traffic" and paid $46 to park for the
day. Gill Hughes and Liz Elder, who travel down to
Wimbledon every year from Liverpool in northwest England, had picked a
London hotel close to an underground Tube line running direct to the
tennis. Hughes: "This is the first year we've got a hotel right on a Tube line direct to Wimbledon, and of course, no tubes" (REUTERS, 7/9).
DJOKOVIC HITS BACK: In London, Rick Broadbent reported a "day on" from a "rare flirtation with controversy," Novak Djokovic "took on the media." He addressed his "Towel!" shout during his previous match against Kevin Anderson in which he was "accused of frightening" a ballgirl. Djokovic: "I have talked with the girl and she said she didn't mind. We cleared it up. I apologized if there was anything I did, but I did not direct anything to her. It was in the moment of the battle and I turned around and screamed. I think the media made a much bigger deal out of it than it was." He said that he had met the girl immediately after his 13th successive win against Marin Cilic. When it was "suggested that the girl had been scared," he said, "Well she's not. The media likes to make a big deal out of it, especially the wrong kind of media" (LONDON TIMES, 7/8).
