Sharapova Organizes New Team And Is Excited For 2014

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 17th December 2013

Sharapova Organizes New Team And Is Excited For 2014

epa03979805 Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova during a practice prior of her exhibition match against Serbian Ana Ivanovic, in Bogota, Colombia, 06 December 2013. EPA/Mauricio Duenas Castaneda |

Maria Sharapova has said that she remains ultra-serious about her career and otherwise would not have gone to the trouble of re-forming her team after dealing with a shoulder injury which left her out of the game from last summer.

The 26-year-old, winner of all four grand slam titles over the course of her career, told the New York Times that she will be ready to prove herself when she picks up to start 2014 in late December in Brisbane at the joint ATP-WTA pre-Australian open hardcourt event from December 29.

The US-based Russian will go in with a new coach after picking up respected Dutchman Sven Groeneveld and changing much of the rest of her support lineup. “I don’t think I would form a new team together and that I would go through the efforts of trying to come back if I didn’t have it,” Sharapova told the paper. “It’s a lot of work, a lot of work, and I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t feel strongly about what my goals are and what I feel I can accomplish.”

Sharapova finished 2013 with three coaches after Swede Tomas Hogstedt quit following several years onside and former bad-boy Jimmy Connors lasted exactly one match over the summer with the WTA diva who strives for perfection.

Sharapova defended her range of off-court activities, particularly her fast expanding Sugarpova line of high-end sweets which are slowly spreading around the world to upscale retail locations. “All these other things, these commitments, I’ve had since I was 18. “There’s so many, and for the two years I was coming back after shoulder surgery and the full year on tour before I won the French Open, I was working on Sugarpova when no one had any idea what I was doing because no one knew about the company.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, Australian Open, Brisbane, Jimmy Connors, Maria Sharapova, sven groeneveld, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Hogstedt, Wta