She won her last two matches over the two players who had combined to win all three previous majors this year--not a bad way to win her first US Open title. She played a terrific match tonight, and though Henin-Hardenne obliged by choking on a few of the big points, Maria totally earned it.
She was so excited that when she first raised the trophy up, she didn't realize that the lid for the big cup might fall off until it was too late, which was an amusing moment:
She wore that same black dress for all of her night matches in this tournament. Dick Enberg mentioned (as he had in one of her previous matches) that Maria claimed to have modelled it after Audrey Hepburn's dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's. In the match tonight, Mary Carillo responded, "But I don't think Audrey Hepburn grunted her way through Roman Holiday." LOL.
No, the women's final has been on Saturday night in each of the last several years. It used to be the middle of the three "Super Saturday" matches, in between the two men's semis. But then they switched things around to have the two men's semis in the afternoon, as they were today, followed by the women's final at night.
While I love her "I feel pretty" commercials and shirts she wears, the grunting is still a turn-off for me when I watch certain female tennis players. That being said, she's probably got the best set of legs on the tour.
I saw her play live last year. She looks even better live, but sounds even louder. If you could hit a mute button while watching her play live, you'd have the ideal Sharapova viewing experience.
During the broadcast of the men's final yesterday, Dick Enberg said that Sharapova would be one of the guests on Letterman tonight. That isn't indicated yet on the show's official website, although maybe they just haven't updated it over the weekend, as the invite presumably came only after she won the title late Saturday night.
Federer's guests at the final yesterday were Tiger Woods and his wife, sitting next to Federer's girlfriend. Apparently Woods and Federer had talked on the phone before, but they had never managed to meet each other until yesterday. You have to wonder what it's like when those guys have a conversation.
"That ninth major championship is great, dude, but just wait 'til you win your tenth! Then you're really cooking with gas!"
"But that seventh one was pretty good too."
"Yeah, but the eighth one? Come on, admit it, that's when it really starts getting fun..."