Q. Were you annoyed about the fact you have to play on night with the wetness, slow court?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I played so many night matches in my career that it doesn't bother me. I like playing night matches.
This is probably one of the later starts, because usually they start around 7:00. But that's just the way it is.
Q. (From Italian) First of all, we're very happy that you won here in Rome, because it's important for tennis that you win tonight. It's important for tennis.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Thanks.
Q. Secondly, try and put yourself in Justine Henin's shoes and tell us why you might not like tennis and decide to retire from tennis.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't think she's retiring from tennis because she doesn't like tennis. She's 25 years old and has achieved so much in her career and has had incredible success on the court.
If I'm 25 and I won I don't know how many Grand Slams she's won, seven or something, I'd call it quits as well.
You know, I wouldn't be disappointed leaving the sport, because obviously there's a lot more to life than tennis. She's had a very long career, and you never know, maybe one day she'll be back.
She's done incredible things for the sport. She's shown that without being the strongest or the tallest girl on the tour she's been able to win so many matches in so many tournaments and Grand Slams. She's an inspiration to many young girls coming up.
Like I said, there are so many things in life, and I'm sure she wants to explore them as well. I definitely don't blame her for retiring.
Q. What's it going to feel like next week, no matter what happens at this point, should you take over the No. 1 ranking? I mean, will it be a kind of a strange feeling with the fact that she's retired and you kind of inherited this?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: To be honest, ranking has never really been a big deal for me. Whether I'm No. 1 or 5, my main goal is just to keep winning tennis matches. The ranking will take care of itself if I keep winning matches. Yeah.
Q. Once you said that you didn't see yourself still playing at 30 years old or so.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't.
Q. So that means you understand very well what Justine has done and you could do it also?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Absolutely, yeah. I think -- like I said, I just, I mean, you're 25 years old, and tennis starts at a very young age. You're basically committing every day of your life to tennis.
No matter what days you have off or how long you have off, you're always thinking but consequences to what you're doing and how that's going to affect your training and performance.
It's tough to be able to do what we do day in and day out. There's only a certain amount of time. Everybody is different and everybody can withstand it as much as they can.
But I totally understand where she's coming from. Like I said, I don't think she has anything to regret. She's had a great career. If I were in her shoes, I would probably do the same thing.
Q. (From Italian) First of all, I'm sorry about what I witnessed on the court today. This happens in Nadal's matches a lot as well. The crowd sometimes cheers for your opponent even though it's an unknown player, perhaps because of envy or jealousy or perhaps because you seem unapproachable. What do you think about this? Does it affect you?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Certainly doesn't affect me, and it's part of the sport. I completely understand if a crowd cheers for the underdog, somebody that's playing somebody that's No. 2 in the world and taking them to the third set.
The crowd want a good match and the crowd wants good tennis. They don't want to come and see a 40-minute match. They don't pay money for that. They want entertainment and the drama, the more the better for them. I completely understand.
Although I'm young, I've been in numerous amounts of matches where I've played against underdogs, and when I was coming up I was the underdog. Obviously that has changed a little bit because, you know, the rankings and the things that I've won.
It's all right. I mean, it doesn't -- when I'm on the court I do my own thing. I worry about my own side of the net, and that's pretty much it.
Q. Why do you have so many problems to keep your game service tonight?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: One is that the conditions are obviously a lot heavier than I've been playing in the last couple of months.
You know, it's not as easy to hold serve, especially against somebody that's -- that gets a lot of balls back and makes you hit a lot balls. In your mind you got to change the process a little bit, and I think that's what I did wrong.
Kind of went for too much at the wrong times. Especially after long rallies it's sometimes a little more important to be a little smarter. Definitely classed me a few times today.
At the end the day, if I know my errors and I know what I did wrong, the most important thing is to go into the next match and improve that hopefully. I'm just glad I can go out and have another match.
Q. Is your wrist a problem? I saw you that you were touching yourself.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I just think the balls are heavy and my arm was a little bit kind of heavy. It's not normal to wake up being an athlete and feel fine, so I'm okay with it.
М. Шарапова – Д. Цибулкова 6:2, 3:6, 6:4
Q. How does it feel to be back on the red clay?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Good. It feels really good. I got here a few days ago and stepped foot on the red clay finally. You know, it's going to take a little while. I think the adjustments from the green clay and the red clay are quite different, you know, with the balance and of course there's always sliding but the balance and the feel of the clay is a little bit different.
But it's exciting to be back in Europe. This time of year I was back home and I didn't play here. And I didn't play any tournaments apart from Istanbul leading up to the French Open. I'm just thankful that I could get some matches in before the French.
Q. What did you do the last three weeks after the last couple of tournaments you did? You started to rest and you started to practice?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I rested a little bit, but my rest turned into a longer rest because I got really sick. I was sick for like five days in bed, so that kind of made my rest period a little bit longer than I wanted to.
So I had just probably a week before I came here, yeah.
Q. Was that sickness related to the heavy schedule that you had been undergoing, or just a normal virus? Do you think you were rundown?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: It was probably from too much partying for my birthday. I don't know.
No, you just never know when your body is going to, you know, either get hurt or you're going to get sick. These things happen.
I mean, I'm fortunate it happened when I had time off, which was is a lot better than it is when you're playing a tournament, so, you know, I had some time to recover from it.
Q. Can you tell us about your birthday party? It sounded good.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, it was a lot fun. It was a few days after my actual birthday. On my actual birthday I just spent it with both of my parents came to New York and all my of my friends came to New York. It's very rare that everyone gets together, but it was the 21st, and everybody made an effort and came there.
You know, we just had a nice family dinner, and then the big party was really fun. It was lot more intimate than my 18th birthday party, so that was good. On the 18th there were so many people that I just didn't know.
This time it was only about 100, 150 people, you know, a majority of my friends. Like I said, it's just rare for me to be able to be in one place and kind of celebrate not just my birthday but the year so far and have a good time together and catch up and do all those things.
Q. What ever became of the photo shoot conflict?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, the timing of the shoot got reduced to about 90 minutes, and I did that yesterday.
Q. Can you tell us about that?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: What?
Q. Can you tell is where it was or any of the details?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: It was a marketing campaign for the tour leading up to the championship.
Q. Shot it in Rome?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah. Well, I was in Rome yesterday, so yes.
Q. Any particular place in Rome?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I'm not quite sure. I was riding around in a car for an hour talking pretending like I'm talking on the phone. Yeah, that was pretty much it.
Q. Would you say that that's a good compromise from what it might have originally been? Was there some to and fro and everything was worked out?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: The timing compromise was still pretty difficult since it's before a very big event for all of us. Considering the time reduction, it definitely makes that a lot easier than going into a four or five hour shoot without hair and makeup, which adds another hour.
Q. We read a lot of stories about yourself, ask most of us don't know you.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I like it that way. I prefer it that way.
Q. It's better for you?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Clearly.
Q. Do you have anything to say that you would like to show, to say to us?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I like to talk, but I mean, I don't know. I mean, what do you want to know? You're here to ask me questions and I'm here to answer them.
Q. The question is: Wherever you go we ask about the place where you stay, and in general players say this is the best tournament and the best city always.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Not necessarily. Those are the people that are always politically correct.
Q. This is the reason why I'm asking to you. What do you think about this city? In which way it's nice and which way you don't like? What do you don't like about it?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I like Italy in general. The times that I've visited Italy I've visited Rome and Milan. When I was younger, Milan was, by far, my favorite city to any junior tournament that I went to. Milan was always my favorite one.
Just all the churches and the architecture. You know, the church that looks like it's about to fall down; it's made out of sand. I love the Italian language. It's like people are singing a song to you. You're like, Keep talking; keep singing.
It's just a different vibe here. You know, it's very, very European. You know, and then of course every different European city has its different feel. But the people's style and culture.
I would love to see the city be a little more cleaner compared to other major cities. You know, there are so many things to see. A couple years ago I went to the Vatican and did the whole tourist attraction thing, and of course all of that was spectacular and amazing, because I'm a huge fan of architecture.
When I go to those places I love to look at buildings and the way they're built.
Q. You've been critical about the scheduling of the events. With the end of that problem, do you think you can say you've made peace the WTA now, or are you still a bit mad with them?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I've obviously made my point. I just think I wanted to let my fans know, especially on my website, that, you know, I didn't feel like people were listening to me. I think it's in the best interest of the tour and the tour as a whole, not just the people that work for the tour.
I think it's in our best interest to listen to all the players. Not just me. Obviously somebody that's ranked 50 or 100 has different issues than somebody in the top 10. But I think all voices should be listened to.
Over the last you few years, you know, all the players have been in numerous amounts of mandatory meetings, and sometimes you go back to a meeting and you feel like you're talking about the same things and having the same issues, and you feel like your voice is never being heard.
That's basically my main that was my main thing that I wanted to get out there.
Q. It continues to be an issue?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Well, look, I mean, everything is a work in progress. You know, when I set foot in Rome, you know, my priority is to play tennis. I already did the talking and, you know, now it's time to play tennis, so...
Q. There is anything that you think WTA should do as the ATP does, and anything that ATP should do as the WTA does?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't know what they do, so I I think each one has, you know, different people, you know, ahead and different people working for them and different ideas. So I don't know. I really can't comment on that.
Q. On your website you also say that in a couple of weeks it will be something new and important for you.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah.
Q. You wrote that in a couple of weeks it will be something new and important for you.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Oh, yeah.
Q. Is it possible to know now?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Why would I write on my website I'm going to report it two weeks from now why would you report it now? It's like...
Q. A lot of girls young girls not like you that are already a woman
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I'm still young.
Q. When they're looking for a man
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Oh, goodness. You Italians. Only in Italy.
Q. They look for father. It's the same for yourself?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: To meet a husband? You mean a husband?
Q. You are looking for someone who looks like your father, or no?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Wait, hold on. This question turned into something completely different here. Can you ask the question again so I can understand it?
Q. A lot of girls, when they're looking for a husband, they're looking for someone that looks like a father.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Since when?
Q. Since always. I mean, it's always been like that.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think no, I certainly don't look. No, no. The harder you try the less it's going to come. So, yeah, that's my philosophy on it, you know.
Q. A question about the Olympic Games. You're already on the list of the Russian tennis team. How do you feel about it? And could you confirm the information that you will play in Spain on the final of Fed Cup?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: To answer the first question, I'm absolutely thrilled. It's been a dream of mine since I was a very young girl from watching it on in the middle of the night turning the TV on and waking up and watching the opening ceremonies, to following all the athletes and waiting until Russia would walk out.
I would be wearing I would find some white hat that they would all bewaring. Obviously mine was completely different, but I was so proud. I was always looking forward to that moment when I somehow could get an opportunity.
It's quite hard to believe that sometimes your dreams can turn to reality. In a few months they will, so that's quite exciting. As far as the final, if I'm healthy I'm definitely going to be playing.
Q. You think you will live in the Olympic Village?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don't know yet. I don't know. I don't think so, but we'll see. I'll let you know then. You're getting way ahead of schedule here.
Q. If you could pick the next Grand Slam to win, you would take another Wimbledon or Roland Garros or US Open?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Absolutely, Wimbledon.
Q. Do you think that the competition between the top players is as hard this year as it was the previous years?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: It's tough to say. But, I mean, the depth of the top 10 especially is quite difficult. You know, there are a lot of girls that have a chance to be No. 1 at the end of the year, and, you know the interesting thing about it is a lot of the players have different games and have different styles and different varieties.
You know, I think it makes for really good matchups against each other and creates good rivalries, good entertainment, and it's just good for the sport.
In men's tennis you obviously have I think the Top 3 right now are kind of ahead of the game. In women's tennis the top 10, especially the top 5, is quite open.
Q. Coming back to the Wimbledon question, you said that's the one you prefer. Is that in any way because you're also making special preparations to focus on that particular Grand Slam, or just that's the one you would pick if you could take it?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No. It's just the one that's the most special to me. Obviously everybody is different, but ever since I was young that's always been a you know, I don't know why. Obviously it was my first Grand Slam that I won, but I think it also has to do with the fact of the memories that it left me with since I was a junior and the times I played it there. Just the tradition and the respect from the people and the appreciation of the sport and a match.
Just going back to I don't think there's a place where first round of the junior Grand Slam event you see a full crowd at a Court 19. It's very rare, and so that just shows you the appreciation that the people and the crowd have for the tennis.
Q. Do you have more satisfaction to write or to read?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: To write. I love to write.
Q. What?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: What do I like to write? Umm, I like to write just things that are on my mind or my thoughts. I think that's I like to write for my website, you know. I just like to write, yeah.
The draw for the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy has been released and Maria is the #2 seed and has a bye in the 1st round. In the 2nd round Maria will play either Gisela Dulko of Argentina or Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Maria has played Dulko twice before - both times in on hardcourts and won in straight sets. Maria played Cibulkova in the final in Amelia Island last month and won in straight sets.
The 1st seed Maria can meet is #13 seed Nicole Vaidisova of Slovakia in the 3rd round and is seeded to meet #8 seed Marion Bartoli of France in the quarters. Last year's champion Jelena Jankovic is a possible opponent in the semis and top seed Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova round off the draw in the top half.
This is Maria's 1st red clay tournament of 2008 and she has played here twice before in 2004 and 2005 and her best performance here was reaching the semis in 2005.
The tour has asked Sharapova and the other top players to take part in a WTA publicity shoot around the start of the Tier I Italian Open (May 12-19), which she claims could take up to five hours and they claim might only take two-and-a-half hours.
Regardless of how long the potential shoot might take, Sharapova has taken her case public, as the tour is threatening her with a $700,000 fine if she doesn't participate. This isn't a phantom fine, the kind where the tour dips into a player's year-end bonus pool; it's a real fine, which would be deducted from her upcoming prize money.
"The tour does not care what any of the players think, not just top players," Sharapova told TennisReporters.net from her home in LA. "The tour will say we have done all these amazing things that the players wanted, but trust me these things they wanted as well and financially benefited from, including this shoot. I want people to understand that I took this action because this is one in a long list of things that the tour has ignored the players. This is not about just one shoot. I just could not just sit back anymore."
The shoot is not just any shoot, it's part of the WTA's new massive global marketing campaign, which will include broadcast and print elements. The WTA, which signed three year, $42 million deal with Doha to host Sony Ericsson Championships November 4-9, is making a big push into the Middle East as well as in China, where they recently opened a new office. Top players Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic are also scheduled to participate in the shoot. Serena has been less than thrilled in the past when asked to participate in lengthy promotions prior to big events such as Rome.
Sharapova said she was given less than two weeks notice about the shoot
"To ask me or any of the other players to do a long shoot like this is not right," Sharapova said. "Do you think the NBA would ask their top players to do a five-hour shoot the day before a playoff game? I understand the importance of supporting the tour and I want to do this, but the timing of the shoot and then for them to threaten me with a $700,000 fine is just not right. The tour is not thinking about the players."
Because she doesn't wear a WTA patch on her clothing, Sharapova's fine for not doing a tour promotional gig goes up $400,000 from the normal $300,000. Sharapova is also considering taking legal action against the WTA and may attempt to recruit other top players to boycott the shoot.
"We are trying to raise the notoriety of the players and the tour, and the players and their agents have complained in the past that we have not done enough to do so," said WTA spokesman Andrew Walker. "This is an opportunity to do it as we are putting millions of dollars into this worldwide campaign. It's important for women's tennis and, while we are sensitive to the demands of the tournament on our players, they've known about it for some time. It's in the rules."
Sharapova said that the WTA needs to be more realistic about his aims and when it decided what type of campaign it would launch, should have taken into account the fact that the players are athletes, not entertainers or models who perform such lengthy shoots for a living and don't have to go out on court the next day.
"The tour needed to challenge their agency to come up with creative that only needs 45-60 minutes of the players time, like the USTA does with their US Open Series ads," Sharapova said. "Or they could of been better prepared and did it at a tournament like Indian Wells where players arrive five to seven days early."
THE MORE RECOGNIZED TENNIS PLAYER
Sharapova's participation in the campaign is no doubt critical to the tour, as the No. 3 player is widely recognized as one of the popular women's athletes on the planet. She is said to earn about $25 million annually in off-court sponsorships and, with Serena and Ivanovic - who just finished ranked No. 23 in the FHM poll of the World's Sexiest Women - she's one of the tour's few internationally recognized faces. The tour wants to package its better-known players with its lesser-known up-and-comers in marketing campaigns in order to spread women's tennis' good word. The campaign is said to be ready to spend $5 million in 2008. Plus, the tour will have to spend massive funds in order to support selling the championships to Doha, which owns a regular tournament that has a poor attendance record and is a country that is consistently condemned by international organizations for trampling on women's rights. None of the top players are said to be enamored with the choice of Doha as the new locale of the championships, and the tour will face a treacherous task in trying to promote the event to the rest of the world, as Qatar is thousands of miles and many time zones away from places where tennis is popular.
"We are trying to build a cohesive message to help fans identify the players, explain what the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships means and also to make fans aware that we will be playing the championships in Doha this year," Walker said.
The WTA is still hoping to convince Sharapova to do the shoot, and she may do so in order to avoid a fine, but if she's able to bring any other major players into her realm of opinion and with them threaten a serous boycott, the tour might have to ask its ad agencies to adjust their campaign on the fly.
"Hopefully she'll see the value of the campaign," Walker said. "We will be as flexible as possible to accommodate all the player schedules, but we are not making exceptions."
Sharapova was also was fined $125,000 for pulling out of next week Tier I tournament in Berlin and says that the tour is forcing her to send an injury excuse to avoid a larger fine, even though she said she told the tour that when she entered Tier I Charleston three weeks ago as a wildcard, that she would therefore not be able to play Berlin.
"One has nothing to do with the other," Walker said. "She set her schedule before this year and Maria entering Charleston doesn't help Berlin. It's an automatic fine."
Sharapova will likely be fined an additional $10,000 for the pullout. As a Gold Exempt player, Sharapova must commit to four Tier I appearances on top of Miami. Each appearance is worth $125,000 in her total bonus pool of $500,00, from where the Berlin money will be deducted from.
Российская теннисистка Мария Шарапова приняла решение отказаться от участия в турнире Germany Open, который стартует на следующей неделе в Берлине.
"Я очень серьезно работаю над своим возвращением на корт. Я постараюсь сделать это сразу, как только мои физические кондиции мне это позволят", - приводит слова Шараповой "Спорт сегодня".
I wanted to thank everyone for their beautiful birthday wishes...it always puts a smile on my face when I get reminded of how many great fans I have!
I know i have been completely off schedule with my doodles but after IW, and my commitments in Miami, I wanted to completely be away from everything, as I was getting quite exhausted.
The last two tournaments have been really great preparation, to say the least.
I think the next tourney will be Rome, so until then Ive got a lot to work on.
But first is some free time in NY, then to Toronto for a shoulder check up, then home for a couple shoot dates, and lots of training.
So when I get home I will be able to write a lot more.
I'm off to the MOMA, and some shoe shopping at Barney's! Bye!
P.s. Writing from my phone so sorry if there are any spelling mistakes. 
