Maria Sharapova beat Ajla Tomlianovic 6-4, 7-5 on Friday at the 2019 Mubadala at the International Tennis Stadium in Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi. It was good match from her and it also was break down in both sets.
The Russian icon really just needs match play. It’s no coincidence that the only time in her entire comeback that she was able to play back to back for many weeks in a row, was also her strongest form.
“Any chance that I get to come out and play competitively is an excellent day because I just haven’t played a lot,” Sharapova said.
“I’m coming out of this match against Ajla happy that I was out there again, and it can only get better from here. Setting the right schedule should be one of the biggest challenges ahead of the new season.
“I definitely look forward to going to Australia and seeing how things go, see how the body holds up there. It’s tough to tell, I barely played any events last year.
“The constant start and stop was one of the most challenging parts of the season as well, just when you think I got going a little bit I had to tone it down and stop and then keep training.
“Although it seems I haven’t played, actually I’ve been working a lot. I have goals and dreams for life after tennis, but I still have that internal fire and motivation. All on my mind when I wake up is getting into my sports gear and going out and working to be a better tennis player.” Sharapova added.
Asked about Rafael Nadal’s career, Sharapova said: “I’m in awe of Nadal’s entire career. I think his schedule over the years has been really smart.”
“From his point of view, he likes a lot of matches to feel confident, but you need to be healthy to do that, so you have to make the right decisions and that’s certainly something that I can learn from him.” she added.
Taking part at only eight WTA competitions Sharapova will seal the season outside the top-100 only for the third time in a profession.
