French Open diary: Judy Murray causes storm in a teacup for Maria Sharapova

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  • Maria Sharapova really is one of a kind. The marketing experts may do their darndest to try and sell Eugenie Bouchard as the next Sharapova but every time I sit across the Russian, I realise how intimidating and unique she is.

    She also seems to be living in her own bubble and pays very little attention to everything else that happens on tour.

    She once said she didn’t know who Jeremy Chardy is – a French ATP player – and got a snarky response from his girlfriend on Twitter with a snapshot of the rankings showing Chardy one spot ahead of Sharapova’s boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov.

    In the press room, she was asked about a tweet Judy Murray sent out about her.

    Judy, Andy Murray’s mother said after Sharapova’s three-set win over Garbine Muguruza: “Sharapova is like a tea bag. Put her into hot water and you’ll find out how strong she is.”

    Sharapova was asked about being called a teabag by Judy and the Russian’s immediate response was: “Who is that?”

    We told her, Andy’s mother. “Okay. Sorry. I didn’t know who Judy Murray is,” she said in a matter-of-fact matter.

    “I’m a big tea drinker. I don’t understand what she means. She’s very creative,” Sharapova added with a smile. “I guess she could have put it many different ways, and she chose the English version.”

    Eugenie’s take on Maria
    The press were doing everything they could to get Eugenie Bouchard to say Sharapova was her idol.

    They reworded the questions, followed up on answers but the most they could get the Canadian to say was that what she first liked about Sharapova were her outfits.

    “The firs0 thing t I noticed were her cute dresses and things like that when I was young,” said Bouchard.

    A cakewalk for Rafa
    Rafael Nadal got to celebrate his birthday for a 10th consecutive time at Roland Garros.

    The world No1 received his customary annual cake, even though it was his off day.

    The first time Nadal celebrated his birthday in Paris was in 2005 when he won the tournament on debut. He’s lost only once here since then and every year, he gets a cake.

    Must be nice to have this kind of connection to a Grand Slam tournament. 

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