Maria Sharapova’s first reaction when she stepped into the press room has got to be one of the best in recent history.
The Russian walked in, sat behind the table, hugged the trophy and sighed loudly. It was the perfect way to kick off the presser.
Unfortunately for Sharapova, the two-time champion does not get to keep the trophy. “It’s cute, but I don’t get to keep it actually. The one I get to keep is really like mini me cutie patootie,” said the 27-year-old.
“I wish I could keep the big version, but it’s probably too expensive. I might have to steal it.”
Sharapova was in such a good mood, that when a journalist’s phone rang to interrupt her midsentence, she said “nice song” then continued with her answer.
Simona Halep may not have won, but the Romanian certainly made lots of new fans. Throughout the final against Sharapova, you could hear the crowd chanting “Si-Mo-Na, Si-Mo- Na” almost as if she were French not Romanian and it’s not hard imagining her lifting the trophy here in the near future.
“It was amazing atmosphere out there. My feeling was just to see that the people, all the people are with me, and they say my name during the games and during the points,” said Halep.
Games people play
Earlier in the day, I caught some of Novak Djokovic’s practice, who was on Court 7 with Boris Becker.
It was towards the end of the practice but the world No2 did seem tired. At the press conference after his semi-final, it looked like he had a cold but he didn’t confirm that.
Bizarrely though, Djokovic tweeted a photo of himself playing chess with Becker and you could clearly see his wrist taped.
The Serb hasn’t talked about his wrist since he pulled out of Madrid to nurse his injury and it hasn’t been bandaged from the beginning of the tournament here.
It’s tough to believe he didn’t tweet that photo on purpose. So, is this a mind game or is the wrist a concern?
Meanwhile, those who made the trip to Court 2 on Saturday would have spotted a new Mallorcan champion in the making – Jaume Antoni Munar Clar, who was playing the boys’ singles final.
The 17-year-old hails from the land of Rafael Nadal and even though he lost the junior final, he is definitely the one to watch in the future.
Could the Balearic island produce another star? Time will tell.
