Coco Vandeweghe accuses Maria Sharapova of lack of sportsmanship

Sport360 staff 08:53 08/07/2015
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  • Unhappy: Coco said Sharapova unfairly moved around during her serving motion.

    America’s Coco Vandeweghe accused Maria Sharapova of a lack of sportsmanship after she suffered a three-set defeat to the Russian in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

    Sharapova sealed her 20th grand slam semi-final appearance with a hard-fought win on Centre Court, but after the match Vandeweghe claimed her opponent had tried to put her off while she served.

    At one point the 23-year-old, who had never reached a major quarter-final before, made a complaint to the umpire and added she would speak to Sharapova if the official was too “scared” to do so.

    “What I experienced, what I felt from her moving around in between my serving motion was not, I don’t think, sportsmanlike,” Vandeweghe said.

    “I try to play as fair as I can. When I felt like it wasn’t being reciprocated, that’s when I spoke with the umpire for her to deal with.”

    Vandeweghe added: “She said she didn’t believe she was doing it during the motion. I strongly disagreed. Towards the end of the second set, I said if she has a problem speaking to Maria, if she’s too scared to do it, I had no problem speaking to her.”

    Sharapova refused to be drawn on the accusations.

    “It is what it is,” the 2004 Wimbledon champion said. “What she said, I’m not going to argue against her words.”

    Sharapova also deflected questions about her grunting, which was at its most piercing and grew louder as the match went on.

    “I don’t say anything. Do I have to?” Sharapova said. “I have nothing to say. It’s nothing new. It’s not a new question.”

    Vandeweghe admitted she was unaffected by her opponent’s squeals.

    “That didn’t bother me whatsoever,” Vandeweghe said. “It didn’t faze me, nor did I think about it.”

    Sharapova overpowered Vandeweghe in the first set and then served for the match in the second before her opponent came back to win the tie-break and force a decider.

    Vandeweghe insists her nerves in the early stages did not stem from playing Sharapova and, instead, claims she was surprised at how easily she kept pace with the world No4.

    “Was I nervous about playing Sharapova? No. I think the nerves were more just from being out there in general,” Vandeweghe said.

    “I wasn’t taken aback by her whatsoever from the match’s standpoint. It was actually a bit surprising how easily I handled her balls sometimes, from what you see on TV, then what you experience in person.”

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