Maria Sharapova laughed off the appearance of a streaker at Wimbledon on Tuesday but admitted she had been surprised by how long he had been allowed to remain within a few yards of her on centre court.
The appearance of a naked young man mid-way through the second set of her quarterfinal had no apparent impact on Sharapova’s game as she cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over fellow Russian Elena Dementieva.
The Russian star said afterwards that she had never felt alarmed.
”When you look at the security guards and they are laughing, it is hard to be frightened then,” she said, before joking: ”I didn’t really look at the guy, thank God. I didn’t want to look at all the details!”
Pushed on the subject, however, Sharapova, who has had to deal with the unwelcome attention from stalkers in the past, suggested she was not totally happy with the handling of the incident.
”What I would have liked was that he didn’t do a cartwheel and run around the court for about ten seconds,” she said.
”I’m sure they [Wimbledon officials] know it was a little bit too long.”
Security lapses are a sensitive issue for women’s tennis, a sport still haunted by the memory of Monica Seles being stabbed on court in Hamburg in 1993 by a deranged fan.
Sharapova, the 2004 champion and fourth seed this year, was always on top of an opponent with whom she has a somewhat frosty relationship, Dementieva having once cattily observed that Florida-trained Sharapova was ”not really Russian”.
Relations between the pair are unlikely to have been improved by Dementieva’s post-match assertion that the umpire should have asked Sharapova to tone down her trademark grunting.
”I don’t worry about that, that’s her opinion,” Sharapova responded tartly. ”I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Dementieva was only briefly in the contest towards the end of the second set but Sharapova never looked like relinquishing control.
The streaker ran on to Sharapova’s end of the court as she prepared to serve at the start of the fourth game of the second set.
Dementieva tried hard to stifle a smile as the naked young man performed a jig and a handstand in front of the royal box, but Sharapova simply turned her back on him and stared at the back wall until the intruder had been escorted away.
What had, until then, been a virtually flawless performance was marred somewhat when Sharapova, leading 4-1 in the second set, double-faulted on break point to allow Dementieva a glimmer of hope.
The remaining games were far more tightly contested but Dementieva was unable to capitalise on her opportunities to really put the squeeze on her opponent.
In other matches, world number one Amelie Mauresmo reached the semifinals with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over Anastasia Myskina of Russia, the ninth seed, while Justine Henin-Hardenne beat French qualifier Severine Bremond 6-4, 6-4 and Kim Clijsters
beat Li Na 6-4, 7-5. Na is the first Chinese player to get this far at a Grand Slam. — AFP
