Maria Sharapova took inspiration from boyfriend Grigor Dmitrov’s win before sweeping into the third round of Wimbledon today.
The Russian fourth-seed beat Richel Hogenkamp 6-3 6-1 on Court Two in a little over an hour to set up a third round tie with 29th seed Irina-Camelia Begu.
But before her match, she watched some of Dmitrov’s 7-6 6-2 7-6 win over Steve Johnson, also on Court Two, as he too marched in to the third round.
“I actually watch a little bit of all his matches, especially the matches before my match,” said Sharapova.
“Since he was playing on my court, I like to see what the conditions are and how the court is playing.
“I don’t shy away from that.
“We’re quite professional in what we do. We try to go about our business as we would in any other careers and respect each other very much.
“When we’re out there, we’re doing our job and trying to do the best we can.”
Sharapova’s victory was not without its complications, serving three double faults in a row during one game.
“I didn’t find the rhythm to my serves in a few of those games,” she added.
“I think the good thing is that after that I regained my timing and started tossing the ball a little bit more consistently, that helped me.
“The court played a lot slower compared to my first-round match.
“We had a lot of longer rallies and I didn’t get a huge advantage off the serve or the return.
“I didn’t serve my best and I made a few too many unforced errors.
“But overall, once we got into the rallies and once I realised I needed to be a little more patient, things started working a little better for me.”
Feature image courtesy of Wimbledon, via Youtube with thanks
