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Tennis: Maria Sharapova eyes 2nd Wimbledon championship For all that Maria Sharapova already has accomplished in tennis, a Grand Slam title now would be more gratifying than those from the past
"If I do achieve that _ if it's here, if it's somewhere else _ I think it would be my biggest achievement in my career," she said Saturday at Wimbledon, where play begins Monday. Sharapova's most recent major title came at the Australian Open in January 2008. In October of that year, she needed surgery on her right, racket-swinging shoulder _ a rather important part of a tennis player's body, it seems safe to say _ and she was sidelined for the better part of 10 months. "I've said it since I came back from my injury. I said that if I could win another Grand Slam, it would mean more than the previous ones that I have. ... All of a sudden, one day, it was kind of taken away from you," Sharapova said. "You kind of have to step back and look at things from a different angle," she said of her time away from the game. "And then when you get back there, you basically start from zero. You try to get yourself to a level where you can compete with the top players, beating them day in, day out. Yeah, it's a long process." She won her first Grand Slam championship at the All England Club in 2004, when she was all of 17. Her second came two years later at the U.S. Open, followed by her victory in Australia. Sharapova then went more than three years without making it back to the semifinals at any major tournament until getting that far at the French Open this month. That proved to her _ and to everyone else _ that Sharapova, who briefly was No. 1 in the WTA rankings, is still capable of contending for tennis' top prizes. She's seeded fifth at Wimbledon, and will play 2007 U.S. Open semifinalist Anna Chakvetadze of Russia in the first round. "At the end of the day, you really just do this for yourself," Sharapova said. "It's really about your commitment and your drive; whether you want it or not. You can have as many positive words, and it's really helpful and beneficial, but if you wake up and you don't want it, then you're never going to achieve anything."
