In a chat with second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia — who attempts to win the Zurich Open for the first time — she talked about the coaching rule, her perfume, life in general, and the Year End Championships. Other topics included the FedCup and the Olympics.

Asked about her foot injured in Moscow, the Russian said she is getting better, but she does not expect to be pain free in this tournament. In fact, she has had doubts about playing, and she asked for a Thursday start and got it. She restarted training yesterday after 4 days of rest.

Sharapova says it's nice to be back in Zurich after skipping the event last year because of injury and losing the final to Molik the year before. She finds the city beautiful and enjoys going to a park and seeing the colors of the autumn that she is not used to seeing very often since living in Florida and California.

The Zurich Open will be  one of her last chances to gain match practice and to improve her ranking ahead of the year-end championship held in Madrid and where the top spot will be decided. About the possibility to finish the year at number one, the Russian was skeptical and thinks it will be decided between current world number one Amelie Mauresmo and Belgian number two Justine Henin-Hardenne. She is very motivated to play the championship and to show great matches to all the Spanish fans. She will tune up her preparation playing here in Zurich and next week in Linz.

When talking about the coaching rule that has been tested first in Toronto and this week at the Zurich Open (which allows players to call for their coach at the end of sets), the Russian response was surprising and may be an answer to the many critics that accused her of coaching from the stands. In fact, she replied when asked about it, "I don't support it. Tennis is an individual sport. You always play by instinct. You have to decide what you are going to do, and I always play by instinct; it's my game."

Sharapova is traveling with a small team at the moment consisting of her coach Michael Joice, a physiotherapist and her dad Juri. When asked about traveling without her dad, she said she will probably do it in the future, but at the moment, she is only 19, and she needs some parental guidance and support on the tour.

Article Author: Lawntennisnews

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