It is a good three years since Maria Sharapova captured the hearts and minds of the SW19 crowds by winning Wimbledon aged just 17. Since then she has been No. 1 in the world and has added the 2006 U.S. Open title to her Grand Slam collection but her form this year has been of some concern.

Sharapova has not added much to her game in the three years since her Wimbledon glory. She has beefed up her arms in a bid to increase her strength but arguably this is not at all necessary. She produces more than enough power with her 6ft 2in frame but it is the variety and finesse which the current world No.2  misses in her game.

The manner in which she lost to Serena Williams in Melbourne and Miami rather than the losses themselves are the true cause for panic. Sharapova was completely thrashed in those matches and now she has lost to Venus Williams in the fourth round of Wimbledon in eerily similar circumstances.

'Sharapova seems reluctant to sway from her extremely one-dimensional baseline-bashing game. While this works against weaker players, it is no match for the Williams sisters with their superior fitness, power and variety'


While all three players rely on power, the Williams sisters do possess a considerable degree of variation in their game, especially on grass they are happy to approach the net and volley and play touch shots. Sharapova, meanwhile, seems reluctant to sway from her extremely one-dimensional baseline-bashing game. While this works against weaker players, it is no match for the Williams sisters with their superior fitness, power and variety.

Maria concedes that her Wimbledon victory as a 17-year-old came as a huge surprise - albeit a very pleasant one, of course. Perhaps she is simply not ready for the very top just yet. It seems that she is currently way out of her depth at No.2 in the world and is struggling to cope.

She rose to No.1 on the back more as a result of the poor results and the absentia of Davenport and Henin respectively in 2005 and 2007 rather than as a consequence of her own form. It took her over two years to lose her 'one-slam wonder' tag, in the meantime, losing to Mary Pierce and Kim Clijsters in the 2004 and 2005 U.S. Opens and to Serena and Justine Henin at the 2005 and 2006 Australian Opens.

Surrendering her Wimbledon title the following year to Venus in the semi finals and also losing in the same round to eventual champion Mauresmo in 2006 indicate that her SW19 championship winning form of 2004 seems a flash in the pan.

As for clay, Sharapova is a million miles from Roland Garros success, a best result there being a semi final place this year which she only just scraped following a tremendously-fought fourth-round battle with Patty Schnyder. Clay seems to highlight the problems in Sharapova's game.

Although her 2006 U.S. Open victory and was impressive, she was up against a weakened field. The Williams sisters were in extremely poor shape. Both Mauresmo and Henin had missed much of the U.S. hardcourt season and reigning champion Clijsters (who beat Sharapova in the semis on her way to the title) could not defend her crown due to injury.

Similarly, it can be argued that Sharapova's other notable successes (obviously that 2004 Wimbledon win and also the tour championships of that year) are questionable as well. At Wimbledon she only beat Ai Sugiyama in three sets, scraped by a sub-par Davenport in the semis and then faced an unprepared Serena Williams in the final. In the tour championships she beat Serena again but the American was suffering from similar injury and fitness difficulties.

At 20, Sharapova has time to enhance her game and hopefully many more Slam titles in her trophy cabinet will come as the fruits of much-needed improvement.