On Tennis
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
MELBOURNE, Australia — The un-rivalry is back with Maria Sharapova facing Serena Williams in the Australian Open final.
It will be their 19th meeting, and Williams has won the last 15. Yet somehow there remains a dim light of hope that, at some point, Sharapova will rise up and turn their matches into something more compelling than a vehicle for Williams’s greatness.
“Of course she has a chance,” Chris Evert said.
It has been more than 10 years since Sharapova beat Williams, which is rather difficult to fathom in light of Sharapova’s extreme competitive streak, excellent power baseline game and Williams’s tendency to lose the plot and her self-control every once in a great while.
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But she also acknowledged that the challenge posed by Williams was a source of great motivation.
“Of course,” she said, before adding a caveat. “I’ve never been one to compare myself to others: from the beginning of my career, when it started with Anna Kournikova, and I’m certainly never going to finish my career comparing myself to anyone. Everyone will always have their paths and their ways and every individual is different.”
That may be true, but for now one individual reigns over this women’s tennis era from a great height, partly at the expense of Sharapova. No matter what happens Saturday, Williams is guaranteed to remain No. 1 next week and Sharapova No. 2.
But the rankings surely won’t matter if the Russian can finally find a way – any way – to get past her un-rival and hoist the trophy.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly characterized a victory by Serena Williams over Madison Keys. It was a semifinal, not a quarterfinal.
A version of this article appears in print on January 30, 2015, on page B11 of the New York edition. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
