Joyce says Sharapova was upset by assassin jokes
Maria opened the door to this joke, but she may have learned now to be careful with her relationship to the press. You’ve got to figure that she is going to ditch daddy one of these years, no? Life will probably be simpler then.
Joyce revealed the pressure that the camp had had to deal with after the night Sharapov took his “assassin” nickname too far.
While the throat-cutting gesture was dismissed by the WTA as an “innocent joke” about the camouflage print hoodie Sharapov wore, Team Sharapova was not laughing after the media seized on it and Sharapov was publicly damned.
Joyce said the negative attention around that “joke” had upset Sharapova and those around her, who felt a sensational victory had been overshadowed.
“It was tough. Maria was a little bit upset,” Joyce said. “It was a little bit tough because Maria had felt she had played such a great match. All she really wanted to talk about how well she played, and then, obviously, that was one of the major questions. So that night kind of turned into a tough night. It was such innocent, it was kind of a joke and Henin was obviously five minutes off the court. It wasn’t like he had done that to Henin’s face. Henin was gone off the court. It was a joke. Maria had said something about the sweatshirt earlier in the week, saying he looks like an assassin. It was this joke between Maria and him, it turned into this thing, but she’s used to it.
“I think she read one morning that some seal was born to her grunts or something. So you just try to look past all that stuff. Especially in Australia and England, they make a big deal out of a lot of things. Our main concern was after playing so great against Henin, being to able to come back and play a great match. She had a very tough draw … our main concern was the next day to get back down to earth.”
We now know that Sharapova’s feet did touch the ground again after stunning victories over Henin and former world No.1 Lindsay Davenport in the second round. Sharapova’s victory in the final was not as convincing, but comprehensive enough - 7-5, 6-3 over Ivanovic, who takes over the world No.2 ranking.
After her win, a tearful Sharapova ran over to grab her father’s hand. He embraced it, giggling, and cried, “Hey baby, hey baby”. So what is Maria and Yuri’s relationship really like?
“They have a great relationship,” said Joyce, who has known Sharapova since she was 10. “A lot of the press tries to make it like … I mean she’s a 20-year-old girl, it’s her father. It’s a typical father/daughter relationship. She spends a lot time in the off-season - he goes skiing - she spends time with her mum.” SMH