The Sharapova Showing

You know what? I was prepared to be spectacularly unimpressed by Maria Sharapova's comeback. I was prepared to see a whole big string of early round losses and the few wins that she did manage to eke out, I thought she'd eke out by willpower alone, nothing to do with game.

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Well, I wasn't entirely wrong - Maria's biggest weapon has seemed to be, indeed, her willpower - but I have actually been really pleasantly surprised by the Sharapova showing. After a pretty early exit in Warsaw, she got through to the quarters of what is arguably the most physically testing Slam of them all - which was better, I might point out, than her showing there last year, when she went in ranked #1 and went out in a fourth round nailbiter to Dinara Safina.

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And now she's just gone down in a reasonably tight semi to Li Na in Birmingham - not bad, considering Li Na can prove troublesome for the best of players on the best of days. It will be interesting to see how she fares at the Big W - how her body holds up after playing so much tennis after that layoff. On the whole, though, I have to say that this is one of the best comebacks I've seen. It's early days yet, of course, but I'd say Maria's well on track.

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Someone about whom I am concerned, on the other hand, is Andy Roddick, who sustained an ankle injury in his semi final in Queen's against James Blake and had to retire. I hope that he's better for Wimbledon - I love seeing A-Rod on the grass! Those two finals he played against Federer are some of my favourite matches... one-sidedness and all.

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Today's Results

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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)

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Novak Djokovic def. Olivier Rochus, 7-6 (9-7) 6-4

Tommy Haas def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 2-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3)

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AEGON Championships (Queen's Club)

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Andy Murray def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-2 6-4

James Blake def. Andy Roddick, 4-4 retired

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AEGON Classic (Birmingham)

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Magdalena Rybarikova def. Sania Mirza, 3-6 6-0 6-3

Li Na def. Maria Sharapova, 6-4 6-4