TENNIS in DEPTH.

Is Maria Sharapova really back? Last week she demolished a mediocre field, but failed to win in the final against Li Na, who was the only top ten player in the field.

If she is firing on all cylinders she’s close to being unbeatable on grass, but she has no Plan B. If her service goes off she becomes just another good player, not good enough to defeat the likes of Serena, Venus, Kim or Justine.

Maria Sharapova opened her Wimbledon campaign with a 6-1 6-0 victory over Anastasia Pivovarova(who?) in an all-Russian match on Court Two on Tuesday.

Sharapova needed just 54 minutes to blast the 17-year-old from Moscow, who was playing her first career main draw match on grass, out of contention.

The 16th seed hit one ace and 14 winners and Pivovarova, making her third appearance at a Grand Slam event, had no answer to her first serve throughout a one-sided contest.

Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, now faces Romania’s Ioana Raluca Olaru(who?) in the second round.

Sharapova feels she is back at her best following shoulder problems.

“It’s a really good feeling when you go to your job and you know that you’re pretty darn good at what you do and that you can be better, that you can be holding trophies. It makes you want to work harder,” she said.

“But I know there will always be younger girls coming up with different types of games and you have to be ready for that.

“It’s a little bit different than it was a few years ago – now you have to be ready to play against tough opponents from the first round.”

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