Maria Sharapova stated during the 2007 French Open that she felt like a cow on ice while playing on clay.
The Russian made her Roland Garros debut in 2003 as a qualifier, and suffered a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Spain’s Magui Serna in the opening round. She then reached the quarterfinals of the claycourt Major in 2004 and 2005 before enduring a fourth-round exit in 2006.
Sharapova entered the 2007 French Open seeded second, after missing most of the claycourt season due to a shoulder injury. The Russian started the tournament with a 6-3, 7-6(4) win over Emilie Loit and followed it up with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Jill Craybas to book her spot in the third round.
After the match against Craybas, Sharapova said that she was still feeling a significant amount of pain in her shoulder and that she found it difficult to move it up and down. The-then 20-year-old also said that she felt like a cow on ice, especially on clay, where she didn’t play too often during the year. Sharapova added that playing on the surface was not natural for her.
“(My shoulder pain) is still there at times. For one week I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t really move my shoulder up and down because there was a significant amount of pain. I feel like a cow on ice. Especially on clay. I don’t play on clay for the other 10 months of the year. It’s not as natural for me,” the Russian said.
Maria Sharapova went on to reach the semifinals of the 2007 French Open, doing so for the first time in her career. She eventually lost 6-2, 6-1 to eventual runner-up and future champion Ana Ivanovic.