Tennis News Round-up: Angry Sharapova and Powerhouse Nadal

Let’s get down and dirty, straight to the point:

Maria Sharapova is pissed off at the WTA for forcing her to either do a promotional photo shoot or pony up $700 grand for skipping it. The shoot is scheduled for the day before the Italian Open starts May 12. Sharapova is mad about the timing; the WTA says it is being as flexible as possible and that the players have known about it for a significant period of time. I’m not at all surprised that an all-star 6-foot-something blonde is throwing a fit, but she has a point. The WTA is also not going to back down and Sharapova knows that. She can’t “just sit back anymore.”

Rafael Nadal has powered his way into the Barcelona final, his fourth consecutive trip to the big stage at this tournament. A 6-1, 6-0 victory over Denis Gremelmayr was a mere blip on Nadal’s clay radar as he has steamrolled everyone in his path since the beginning of the clay court season. Roland Garros, anyone?

Paul-Henri Mathieu had a good thing going at the Munich Open. And then it ended. Unseeded Simone Bolelli upset the Frenchman in a 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 three-setter. Bolelli will square off with Fernando Gonzalez in the finals.

To go old-school on you, John McEnroe pulled off a come-from-behind victory over Pete Sampras yesterday at the Champions Cup 2-6, 7-5, 10-4. And with the usual Sampras’ class: “All the credit to John, he really played great.” Who says you can’t play tennis when you’re old?