Sharapova feels "dorky"

lol Sharapova must never have thought that her statement about her stamp collecting hobby would give her so much trouble!

As anyone knows how Wimbledon reporters are, this year the new "topic" is her hobby.

Maria is getting inundated by questions, so much so that she now feels like a "dork"

Sharapova The Stamp-Collecting Nerd

30/06/2006
Paul Majendie

Maria Sharapova feels such a dork after confessing she likes collecting stamps.

The willowy Russian teenager would much rather talk about her passion for the new Nelly Furtado album.

"Enough is enough", cried her agent who is being bombarded with requests for interviews from stamp-collecting magazines.

For one of the most marketable players in modern tennis, poring over a stamp album does jar with her image -- and she wishes she had never let on.

The 2004 Wimbledon champion, who has dropped just six games in her effortless progress through this year's first two rounds, was peppered at her latest post-match news conference on Thursday with all the usual sports questions about how she felt she was playing.

Then reporters got serious.

In reply to the question "You're a stamp collector then?" she laughed and said "Oh God, stop. Everyone's calling me a dork now."

"My agent said not to talk about that because he's definitely got so many e-mails from people," she said. "We're getting e-mails from, like, stamp-collecting magazines asking if I can do an interview. I mean, it's just a hobby."

When a reporter with deadpan face asked what her favourite stamp was, the 19-year-old Sharapova smiled and said "Let's get off this subject because I'm going to be an absolute geek tomorrow."

For many young players, the iPod is not just a fashion accessory. Their favourite songs help to psyche them up when they step on court.

So what is Sharapova's musical choice before she goes on court and, with an ear-splitting grunt, smashes the living daylights out of a tennis ball?

"I was just listening to Nelly Furtado's new CD," Sharapova said of the Canadian singer-songwriter topping the charts. "She sounds really rebellious these days."

Eager to underline that stamp-collecting players can have street cred too, she said of the rebellious streak in Furtado's new album "Yeah I love it. She's a strong girl."

source:

http://xtramsn.co.nz/sport/0,,12048-5982015,00.html


AND LITTLE MORE ADDITIONAL:

Supercool Sharapova is outed as a closet 'dork' after stamping her class on hapless Harkleroad

Eleanor PrestonFriday June 30, 2006

It is perhaps surprising to hear that Maria Sharapova has more than a passing interest in philately, because somehow the thought of her being a stamp collector in her spare time seems at odds with her image as tennis's supercool fashionista.

After brushing aside Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-2 to earn a place in the third round yesterday, Sharapova was faced with a series of probing questions on her hobby and for a second she almost seemed flustered.

"Oh, God, stop. Everyone's calling me a dork now," she said, before revealing, semi-seriously, that her agent had banned her from talking about it for fear that her sponsors might start frantically searching for geekiness clauses in her endorsement contracts.

"We're getting emails from, like, stamp collecting magazines asking if I can do an interview. I mean, it's just a hobby," said Sharapova. "I'm actually good at telling stories but that is one I should have never talked about. Oh, my goodness. Let's get off this subject, because I'm going to be an absolute geek tomorrow."

It is somehow reassuring to think that Sharapova has a nerdy side that she is anxious to conceal. Being outed as a stamp collector was about the only time she showed any sign of vulnerability yesterday. Certainly there was not an ounce of it against Harkleroad, a good player who was made to look like a third-rate journeywoman. The Russian was almost vicious in her shot-making and attacked Harkleroad at every opportunity.

Those were the excerpts, read the complete article here:

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/wimbledon2006/story/0,,1809508,00.html