Stormy forecast of a battle of the wills

Tennis/Wimbledon women's final preview:   It rained yesterday. More rain is forecast for today. The women's Wimbledon final between the top seed, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova from Russia could be a match of many parts, not least of which will be how each player can best occupy herself in the locker-room while the court staff roll on and off the one-tonne tarpaulin covers on Centre Court.

Sharapova, despite her youthful 17 years, is more level-headed on court than anyone could have imagined. Her resilience in coming back from a set down to former champion Lindsay Davenport in the semi-final was as astonishing for the maturity of her play as for her athletic ability. The turning point in her match against the 1999 winner arrived after a rain break, when Sharapova emerged and more deliberately attacked her opponent's game. But the teenager has always been that way.

When she faced Williams for the first and only time this year in Miami, an event which claims to be the fifth Grand Slam, Williams won 6-4, 6-3. It marked the American's return to the tour after an eight-month lay-off.

Afterwards Sharapova was asked if her defeat was a lost opportunity to have taken the scalp of the ring-rusty Williams.

"No it's not a lost opportunity," she replied. "I'm going to have many more opportunities in my life."

Despite her soaring ambitions, not even Sharapova would have expected her words to ring true so quickly. She has surprised herself, but is far from overwhelmed. Every time she swings a racquet, or talks, her hardness shines through, and in that she has a similarity with Williams.

Both had tough upbringings, Williams in Compton, an underprivileged part of LA. Sharapova and her family first moved from the polluted Chernobyl region to Sochi when she was two years old, and then as a child she was transported to the US with no English.

Both players now are also inextricably linked to fashion, whether they wish to be. Williams clamours for approval in that industry, while Sharapova stubbornly resists any connection, perhaps because she has yet to prove her worth.

The pejorative Anna Kournikova comparison is always just one glossy photograph away. When the teenager was told yesterday that she was a pin-up in Britain, and was then asked if she was comfortable with that role, her reply was almost stinging.

"No, I don't pay attention to that at all. I never considered myself as a pin-up. I never will," she said.

In Williams she faces a player resolutely upbeat about her ability. The 22-year-old's attitude is, I've worked long and hard enough to be a champion, so why be modest? In an effort to try to find a perspective on what was going on in the mind of Sharapova, Williams was asked what emotions she was going through prior to her first Grand Slam final, the 1999 US Open.

"Nerves? Not really. I knew I was going to win. I just told myself months before that I was going to win, because I really wanted to more than anything," she replied. But even Williams has grudging admiration about the Sharapova package.

"She's a better player than she was in Miami. But I'm a much better player than I was in Miami, too. I don't know how I won that tournament. We have definitely both improved. I think it's going to be a good show."

Williams will come to the net more often but will also happily trade heavy ground strokes from the back court. Sharapova has the physique to stand up to the velocity of Williams, but she may need to find a strategy where her opponent feels uncomfortable rather than try to beat her at her own game.

Sharapova is a notoriously slow starter while Williams tends to dust down her opponents as fast as she can. Williams is also aware of the statistics page handed out by the WTA that contains the names of Graf, Navratilova, Helen Wills Moody, Billy Jean King and Suzanne Lenglen: the only women to have strung three successive wins together.

"That's obviously what I want," said Williams. "It's obviously what Maria wants. She wants the Grand Slam too. That would really be amazing for me for records. It will be like, 'okay, I'm finally doing something that's chasing a record'."

YESTERDAY

Mixed Doubles: Round 3 (6) W Black (Zim) and C Black (Zim) bt (9) L Paes (Ind) and M Navratilova (USA) 7-6(9-7) 6-7(5-7) 13-11

TODAY'S ORDER OF PLAY

Centre Court (1) Roger Federer (Swi) v (10) Sebastien Grosjean (Fra)

Court 1 Mario Ancic (Cro) v (2) Andy Roddick (USA) (3) Martina Navratilova (USA) & Lisa Raymond (USA) v (5) Liezel Huber (Rsa) & Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) (3) H Guenthardt (Swi) & B Taroczy (Hun) v (2) P Fleming (USA) & A A Mayer (USA) (5) Paul Hanley (Aus) & Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) v (8) Todd Woodbridge (Aus) & Alicia Molik (Aus)

Court 2 (16) Julian Knowle (Aut) & Nenad Zimonjic (Ser) v (5) Mark Knowles (Bah) & Daniel Nestor (Can) (1) Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) & Paola Suarez (Arg) v (6) Cara Black (Zim) & Rennae Stubbs (Aus) Cedric Pioline (Fra) & R Seguso (USA) v S Davis (USA) & D Pate (USA) (4) M Erakovic (Nzl) & M Niculescu (Rom) v (2) V Chvojkova (Cze) & Nicole Vaidisova (Cze)

Court 3 (1) Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) & Todd Woodbridge (Aus) v (7) Wayne Arthurs (Aus) & Paul Hanley (Aus) K Adams (USA) & A Smith (USA) v J M Durie (Brit) & H Sukova (Cze) (1) Michaella Krajicek (Ned) & Shahar Peer (Isr) v (3) V Azarenka (Blr) & Volha Havartsova (Blr)

Court 4 (1) Michaella Krajicek (Ned) v (6) Katerina Bondarenko (Ukr)

Court 13 (1) Gael Monfils (Fra) v J Chardy (Fra) R Haase (Ned) & V Troicki (Scg) v (6) G Alcaide-Justell (Spa) & S Bubka (Ukr) (9) Leander Paes (Ind) & Martina Navratilova (USA) v (6) Wayne Black (Zim) & Cara Black (Zim)

Court 14 Miles Kasiri (Brit) v (11) S Jenkins (USA)

Court 18 (1) K Curren (USA) & J Kriek (USA) v (4) Mansour Bahrami (Irn) & G Mayer (USA) T-J Middleton (USA) & D Wheaton (USA) v N Broad (Brit) & P Hand (Brit) I Kloss (Rsa) & PD Smylie (Aus) v C Lindqvist (Swe) & Lori McNeil (USA) (4) Rafael Arevalo Gonzalez (Spa) & C Van Keulan (Ned) v (2) B Evans (USA) & Scott Oudsema (USA)

Court 19 (3) Ana Ivanovic (Ser) v (9) V Azarenka (Blr)