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By Franklin L. Johnson
© Natasha Peterson/Corleve

(September 15, 2010) Risking literary blasphemy here, remember how the Great Dane (not the bubbly blond Sunshine wearing the bright yellow fingernail polish to match her canary-colored cycle shorts, but the morose, McEnroe-mad Prince swinging the sword rather than the stick) confronted court crisis: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

The Stratford Sage wrote those words spilling out of Hamlet's mouth 400 years before Flushing Meadows sprouted its first blue highway in that corporate condominium complex that is Arthur Ashe Stadium.

What does Shakespearan tragedy have in common with Queens court drama?

Almost all the stars wind up buried by the end.

I'm not here to serve as the analytical grave digger studying the competitive corpses. I'm here to preach analytical revival for one past champion some of you seem to love to hate.

Well get over it and get real.

A major loss is like a Fabrice Santoro master class on the art of the slice and dice: by the time its done you can spin it anyway you want.

Here's my view of what Maria Sharapova's US Open loss means in the big picture.

When the draw came out, everyone with even a slight interest in women's tennis circled the Caroline Wozniacki vs. Sharapova, battle of the blond baseliners, as the big bash of week one.

Ultimately, this match was more fizzle than sizzle.

Maria's heart was in the match, but it wasn't enough. Heart doesn't win majors these days: even Francesca Schiavone did it the good old fashioned way by moving forward.

Here's the story with Sharapova: Maria can clearly remember what it was like to come up with the goods on the important points when the pressure is intense, but her body can't produce the result.

Now, if you want to tell me that's a product of her shoulder still not strong enough to bear the burden of the match workload or that even if her shoulder is physically sound, she is psychologically fragile about it that's your choice.

More likely, Maria came up against an in-form C-Woz who wasn't going down to the big babe blaster when she could run down everything Sharapova threw at her.

The fact is: C-Woz didn't do anything special. Caroline did what Caroline does best: she just waited out Maria.

Caroline is more embraceable for many fans who view Maria as the ice princess, but Sharapova remains a hard-core competitor committed to winning majors.

Look, Caroline Wozniacki has the star power: the sunny smile, the fresh good looks, the athletic DNA thanks to her soccer-playing father and the generally genial, good-girl-next door image that's great for our game. It's all good. But get past the promo material to the player.

I'm not sold on Caroline as a big-time champion until she develops a big-time shot. C-Woz's game is based on the junior principle: tennis matches are not won on winners they are lost on errors. Consequently, C-Woz takes the "low risk, solid reward" approach and that will consistently get her to the quarters and semis but until she's willing to step up and play big time in the big matches she won't win a major.

In fact, I say Sharapova wins a major before Wozniacki does.

Stop laughing and stop drinking the "Sharapova is toast" kool aid.

As for all the talk about Maria's serve being shot, more malarkey.

There's nothing wrong with Masha's serve that a little more confidence couldn't cure. Maria could easily play with a little more spin on the second serve (she hit one of the flattest second serve of virtually any too player) and remedy the double fault dilemma, but the bigger issue is Masha must get the serve back to where it's a weapon like it was when she schooled Ana Ivanovic in the Australian Open final.

Here's the challenge for Sharapova: to get to this level of confidence, you have to come up with the goods when it counts. It's the old Catch 22.

One of the toughest tasks in tennis is to regain the PUP Factor (Poise Under Pressure) after you lose it. But Sharapova can catch fire quickly, just ask Mikhail Youzhny about how fast that can happen or better yet ask Maria about her run to the '08 Australian Open title when she dismantled Davenport, Dementieva, Henin, Jankovic and Ivanovic all in straight sets.

If you think Sharapova's done as a major champion, then you've got some Hamlet-sized self-analysis to perform.

At the risk of sounding like a codger flipping through the Glory Days' scrapbook, I remember the greatest display of tennis I ever had the pleasure to witness in person.

That was Jimmy Connors' run to the US Open semis before a rude dude with the same initials took him out assasin style: Jim Courier.

I was at four of the six matches Jimmy played that year. Connors put on the greatest display of returning I ever saw. Forget all the chatter about Andre and Lleyton, and yes they were remarkable returns, but the way Connors returned serve in that run was mountainously magical.

Dudes were dropping  massive heat on him (back when the heat wasn't quite wasabi wicked), but he stood his 39-year-old ground. There were serves which literally knocked him off his feet and almost stood him on his head, but he found a way to put the ball in play, win the match and fight on.

I'll never forget it as long as I live. This level of PUP Factor is almost incomprehensible to even imagine, let alone execute. These moments of clarity of purpose are rare, even for the best players, even for former champions.

So, we shouldn't be surprised when former champs can't reach the top of the PUP Factor mountain again. In her prime, Masha would've mashed the  Marshmallow Princess with ruthless power and precision of shot.

Caroline had the confidence that comes from winning titles and stringing together a series of wins in succession. Caroline won that match with her belief as well as her legs. And she deserves credit for her, but I will say this: Sharapova's upside is still higher than Wozniacki's in my view.

Maria's still relatively young, she is defending final points from  and should get back most of her former form. I believe Sharapova will win a major before Wozniacki does.

"There are more things in heaven and earth (and on the tennis court) Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

In Shakespearean tragedy, the star seldom seems the end is near. In tennis drama, the players sometimes don't see the revival coming.

Look for the Ice Princess to return as a Grand Slam queen within the next calendar year.


Tennis Now contributing writer Franklin L. Johnson is a writer, poet and avid tennis player based in New York. He has covered professional tennis for three decades. His recent columns include Open Observations: Only The Strong Survive, Champs Can Sow Seeds of American Tennis Growth,  The GOAT Game Changer,  What Do Roger Federer and Andy Murray's Coaching Changes Mean? American Anthem Needs New Tune, Tomas Berdych Played Tame Final and A Case For Vera.