Maria Sharapova

Kudos to the Newport Beach Breakers. What an entertaining team. What a fantastic, open-air facility on the grounds of the Newport Beach Country Club. Tennis stars such as Maria Sharapova and Pete Sampras playing in our backyard! Legends such as Billie Jean King and John McEnroe joining them. All the proceeds from the matches benefiting Hoag Hospital and charities around Orange County. An out-and-out success story. Except for one thing: The Breakers did not fill their arena to capacity for every match this summer season, which ended July 25. That's where you come in. If you haven't done so yet, we encourage you to support your team.

The Newport Beach Breakers lost to the host Sacramento Capitols Tuesday night, 24-15, at Allstate Stadium in World Team Tennis action. Aniko Kapros captured the lone Newport Beach (4-2) victory, triumphing over Nicole Vaidisova, 5-4, in women's singles play. Kapros has not lost a women's singles set all year. The loss dropped the Breakers to two matches behind first-place Sacramento (5-0) in the Western Conference and one match ahead of third-place St. Louis.

Tonight's World TeamTennis match between the Newport Beach Breakers and Kansas City Explorers might be better known as the match that could have been. What could have been: Maria Sharapova vs. Anna Kournikova. What's instead? Nadia Petrova has replaced the Breakers' Sharapova, the Wimbledon champion, when Newport Beach will host Kansas City, which will be without Kournikova, tonight at 7 at Palisades Tennis Club. The Breakers defeated St. Louis on the road Friday, 24-21.

It keeps getting better ? or at least stays as good ? for tennis fans in Newport Beach. After the city's World Team Tennis franchise the Breakers drew attention with last summer's expected crowd-pleaser, Maria Sharapova, and grass-roots star Ramon Delgado, the team last week made another splash: It traded around in the league's draft and, thanks to Newport Beach's proximity to Palm Springs, the team landed 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras....

The Kansas City Explorers defeated the Newport Beach Breakers, 21-20, in a World Team Tennis match Friday night at the Plaza Tennis Center in Mission, Kansas. The Breakers, who host Springfield at 7 tonight at the Palisades Tennis Club, fell to 1-3 as the Explorers won a super tiebreaker, 7-6, to win the match. Kansas City's Rachel McQuillan and Laura Granville beat Newport' Maria Sharapova and Eva Dyrberg in women's doubles, 5-3, to open the match, then Granville topped Sharapova in women's singles, 5-3. In mixed doubles, Kansas City's McQuillan and Rick Leach edged Sharapova and Josh Eagle, 5-4. In men's doubles, Eagle and Brian MacPhie defeated Leach and David Wheaton, 5-4, then MacPhie tied the match with a 5-1 victory over Wheaton in men's singles, before pulling it out in a super tiebreaker.

Maybe the Newport Beach Breakers and staff will sing, "She's so pretty," when Maria Sharapova walks through the Newport Beach Country Club this summer. Regardless if they mimic a Nike commercial or not, they'll assuredly be smiling as Sharapova will join the Breakers for one date: July 16. That's when the world's No. 2-ranked player will be with the Breakers when they go up against the Kansas City Explorers, it was announced Wednesday. Sharapova, who won Wimbledon in 2004, played for the Breakers 2003-05.

Maria Sharapova has played for the Newport Beach Breakers since she was 16. Now 20, the Russian-born tennis superstar makes her only appearance of the season for the Breakers (3-10) in their season finale tonight at 7 against the New York Sportimes. The Sportimes (5-8) will feature tennis legend John McEnroe in the sold-out match. Sharapova, who is ranked No. 2 in the world, played for the Breakers from 2003-05. She is the defending U.S. Open women's singles champion and also won Wimbledon in 2004.

Maria Sharapova, who will play for the Newport Beach Breakers for a second straight year in World Team Tennis, dramatically defeated two-time defending champion and top-seeded Serena Williams, 6-1, 6-4, Saturday to win the Wimbledon singles title at age 17. Sharapova, the No. 13 seed and the first Russian to win a Wimbledon singles crown, became the third youngest women's champion in history. Sharapova overcame a 4-2 deficit in the second set. Williams broke Sharapova's serve, to go up, 4-2. But Sharapova broke back, quickly regaining control of a match that belonged to her. After Williams hit a forehand into the net to end the match, Sharapova dropped to her knees and covered her face with both hands.

Playing for the second straight day without Maria Sharapova, the Breakers lost for the second straight time Wednesday, dropping a lopsided 24-10 match to the Delaware Smash at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del. The consecutive losses come after the Breakers had strung together a five-match winning streak to move into first place in the Western Conference. With just two matches remaining, Newport Beach (6-6) is a half-match behind Springfield (6-5)

Due to what a World Team Tennis representative called a technical glitch on the league Web site, the result of Monday's match between the Newport Beach Breakers and Sacramento Capitals was incorrectly reported in Tuesday's edition. Sacramento defeated the Breakers, 23-17, behind decisive wins in men's and women's singles. Sacramento's Elena Likhovtseva defeated Maria Sharapova, 5-3, in women's singles, while Daniel Nestor topped Brian MacPhie, 5-1, in men's singles.

NEWPORT BEACH — The Newport Beach Breakers are in such a funk they desperately needed Maria Sharapova to help them get out of it on the court. The three-time Grand Slam singles champion arrived at The Tennis Club in Newport Beach dressed in black Tuesday. The appropriate color because the Breakers said their goodbyes to the World Team Tennis playoff hopes. With two matches left, Newport Beach has no chance to return to the postseason, despite beating the Kansas City Explorers, 19-18, in a super tiebreaker.

Maria Sharapova, winner of three Grand Slam women’s singles titles, headlines the roster for the Newport Beach Breakers, who will play their World Team Tennis regular season from July 5 to 22. The 20-year-old Sharapova, ranked No. 12 on the Women’s Tennis Assn. Tour, is one of three marquee players who will make appearances in Newport Beach. Her lone Breakers appearance is July 20 against the visiting Kansas City Explorers John McEnroe, a longtime member of the New York Sportimes, visits the Newport Beach home venue July 22 for the regular-season finale.

NEWPORT BEACH — Maria Sharapova appeared as if she was trying to come off as modest, humble, homely even, during a press conference before she took to the court with the Newport Beach Breakers Wednesday night. It didn’t work. The cameras flashed, the reporters fired questions and Sharapova tried to handle it with grace. Her rise to fame started the same, minus the cameras and media surrounding her, of course. But, the down-to-earth part, yes. Part of Sharapova’s beginning started with World Team Tennis, back when she was 15 in 2000 when she played for the Delaware Smash.

NEWPORT BEACH — The grunts grew louder Wednesday night. The fans in Newport Beach loved the sounds made by Maria Sharapova. No one told the three-time Grand Slams singles champion to shut up. No one is going to ban grunting at Breakers Stadium any time soon. The Newport Beach Breakers play in a parking lot, so any sound is acceptable. Honking cars. Clapping hands. Screeching tires. Add a grunting 6-foot-2 beauty. Newport Beach closed out the regular season at home with its marquee player in Sharapova making the loudest noise.

Save the date if you want to see Maria Sharapova in action. The Russian beauty is going to make a lot of racquet on July 22 at Newport Beach Country Club. Sharapova’s only scheduled appearance for the Newport Beach Breakers comes in their regular-season finale. The Breakers play host to the Kansas City Explorers that day. By then, Newport Beach is hoping to rediscover the World Team Tennis postseason. Having a three-time Grand Slam singles champion around as its marquee player might put the Breakers over the top. The Breakers need all the help they can get. For the past two years, Newport Beach has failed to reach the playoffs.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova will join the Newport Beach Breakers as their marquee player this summer at Newport Beach Country Club. The 21-year-old Russian will play in the Breakers’ 2009 regular-season finale on July 22 against the Kansas City Explorers at Breakers Stadium. Sharapova, the former World No. 1 who is now No. 30, played for the Breakers when she was 16 before she made a splash on the world tennis scene. Owner of 19 WTA Tour singles titles, she played for the Breakers from 2003-05, playing for the Breakers full time in 2003 and contributing to their 2004 World Team Tennis championship, and came back to the team in 2007.

Kudos to the Newport Beach Breakers. What an entertaining team. What a fantastic, open-air facility on the grounds of the Newport Beach Country Club. Tennis stars such as Maria Sharapova and Pete Sampras playing in our backyard! Legends such as Billie Jean King and John McEnroe joining them. All the proceeds from the matches benefiting Hoag Hospital and charities around Orange County. An out-and-out success story. Except for one thing: The Breakers did not fill their arena to capacity for every match this summer season, which ended July 25. That's where you come in. If you haven't done so yet, we encourage you to support your team.

NEWPORT BEACH — A lucky fan during halftime of Wednesday night's Newport Beach Breakers season finale bid $15,000 for an exclusive trip for two to this year's U.S. Open. Maria Sharapova doesn't need to rely on luck. She plans to be there, too — as the defending women's singles champion. Sharapova, the No. 2-ranked women's player in the world, was at sold-out Breakers Stadium on Wednesday, making her only appearance of the season for Newport Beach. And even as the Breakers lost 24-14 to finish the year 3-11, Sharapova, in her fourth year with the franchise, gave the 2,358 fans — the largest crowd of the season — a show.

NEWPORT BEACH — The Superbrat waited for one tennis legend to stop her filibuster and a current star to remove herself from his seat. John McEnroe was back at it, being his usual cranky self. This time before Wednesday night's festivities even started at the Breakers Stadium at Newport Beach Country Club. McEnroe interrupted the feisty Billie Jean King and then upstaged her. Tough to do. Then he unseated Maria Sharapova faster than her appearance at this year's Wimbledon.