De-Cluttering Rules, Yet a Tennis Memoir Distracts

I have been tearing apart my projects room. Although I've continued to do all sorts of art projects  in this space, I have been horribly hampered by the awful fact that there is too much stuff in that room to really do anything at all.

So!! A major revamping of that "studio" space. A gargantuan effort, huger than I thought, but it is well underway and loads of space has been created. Much more to go! Sigh.

I've been knitting and listening to Unstoppable, the memoir by the tennis superstar Maria Sharapova, who undoubtedly needed to write this memoir after she was suspended for two years from participating in the Women's Tennis Association matches on account of a doping charge. In fact, the medication that was found in her bloodstream via random testing, is a med she has taken for years, and had only recently come under the scrutiny of the WTA. Maria was undeniably at fault for not realizing that a medication she was taking had come under scrutiny, but as Serena Williams has argued, Maria was unfairly penalized as an example to others. Maria has been playing again since the spring, at least 6 months prior to the date when her suspension had been scheduled to be lifted.

Maria Sharapova is not a favorite on the WTA tour. She is intensely reserved, which causes many fans and other players to criticize her. She does not interview well, which is another problem for her. She does not fraternize with other players at all,  and she screeches with each shot she hits, at a decibel level far above what any other tennis player manages. Yet another negative in her court.

Still, I am finding her story to be compelling, which has surprised me, because I have been one to criticize her ( her screeching is intolerable--ouch!)  I'm sure at least some of her stories and introspection is pure bunk, but a certain portion  is genuine.  I do think she tried to make this story a genuine version of her life, which was fraught  from the beginning. Americans  have criticized her  for her player affiliation to Russia, but  the story of her background, and how  she and her father came to the U.S. make this strong connection plain.

The U.S. Open starts Monday, August 27th.