Russia wants Sharapova to save energy for Olympic matches

[a kennedy]

MOSCOW -- Officials have rejected Maria Sharapova's request to carry the Russian flag in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

"She wanted to be a flag-bearer but I advised against it," Russian tennis chief Shamil Tarpishchev said Wednesday. "I don't want her to spend three or four hours in hot weather waiting to march in the opening ceremony. We want her to be fresh, not tired, during her matches."

Sharapova, ranked second in the world, has decided against living in the athletes village during the Games.

"She said she didn't want to stay in the Olympic village because it's very noisy there and she needed plenty of rest between matches," Tarpishchev said.

Sharapova headlines the Russian women's tennis team in China. She is joined by Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina, ranked fourth, fifth and ninth in the world, respectively.

Tarpishchev said Dementieva, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, also turned down a chance to stay in the athletes village.

"That's not a problem for us and we will book a hotel room for them," he said. "The problem might be the traffic and transportation from the hotel to the tennis venue and back."

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3460297

This always makes me laugh, she's Russian in name only, she lives in Florida, and has another home in California.....why not become a citizen of the US???

:shrug: :patriot: