Jungle queen Sharapova seeks new challenges
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Life is no beach for adrenaline junkie Maria Sharapova.
While most athletes crave nothing more than putting their tired feet up and indulging in a spot of sunbathing in an exotic location during the off season, the Russian pin-up was out for some thrill seeking.
"There's only so much sitting at the beach you can do," the top seed said after reaching the fourth round with a 6-3 6-1 win over Tathiana Garbin.
"I was in Costa Rica for 10 days and I did (an aerial jungle ride).
"I'm very adventurous. I'm pretty fearless at those things. I love to get an adrenaline rush.
"It (jungle ride) was so fun. You see the trees and the waterfalls. So surreal. It's just (that) you're in a different planet when you do those kind of things.
"In a few hours you could be in a big city, but here you are in a jungle and you're doing something totally different."
The 19-year-old, who won her second grand slam at the U.S. Open last September, enjoyed being cut off from the world when she was in Central America.
But it was not long before she got a reality check.
"I turned on the television and saw, 'Live coverage of the Australian Open starts the 15th of January'. That was the end of that, yeah," she laughed.
"That was not a good TV experience for me. It was like, 'Who needs this?',"
Back to the day job and Sharapova produced a ragged display on Saturday before slipping past Garbin in 69 minutes.
But having struggled to stay on her feet in sweltering conditions during a three-hour tussle in the opening round, she was glad to take any quick result, irrespective of the quality of tennis produced.
"I'm just lucky to still be in the tournament after my first round here, so I'll take any win," she said.
She will next face either compatriot Vera Zvonareva or Serbian 13th seed Ana Ivanovic for a place in the last eight.
