Sharapova - Williams Rivalry Heats Up

Remember all the good will and good sportsmanship on the display by Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova at the French Open a few weeks ago?

Well, that all ended recently.

Sharapova and Williams both ripped each other in separate articles. Williams, as you may recall, received heat for comments she made in a Rolling Stone article about a young rape victim for which she recently apologized last week.

In that same article, she took a few shots at her biggest rival.

"[Sharapova] begins every interview with `I'm so happy. I'm so lucky' – it's so boring. She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it."

In girl talk, that means you need to worry about your own situation and stop worrying about mine. 

The guy she is talking about apparently is one of Serena's ex's, Grigor Dimitrov. But Sharapova can give as good as she gets.

She put Williams on blast for reportedly dating her tennis coach, who is married with kids.

"At the end of the day, we have a tremendous amount of respect for what we do on the court. I just think she should be talking about her accomplishments, her achievements, rather than everything else that's just getting attention and controversy," Sharapova said.

"If she wants to talk about something personal, maybe she should talk about her relationship and her boyfriend that was married and is getting a divorce and has kids," Sharapova continued. "Talk about other things, but not draw attention to other things. She has so much in her life, many positives, and I think that's what it should be about."

Juicy stuff.

I miss the rivalries in women's tennis. That's what's missing these days: a barb-edged rivalry that keeps people interested. They now have it in golf, for example, between Sergio and Tiger.

The only difference is, hopefully, Sharapova is smart enough not to bring up Serena's choice of food.

One thing is certain, Wimbledon just got a whole lot more interesting.