"The lines are there to be hit"

The lines are there to be hit!


Maria Sharapova has been washing out early in tennis tournaments lately and it's too bad. She's good. She's strong. She has terrific technique. And she has a lot of passion for the game.

It's great to watch her play! She aims for the lines. Not the easy muddling middle of the court where four-year-olds stand to hit the ball but the edges, the corners, those blame lines that mark the boundaries, in and out.

It's risky play. And there are seasons when more balls hit the ground just out, usually by as much space as this. That close.

She was chided for her penchant for those margin shots but she had a ready response, "The lines are there to be hit." And she's exactly right. That's how you win. It's dang hard to return a ball that skids off the line. Or pulls you out to the far edge of the universe. You win points that way.

And lose them.

It's a risk.

I'm hitting for the lines.