From Boston.com: "Maria Sharapova, the 17-year-old Russian who drubbed Serena Williams (6-1, 6-4) in the All England finals, no doubt will sweep through the late-night talk shows, have her likeness plastered across the sides of big-city buses, and wear the telltale white mustache in the "Got Milk?" ads.

Still working toward her high school diploma via correspondence courses, the 6-foot Siberian star has the looks and the polished game to be the hottest thing this side of the Williams sisters for easily the next 10 years.

"Maria has ended the hegemony of the Williams sisters," shouted the Russian newspaper Sports-Ekspress in yesterday's editions. Even Russian president Vladimir Putin placed a congratulatory call to SW19 following the win Saturday. The Soviet Union never had such a sweet swinger.

Only 10 years ago, Sharapova bolted a resort town at the edge of the Black Sea with her father, the pair landing in Florida with pocket change, pipe dreams, and the naivete to believe that old saw about America being the land of opportunity.

Ten years later, she picked up a check for more than $1 million for her fortnight's work of lifting a light racket. Had it only been a day later, on July 4, even Danielle Steele might have tossed out the storyline as just plain hokey."