KEY POINTS:
When you are the highest-earning sportswoman in the world you do not normally need to worry about cooking your lunch, finding your way around the supermarket or making sure the toilet paper does not run out.
Maria Sharapova, however, has been learning how the other half lives.
The
20-year-old Russian, who reached the third round of the French Open here yesterday with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over America's Jill Craybas, has played only 11 matches in the past four months because of injury.
She is still feeling the after-effects of tendinitis in her shoulder, which kept her out of competition for nearly two months until her return in Istanbul last week.
Being away so long has left Sharapova feeling like "a cow on ice" on court, particularly on clay, but the enforced time at home had its benefits.
"I don't think you realise what your career has given you until you actually get to spend the time there and see it for yourself," she said.
"I was able to live a normal life alone by myself for a few weeks, going to the grocery store and cooking my own breakfast and lunch.
"Usually I'm only there for a week at a time and my mum does all that stuff. She'll be the one going to the shop to buy toilet paper. I ran out and had to go to a friend's house next door to get some, which was a new experience for me."
How had the shopping gone?
"The first time I was lost, absolutely lost. Now I've got it under control. I know where the vegetables are, where my favourite cheese is." And the cooking? "Awful. I always call my friends over to help me."
Given Sharapova's lack of match play and the fact that she has never gone beyond the quarter-finals here, it would be a surprise if she left Paris with a significant addition to her estimated annual earnings of £15 million ($40 million), which exceed even Roger Federer's.
Nevertheless, her game went up a gear following a scratchy first-round performance against Emilie Loit and her compatriot, Alla Kudryavtseva, should not prove too great a barrier to the last 16.
Sharapova is probably happy to be in the opposite side of the draw to Serena Williams, who steamrollered her in the Australian Open final in January. Williams, however, did not impress in beating Venezuela's Milagros Sequera, 6-0, 7-6.
Only two of the top 10 men's seeds, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, were on court. Nadal dropped just seven games in beating Flavio Cipolla, a 23-year-old Italian who looked barely half that age.
Playing in his first Grand Slam tournament, the world No 227 was hitting first serves which barely topped 145km/h, nearly 65km/h slower than Venus Williams' best the previous day.
Laurent Recouderc is ranked even lower than Cipolla at No 306, but the Frenchman took a set off Djokovic, who won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. The world No 6 admitted that he had not been happy with his performances this week.
Djokovic's next opponent, Olivier Patience, lived up to his name by beating Mariano Zabaleta over five sets, and Lleyton Hewitt overcame Argentina's Gaston Gaudio, the 2004 champion, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
- INDEPENDENT