Speaking in the Philippines, where she has been playing in the International Premier Tennis League team tournament, the 27-year-old Russian told a news conference: "Well, I think my main goal will (be to) continue to be healthy. At the end of last year I missed about four or five months out of this season and I came into his season not having many expectations, because I was actually quite happy putting a lot of things into perspective and coming out on the court.
"I started the year at number four. I was in a position many times during the year to fall out of the top 10 and I finished the year at number two. So it's been quite a successful year and next year I set myself much bigger goals."
Sharapova said she enjoyed being part of a team in Manila.
"The best thing is the team atmosphere. It's so different than what we do in such an individual sport. So it's always nice to do, to be able to huddle around as a team and get that support, keep each other going out there," she said.
Asked about her longer term future, Sharapova said: "I don't have a crystal ball, but yeah, I still have a tremendous amount of passion for what I do, I love playing the sport and I hope that my body is healthy enough to continue for a few more years. You know, personally I would love to start a family one day, but I think that's in the future at this point."
Indian player Sania Mirza is also in the tournament and she said it was great to face top stars.
"...it feels good. I mean, it's good to win every match. You know we get into every match, we are trying to win, we are fighting. The whole team is fighting a lot and you know, so it was great to be up and then to obviously, you know, beat the great players. Everyone's a great player here, so everyone is a champion at least. Some, you know most of them are grand slam champions or number ones in the world. So winning any match here is very exciting."
Modelled on the successful Indian Premier League cricket competition, the IPTL involves a five-set format made up of a men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles and a past champions' singles match.
The competition in Manila will continue until Sunday (November 30), with Serena Williams joining the Indian Aces. Further league events will be take place next month in Singapore, India and Dubai.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
