Sharapova enthuses about her dream Games debut

 LONDON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Maria Sharapova has said that she had dreamt of competing in the Olympic Games since she was a child and is looking forward to making her debut¹ at London 2012.

She will play in the women's singles at the All England Club where she won the women's singles title at the Wimbledon Championships in 2004.

Russia made a clean sweep of the women's singles medals at Beijing, where Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva won gold, silver and bronze² respectively³.

"It's been a dream of mine since I was very young," she said. "Tennis in Russia when I was growing up till the age of seven was not very big. Over the years, you've seen how successful it has become in my country and now how important it is to be a tennis player as part of the Olympics."

"Also it will be my first one so I really can't wait."

Sharapova will carry the Russian flag at the Opening Ceremony, and she described how she felt when she was asked to do so while competing at Roland Garros in Paris in June.

"It was huge. I had to read the text message five times and read it to other people to make sure I got it right. I got it after my third round at the Frnech Open saying if I would do something like that. I was very happy to accept."

The London Olympic tennis tournament⁴ will run from July 28 through August 5.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 bronze   

n.青铜；青铜艺术品

参考例句：

• She won a bronze medal.她得了铜牌。
• This statue is made of bronze.这个雕像是青铜做的。

3 respectively   

adv.各自地，独自地，个别地，分别地

参考例句：

• They finished first and second respectively.他们分获一二名。
• In this machine which items make up the software and the hardware respectively?在机器中，哪几项分别构成软件和硬件？

4 tournament   

n.比赛，竞赛，锦标赛

参考例句：

• He was the best boxer in the tournament.他是本届联赛的最佳拳手。
• The Council resolved that the next tournament should be held in Shanghai.理事会决定下次比赛在上海举行。