Sharapova has it all ... too bad she flouts the rules

	Maria Sharapova owns a pair of Grand Slam titles, but that U.S. Open banana is still on people's minds. Jamie Squire/Getty Images
	MAILBAG Jon Wertheim will answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag every Wednesday. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Let me be sure I have this straight. There's this 19-year-old kid who looks like a model, takes fashion tips from Audrey Hepburn movies, has a backstory out of a Dickens novel, is generally likable, plays a monster game, competes fiercely, embraces the spotlight and absolutely possesses the charisma to transcend the sport and attract a significant new fan base. She's just won the U.S. Open and taken a major step in her career by making significant improvements in her game, and the tennis world is abuzz with ... she "cheated" because her dad told her to eat a banana?

Never mind that the "cheating" was specifically ruled legal by the tournament's own officials. Doesn't anyone who loves tennis realize how utterly ridiculous this looks to the rest of the world? I've followed the sport religiously for over 30 years and have long believed I was past the point where I could ever again be amazed by its collective ability to shoot itself in the foot.
-- John Ross, Havana, Fla.

For the record, the vast majority of mail came down hard on Maria Sharapova. But we did get quite a few letters expressing a variation on John's theme.

Let me make two points that I wish the tours and the players (and their agents) could grasp a little more firmly. One, tennis has its own marketing experts. Journalists and commentators are not there to support tennis -- or, for that matter, to kick it in the foot. Yes, it would be better for tennis' health if no one remarked on Sharapova's ugly habit. It would also be better for baseball if the ever-expanding dimensions of Barry Bonds' head were ignored. But we exist to report and analyze and pontificate; we're not there solely to spread good cheer.

Second, someone (F. Scott Fitzgerald?) once proclaimed that the mark of a first-rate intellect is the ability to hold two conflicting ideas in mind at the same time and still function. Maria Sharapova is everything you write; she also is a player who flouts the rules.

Andy Roddick is a smart, personable guy with a powerful game; he also went through a dismal losing streak. The Williams sisters are terrific role models and dynamite tennis players; they also withdraw from way too many tournaments. Too many fans have the attitude "You're either for Player X or against them." It should be possible to like eight qualities about a player and dislike two (or the reverse ratio for, say, Nicolas Kiefer).

Specific to Sharapova and the coaching, I think we need some context: This has been an ongoing issue since she's been on Tour. We've written about it. She's addressed it. She's even been fined for it. I think part of why she's gotten heat (deservedly, in my opinion) is that she and her camp have clearly made a conscious decision to flout the rules.

I know that the banana incident has been discussed to death, but I have a question. When Michael Joyce held up four fingers, did Maria eat four bananas? I don't believe she did. Perhaps mixed with "benign cheating" signals as to what Maria should eat and drink, Joyce was telling Maria to attack Justine's forehand (four fingers = forehand).
-- Brena Wilson, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Let me say first: For fellow David Foster Wallace-philes, how funny is it that Michael Joyce (the subject, of course, of that masterful DFW 1996 essay) resurfaces in this capacity? I felt like I knew him so well -- DFW, if you recall, even speculated on his virginity! -- as an archetype journeyman pro. Suddenly he reappears as the hitting partner/third base coach for Sharapova. It's like seeing Ralph Macchio/Danny Larussa all these years later in those "Beer League" commercials.

Anyway, the four fingers were supposed to represent how much of the electrolyte beverage Sharapova was supposed to drink. Four fingers representing forehand is genius, though. So long as the WTA is prohibiting coaching the same way it prohibits appearance fees (we love Lindsay Davenport, but you gotta assume it's more than a fondness for fresh papaya that induced her to play in a $225,000 Tier III in Bali the week after the U.S. Open!), someone ought to incorporate your interpretation. Forehand = four fingers. Backhand = back of the hand. Volley = oh, never mind, they never hit those anyway.