FanHouse

Maria Sharapova has caved to -- or at least compromised with -- the Women's Tennis Association on the their recent photo shoot dispute, as it is being reported that the promotional photography session has already taken place.

Sharapova made headlines recently by refusing to attend a mandatory photo shoot that took place during the three days prior to the Italian Open in Rome. It now appears that she and the WTA reached a reasonable enough agreement to get the pictures taken without anyone getting fined.

'The timing of the shoot got reduced to about 90 minutes and I did that yesterday,' Russia's Australian Open champion told a news conference on the first day of the Rome tournament.

'The compromise was still pretty difficult since it's before a very big event. (But) the time reduction definitely makes it a lot easier than going into a four or five-hour shoot, without (the time for) hair and make-up, which adds another hour.'

'I've obviously made my point. I didn't feel people were listening to me. I think it's in our best interest to listen to all players,' she said.

The superstar claimed that the initial time frame -- the three days leading up to the tournament -- of the shoot violated her personal rules against doing the photography sessions "before tournaments because they are mentally draining and I want to just focus on my tennis."

There is certainly nothing unreasonable about that, and it is almost a shame that the WTA has enough shortsighted pull to actually keep keeping "winning" and "tennis" as her two foremost goals. Publicity is important, and the WTA provides enough income for these ladies to demand attendance at some events, but expecting them to endure four to five hours of posing for photos right before a tournament is borderline absurd.