That’s the Yahoo headline. Not following sports, I didn’t know who Sharapova was. So I visualized M calling Bond into his office:
“James, We’ve just received word that Sharapova’s called off the Bid for World Domination. You’ll have to return your requisitioned equipment to Q. And we’ll need those tickets to Monte Carlo back, as well. I’m afraid you’re back to patrolling Trafalgar Square this weekend.”
Of course, in a James Bond movie Sharapova would be “Sharemylova,” would be the naive, innocent, and dare I say virginal tennis-star protege of an industrial titan with a glamorous compound in Gstaad and a secret affiliation to a communist- or terrorist-affiliated criminal gang who operate out of an ancient asteroid crater in Indonnesia.
At some point Bond inserts the microfiche with the engineering blueprints (for the satellite-destroying crater-based ion-pulse/laser supergun) inside a tiny, yet extremely powerful electromagnetic guided-homing capsule (controlled by Bond’s wristwatch, natch) and inserts the capsule inside the third ball in the can Sharemylova uses in the critical sixth game, fifth set at Wimbledon. “M” and Miss Moneypenny are in attendance. No sooner than you can say “game, set, match,” Sharemylova gently lobs the winning ball into the north stands… whereupon to the crowd’s amazement, it traces a 180-degree elliptical path in a beeline for Miss Moneypenny (or more specifically, for the purse in her lap), who deftly catches the ball with her handbag.
Darned if I can come up with an appropriate title for this opus, though. But hey, it’s still more plausible than Moonraker!
Thanks, ducks – falling over is truly the best praise of all.
In answer to your query, um, no, it just came to me, y’know? The receiver would have to be secreted somewhere, and, besides, it’d be nice to give Miss M a taste of the action.