During her 15-year professional career, Sharapova won 36 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) titles and four International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles, including five Grand Slam tournaments.
The French Open remains the Russian tennis star’s favorite Grand Slam as she won it twice in 2012 and 2014 while she has also won three other Grand Slams at the Australian Open (2008), Wimbledon (2004) and US Open (2006).
In honor of Sharapova’s illustrious career spanning more than a decade, we bring you five of her greatest achievements, which have made her one of the sport’s modern-day legends .
5. First Grand Slam championship
On July 3, 2004, Sharapova created the first big moment of her career when she won the Wimbledon women’s singles title. The Russian star, who was seeded 13th at the time, defeated world No. 1 Serena Williams in straight sets 6–1 and 6–4. During her journey to the final, Sharapova also defeated American tennis player Lindsay Davenport and Japanese player Ai Sugiyama in the semi-finals and quarter-finals.
4. WTA Championship
Just a few months later in November 2004, Sharapova had another great moment in her career when she won the WTA Tour Championships by defeating the same opponent she defeated in the final. Wimbledon’s finish is Williams. This victory was even more special considering that the Russian star lost the first set but made a great comeback and eventually won 4-6, 6-2 and 6- 4. That was the only WTA Tour championship victory of her career before she was runner-up in 2007 and 2012.
3. Complete the Grand Slam quartet
In June 2012, Sharapova joined the elite list of women’s tennis when she completed her Grand Slam titles by winning the French Open after defeating Italian player Martine Sara Errani in final with scores of 6-3 and 6-2. This victory was even more special considering that the Russian had suffered a bitter defeat in the Australian Open final just a few months earlier. To date, only nine other female tennis players besides Sharapova have won all four Grand Slam tournaments.
2. An incredible 2006
2006 was a special year for Sharapova and going by the numbers, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that those 12 months were considered the peak of her career. The Russian tennis star lost just five of 52 matches played over a 12-month period during which she won the only US Open title of her career.
1. First Russian female tennis player to win world number 1
In August 2005, Sharapova reached another milestone when she became world No. 1 tennis player. And so, Sharapova became the first Russian female tennis player to do this. During her career, the 32-year-old girl has won world No. 1 five times in different years and stayed at the top for 21 weeks.
