Winning her first career title at the age of 16, collecting all the Grand Slams and being banned from competing for meldonium are the highlights of Maria Sharapova’s career.
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| Maria Sharapova was born in 1987 in Russia. At the age of 4, she started playing tennis in her hometown of Sochi. Sharapova’s father recognized her talent and took her to Florida, USA to study professional tennis. In 2002, at the age of 14 years and 9 months, Sharapova became the youngest player in history to reach the final of the Australian Open junior tournament but lost to Strycova. Two months later, she played her first professional WTA tournament at the Pacific Life Open. |
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| At Wimbledon 2003, Sharapova received a wildcard for the first time. She reached the fourth round, with the highlight being defeating 11th seed Jelena Dokic, her first win over a top 20 player. In October, “Masha” won her first career title in Tokyo after defeating Aniko Kapros 2-6, 6-2, 7-6, which helped her enter the world top 50 for the first time. |
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| At Wimbledon 2004, the Russian tennis player made a splash when she defeated No. 1 seed Serena Williams to win the championship at the age of 17. Her first Grand Slam title helped her enter the world top 10 for the first time. Later that year, Sharapova once again defeated Serena to win the WTA Finals. |
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| In August 2005, Sharapova became the first Russian female tennis player to reach world number 1. |
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| The “Russian Doll” burst into joy when she first held the 2006 US Open trophy after defeating the monumental Justine Henin. In early 2007, she was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program. After that, the Russian tennis player suffered a shoulder injury and missed most of the clay court season for the second consecutive year. |
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| In early 2008, “Masha” made an impressive comeback at the Australian Open. She defeated former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, No. 1 seed Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic to win the championship without dropping a set. |
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| Halfway through the season, Sharapova continued to suffer bad luck when her shoulder injury recurred. She missed the Beijing Olympics and the US Open. Wimbledon 2009 marked the return of “Masha” but she soon stopped in the second round. |
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| At Wimbledon 2011, Sharapova played at her best, but lost in the final to Petra Kvitova. However, this was her best result in more than 3 years and she ended the year ranked 4th in the world. |
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| In 2012, Sharapova completed her Grand Slam title collection after defeating Sara Erani in the French Open final. She became the 10th woman in history to complete the major titles, and returned to the world No. 1 ranking. |
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| At the 2012 London Olympics, Maria Sharapova became the first female athlete to carry the Russian flag at the opening ceremony. She won the silver medal in women’s singles after losing to Serena in the final match. |
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| In 2013, the Russian reached the French Open final again but failed to defend her title, losing to Serena. She then suffered a collarbone injury. However, Sharapova continued to show strong comebacks. She won the French Open for the second time, defeating Simona Halep in the 2014 final. This was also her last major title. |
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| “Masha” started 2015 perfectly with the Brisbane championship and then the Australian Open runner-up. Once again, Sharapova lost to familiar opponent Serena. The Russian tennis player continued to have bad luck in odd years. |
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| After the 2016 Australian Open, Sharapova was banned for two years after testing positive for meldonium. However, after Sharapova appealed, her ban was reduced to 15 months. |
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| Stuttgart 2017 marked the return of the “Russian Doll”. She won her first match against Roberta Vinci. In Rome, Sharapova withdrew in the second round due to a thigh injury and missed the entire grass-court season. |
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| In 2018, she received a wild card to the tournament in Tianjin. In her first appearance, Sharapova won the championship, her first title since 2015. |
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| At the 2020 Australian Open, Sharapova entered with a wild card after falling deep in the rankings. She lost in her opening match to Donna Vekic. After this tournament, “Masha” dropped to 373rd place, the lowest since August 2002. On the evening of February 26, “Russian Doll” announced her retirement at the age of 32 after a series of injuries. She won a total of 36 WTA titles and more than 30 million USD in prize money. |
Djokovic: ‘Sharapova has the mindset of a champion’After Maria Sharapova announced her retirement, many colleagues sent their gratitude to the “Russian Doll”, including world number one male tennis player Novak Djokovic. |
Maria Sharapova’s figureMaria Sharapova was once known as the tennis queen not only for her talent, but also for her beautiful looks and supermodel body. |
Photo: Getty
