On the evening of February 26, “Russian Doll” Maria Sharapova announced her decision to retire on her personal page after a long struggle to regain her form.
“Tennis has exposed me to the world and shown me my own qualities. This sport gives me challenges and helps me improve every day. Therefore, no matter what I do in the program In the next part of my life, I will still do my best. I will continue to move forward, conquering new heights. Tennis.”
Thus, the former world No. 1 athlete chose to take a different path, ending 26 years of playing tennis. Let’s look back at the memorable milestones in the beautiful girl’s memorable tennis career.
Maria Sharapova started playing professionally in 2001 when she was just 14 years old. Two years later, she won her first WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) title when she won the Japan Open. That same year, Sharapova was named “Emerging Tennis Player of the Year”.
In 2004, Sharapova shocked when she surpassed a series of famous names, including the legendary Serena Williams, to win Wimbledon. Not only her talent, the beauty of the 1m88 tall girl at that time captured the hearts of many men. From then on, many fans still called her with the nickname “Russian Doll”.
Not only that, the first time she participated, Sharapova also took home the title at the WTA Finals. Serena Williams once again became the defeat of a girl born in 1987.
By 2005, Maria Sharapova rose to number 1 in women’s singles and was the first Russian athlete to do so. After that, she achieved this rank four more times. The total time she stood on top of the world was 21 weeks.
Sharapova continued her impressive streak of performance by winning the 2006 US Open. On her way to the throne, she defeated two of the top names in tennis at that time, Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin.
Playing well and being beautiful, Maria Sharapova makes money very easily. Within 11 years (2006 – 2017), Sharapova was the female athlete with the highest annual income.
Since 2007, Sharapova has also become an ambassador for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). During her time in this role, she made many contributions to social work around the world.
In 2008, Sharapova also won the Australian Open for the first time. She was also on the Russian team that won the FED Cup women’s team championship.
During the time that followed, Sharapova suffered many different injuries and showed signs of slowing down. However, she also completed her collection of 4 Grand Slam titles with victory at the French Open in 2012.
Also this year, “Russian Doll” won Olympic silver in the women’s singles event after losing to Serena Williams.
By 2017, she won her last WTA title with victory at the Tianjin Open. During her 19-year career, she owned a total of 36 WTA titles, including 5 Grand Slams. Her tennis career officially ended on February 26 after deciding to retire.
Source: WTA.
