Hyderabad: Maria Sharapova, one of the world's most recognisable sportswomen, on Wednesday announced her retirement from tennis after serving the game for 19 years.
"Tennis - I'm saying goodbye," Sharapova said in an article for a magazine.
"After 28 years and five Grand Slam titles, though, I'm ready to scale another mountain - to compete on a different type of terrain."
Sharapova will be regarded as one of the greats of her era with 5 grand slam titles - only Serena and Venus Williams have won more.
However, her life and career journey is no less than a roller coaster ride as it has seen many ups and downs.
PROFILE
FAMILY STRUGGLES
- Sharapova was born in Siberia after her parents moved away from Belarus in fear of the repercussions from the Chernobyl disaster.
- The seven-year-old Maria and father Yuri left for the US in 1994 with just a borrowed $700 to their names. Maria Sharapova as a child
- Thanks to advice from tennis legend Martina Navratilova, Sharapova and her father Yuri moved to Florida to step up her tennis coaching.
- Unable to speak English, Sharapova’s mother was unable to join them for two years.
TENNIS JOURNEY
- Sharapova first made headlines when she reached the fourth round of the 2003 Wimbledon.
- A year later, Sharapova shot to fame as a giggly 17-year-old Wimbledon winner in 2004, the third-youngest player to conquer the All England Club's hallowed grass courts. She defeated Serena Williams in the final. Maria Sharapova with Serena Williams
- The blond teenager became world No 1 in 2005.
- Her next slam came at the 2006 US Open. By then thanks to off-court endorsements she was the highest paid female athlete in the world, and would be for 11 consecutive years.
- But in 2007 Sharapova began her long on-off battle with shoulder trouble.
- She would win the 2008 Australian Open before a second shoulder injury kept her off tour for the second half of the season, missing the US Open and Beijing Olympics.Maria Sharapova with Djokovic and Nadal
- In 2012, the Siberian-born Sharapova re-announced herself by capturing the French Open to become the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam. She added Olympic silver to her resume that year.File image of Maria Sharapova
- Her 2014 French Open title was another high after a dispiriting injury low.
- But Sharapova's on-court career faultered. She would only reach one more final at the Australian Open in 2015, and in 2016 came the hammer-blow of testing positive to a banned substance, meldonium.File image of Maria Sharapova
Meldonium Controversy: In March 2016 Sharapova had tested positive for the cardiac drug meldonium at the Australian Open. She had been using for medical reasons for the past 10 years. Maria blamed ignorance but she was still handed a 2-year suspension but later it was reduced to 15 months.
Due to the ban, major sponsors were quick to distance themselves from Sharapova. This included Porsche, Tag Heuer and Nike who suspended lucrative sponsorship deals with the tennis star. Even the United Nations removed Sharapova as their goodwill ambassador.
- In 2017, Sharapova made her comeback but her chronic shoulder injury meant that she never again got past the fourth round of a grand slam. File image of Maria Sharapova
- Notably, Sharapova never regained her pre-dope ban form and was unimpressive in almost every tournament that she played in after 2017. When she lost in straight sets to Donna Vekic in the first round of the Australian Open in January, the writing seemed on the wall.
- She retires with 36 WTA titles and a reported 325 million dollars in her bank account.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Sharapova won her first WTA title in 2003 when she defeated Aniko Kapros 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 at the Japan Open tennis tournament in Tokyo. Maria Sharapova receiving prize
- In 2004, Sharapova won her maiden Grand Slam title, the Wimbledon. The victory made her the second Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title, after Myskina, who won 2004 Roland Garros.Maria Sharapova with Wimbledon trophy
- Sharapova spent 21 weeks as WTA World No.1 – First ascended to top spot week of August 22, 2005. At 18 years 125 days, she remains the fifth youngest woman to reach No.1 (after Hingis, Seles, Austin and Graf).
- The Russia won 36 singles titles from 59 finals.File image of Maria Sharapova
- Sharapova clinched at least one singles title 13 years straight from 2003 until 2015.
- The 32-year-old is a five-time Grand Slam champion from 10 major finals. She won 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open, 2008 Australian Open, 2012 Roland Garros, 2014 Roland Garros. Maria Sharapova in Grand Slam finals
- Maria also won the silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012. Sharapova's records
- She won the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome) three times (2011-12, 2015) and enjoyed a hat-trick of titles at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart (2012-14).
- Sharapova steps away from the game with 36 singles titles, a win-loss record of 645-171.
