Greetings everyone, I’m Tia Larose, and THIS, is Naked News! Obviously, we here love to champion women. And though Maria Sharapova hasn’t been a force in tennis for some time now, she still looms large in our minds! Especially since she just recently announced her retirement. Eila’s taking a look at her great career right now in Sports
Maria Sharapova was a great tennis player, but her fame transcended the game. There’s a reason her retirement essay was published in Vogue and Vanity Fair! And so, because she was both a champion AND a strong, beautiful woman, she’s earned a Naked News retrospective!
In 2005, Maria Sharapova became the first Russian to reach the world Number One ranking. She also won THIRTY-SIX singles titles and earned over THIRTY-EIGHT million dollars in prize money! But tennis greats are judged by how they do at the Majors… and she did just fine!
In 2004, she won Wimbledon, beating Serena Williams. Two years later, she won the U.S. Open. Two years after THAT, the Australian Open. And then, with a French Open win in 2012, she completed the Career Grand Slam, becoming just the tenth woman to do so. And then, for good measure, she took the French Open for a second time in 2014!
Of course, her career did have setbacks. After that Wimbledon win, she never quite figured out Serena Williams. And though NO ONE has figured out Serena, Maria’s numbers were definitely hurt by the fact she couldn’t beat Williams again after 2004.
Maria also had a positive drug test in 2016 that led to a fifteen-month suspension. Though it’s worth noting she’d been taking meldonium since 2006, and it had only just been added to the banned substances list. So while ignorance is no excuse, you kind of buy it here.
She returned to tennis in 2017 but struggled with injuries and never really recaptured her form. She lost in the first round in her final three Grand Slam appearances, including this year’s Australian Open.
But now, she’s seen the writing on the wall and retired. And while no one knows exactly what she’ll do next, I just want to say: “Maria, it would be an honor to lose to you in a Versus.”
For Naked News, I’m Eila Adams.
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