Maria Sharapova reached #1 or #2 in the world in nine different years in her career. In addition, she is the most recent woman to win the career Grand Slam when she won Roland Garros in 2012 - she would add a second Roland Garros title in 2014. Maria's career prize money exceeds $38 million dollars.
The best match I ever saw her play live was a 2014 quarterfinal on Grandstand court in Cincinnati where she defeated Simona Halep 4-6 6-3 6-3. Each player converted 8 out of 10 break chances. Sharapova won the first seven times they played each other, Halep won the last two times.
Maria Sharapova at a WTA Round Table
Peter Ziebron Images
It's a shame that Maria's career ended under a shadow. Her last victory was in Cincinnati, 2019. As a wild card entry, she defeated another wild card, American Alison Riske, in the first round, then lost in the second to a smoking hot Ashleigh Barty. 12 days later, she lost to Serena Williams in the first round of the US Open, and bowed out to Jennifer Brady in Brisbane and Donna Vekic in Melbourne in early 2020, to end an historic career.
Posted by: Cincinnati Tennis | 05/19/2020 at 08:26 PM