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THEY THINK IT’S ALL SH
TENNIS superstar Maria Sharapova is saying “goodbye” to the sport as she retires aged 32.
The graceful and big-hitting beauty – known for her earbusting grunts on court – has been struggling with a shoulder injury and said the time was right to bow out.
Russian Maria burst onto the World stage in 2004 aged 17 to win Wimbledon by beating then two-time defending champion Serena Williams.
She went on to clinch the US Open, Australian Open, and French Open twice, but her career was dogged by injury, loss of form and controversy.
Her emotional farewell from the sport, published in Vanity Fair magazine, comes after an accusation of doping, which saw her fail a drugs test in 2016 and land a 15-month ban.
She returned to the top tier of the women’s tour but never regained the momentum of her early years.
But it’s far from a tale of doom and gloom. Her 19-year career – on and off court – made her one of the highestearning female athletes of all time. She’s now reported to be worth a cool £150million from prize money and lucrative endorsement deals.
Maria was born in April 1987 in the Russian town of Nyagan to parents Yuri and Yelena. They were originally from Belarus but moved to Russia shortly before Maria was born due to their fears about the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 120 miles away.
Talent
Yuri was friends with Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny won two Grand Slam singles titles to become Russia’s first world No1 ranked tennis player.
It was Aleksandr who gave Maria her first tennis racket when she was aged just four – and she began practising with her father in the local park.
The child prodigy’s talent was spotted by veteran Russian tennis coach Yuri Yutkin, who noted she had “exceptional hand-eye coordination”.
In 1994, seven-year-old Maria was recommended for training in the US at the IMG Academy in Florida. She travelled there with her father, as visa restrictions prevented mum Yelena from joining for two years.
Yuri had just £550 in savings, and took on various manual jobs to fund her lessons until she was old enough to be admitted full-time to the academy, where Andre Agassi and Anna Kournikova also trained.
A year on, Maria was signed by IMG on an annual fee of £27,000. She made her professional debut on her 14th birthday in 2001 and her first tournament was the Pacific Life Open in 2002 – she won one game before losing to fellow IMG alumni Monica Seles.
Maria was also the youngest girl ever to reach the final of the Australian Open junior championship at 14 years and nine months. But her careerdefining moment was winning Wimbledon in 2004. Defeating Serena Williams was hailed as “the most stunning upset in memory”.
Serena claimed she’d only played at “20%” of her desired level and the pair immediately became firm rivals.
Maria later wrote in her 2017 autobiography that she had heard Serena “bawling” after the match.
“I got out as quickly could, but she knew I there,” she added.
“People often wonder why I have had so much trouble as I was beating Serena; my against her is two and me, the answer was locker room. I think hated me for being the kid who beat her, aga odds, at Wimbledon.
“But mostly I think sh ed me for hearing her c
Maria was the first to mit that she saw her pe as competitors as o posed to friends and ha a reputation for aloof ness in the dressing room.
The Wimbledon win sparked a huge amount of global interest in her, dubbed “Maria Mania”. As a