Maria Sharapova retired in 2020. At the start of that season, she found herself 377th in the official WTA standings as she was injured several times in 2019 and had few games. She was given a wild card to play in Brisbane and the Australian Open, where she left the venue. In the first round, she was defeated by Brady and Vikic, respectively. After losing to Wikichi, she was asked at a press conference if it would be her last australian open, to which she replied: "I don't know. The race was part of this Grand Slam, but now it's hard for me to imagine what will happen next. Especially over the next 12 months. Soon after, on February 26, 2020, Sharapova announced her retirement at the age of 32 through two magazines, giving the reason for her retirement: she was physically exhausted and no longer able to recover from countless injuries in recent years.
As we all know, Sharapova's biggest rival is Serena Williams. The two tennis players have confronted each other on many occasions, and in these occasions, the Americans almost always have the upper hand. They respect each other, hate each other, and sometimes clash even off the field. Former 64-year-old mary Carriro said in a recent interview that Sharapova's biggest mistake was beating Serena Williams in a very spectacular match at the 2004 Wimbledon Open.
"The worst thing Sharapova can do is win Wimbledon at the age of 17 against a woman trying to win her triple title," Carriro said. That was Maria's biggest mistake. At that time, she was not stressed, had a good sense of balance and was trying to hit the ball. I don't think Serena ever recovered from this. In the finals at the end of that season, Sharapova beat Serena Williams again, the second and final victory of her career against Serena Williams. Sharapova and Serena have met 22 times in their careers, with Serena winning 20 times.
Sharapova is one of the most iconic female tennis players in modern tennis, not only because of her many victories on the court, but also because of her beauty, courage, fashion and love story. She won 5 Grand Slams in her career (1 Australian Open, 2 Roland Garros, 1 Wimbledon and 1 US Open), becoming one of ten players in history to complete a career Grand Slam, an achievement she achieved for the first time after Roland Garros' seal on 9 June 2012. In addition, she holds 36 singles titles, including the 2004 WTA Finals, and 12 ITF-level titles. She has topped the world number one on five occasions in her career, reigning for 21 weeks, making her the first singles player in Russian history to reach the top. On August 22, 2005, at the age of 18, she reached the summit for the first time, and in July 2012 she made her last summit. She has won espy's Best Tennis Player award five times (2005, 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2014). In 2012, she won a silver medal in singles at the London Olympics, the only Olympics she has ever participated in.