After 28 years and five Grand Slam titles, though, I’m ready to scale another mountain-to compete on a different type of terrain.” “My path has been filled with valleys and detours, but the views from its peak were incredible. “Looking back now, I realize that tennis has been my mountain”, she explained to Vanity Fair. Her body won in the end, as it’s so often the case in this sport. But she wanted to get back and end on her own terms. It was just: too many years of tennis, too much years of being a 100% or nothing kind of person. It had been the left arm, it had been the right shoulder. Not because she didn’t want to, but because as we both knew, her body had already started to show signs of serious distress since 2015. When I met her in Palm Springs back in 2017 as she was making her return to competition, she couldn’t even bear to think about keeping playing until the Games in Tokyo. She trained hard for it, fought hard every day she could be able to practice. 1 was also searching for a last high since her return from her doping ban. The 5th time Grand Slam champion and former World No. No doubt she’s still as determined as before to fight for the biggest things on the court, but her body won’t follow her mind anymore. In an exclusive essay for Vanity Fair and Vogue, the tennis legend reflects on her career, looks to her future, and asks: How do you leave behind the only life you’ve ever known? Īt 32 years old, Sharapova was 373 in the ranking after having barely played in 2019. The handshakes-win or lose-and the athletes, whether they knew it or not, who pushed me to be my best.” I’ll miss the moments sitting with my father on the practice court bench. I’ll miss the training and my daily routine: Waking up at dawn, lacing my left shoe before my right, and closing the court’s gate before I hit my first ball of the day. “In giving my life to tennis, tennis gave me a life”, she wrote for Vanity Fair. But she probably already knew, as we all did, that her body was done for the level she wanted to play and needed to play in order to win Grand Slam titles. She had put all chances on her side by hiring coach Riccardo Piatti in order to find a way to solve her serve issues, due to the right shoulder that had to go again under the knife last year. Same as this winter after and before a last push in the winter for a strong physical preparation. Since then she had been on the roads, doing events, enjoying life. When Maria Sharapova was asked about the next tournaments on her schedule after losing in the first round in Melbourne, she wouldn’t really say.
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