Maria Sharapova has never been the type to look back on her performance. Participating in the International Tennis Hall of Fame gave her the chance to do exactly that.
“Wow, there was a lot of sacrifice. There was a lot of hard work,” she said on Friday, a day before she was anchored together with the dominating doubles brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan. “And, boy, it was worth it.”
One of the 10 women who won an individual career Grand Slam, Sharapova became an immediate star when she won Wimbledon in 2004 and defeated Serena Williams in the final. Serena Williams. Sharapova also won the US Open in 2006, the Australian Open in 2008 and the French Open in 2012 and 2014, and was the first Russian to reach number 1 in the WTA Singles ranking list.
Sharapova also helped Russia to win the team competition that is now known as the Billie Jean King Cup in 2008, and she claimed a silver medal in singles at the 2012 Olympic Games and lost to Williams in the final.
And Sharapova earned millions of dollars more in approval deals than prize money, appear in Mode -Shoots and on the cover of the Swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated.
Sharapova ging op 32-jarige leeftijd met pensioen na een 15-jarige carrière die werd onderbroken door meerdere schouderoperaties en een dopingverbod van 15 maanden nadat ze positief testte op het nieuw verboden drugsmeldonium op de Australian Open 2016. (De aanvankelijke boete van twee jaar werd ingekort door het hof van arbitrage voor sport, die oordeelde dat ze in de zaak “minder dan aanzienlijke fout” droeg en niet “kon worden beschouwd als een Intentional Baptist. “)
Sharapova was given a tour of the renovated hall in Newport on Friday, Rhode Island and said she was dizzy as a teenager when the induction ceremony approached to make contact again with people who had been so important in her career.
“There is the feeling that you have to walk through those rooms,” she said. “You realize that you are a small part of such a larger piece, the history of our game and all the athletes who have just achieved what they have.”
Twins who won a record of 16 large titles in Doubles for men together, Bob and Mike Bryan spent 438 weeks as the number 1 Doubles pair. (Mike Bryan is the career leader with 18 large men’s doubles; he won two with Jack Sock while Bob was injured in 2018.)
They also helped the US to the Davis Cup title of 2007 and won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games – an opportunity that has already been noticed in the exhibitions of the hall.
“Just walk and see … all the people we love and their remains in it, and then get down and see our shirt that we were wearing at the Olympic Games is incredible,” said Bob Bryan. “It’s humiliating.”
In 2007, Hall President Patrick Mcenroe was captain of the Davis Cup-winning team-the last for the Americans. Bob Bryan was the leader of the American team who had not ended the drought in Spain last year.
“That Davis Cup and played for their country at the Olympic Games, I know it was very important to them,” said the younger brother of Hall of Famer John Mcenroe. “Something I grew up with, my brother and I, from our parents, was that if you had ever had the chance to represent your country, you do it.”
About 16 hours before the induction ceremony, Sharapova said she had written her speech around 80%. In a rare case of being on different pages, the Bryans came over whether they would give one speech together, together or two.
“I think I’m going to wings,” said Bob Bryan.
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