Maria Sharapova has by no means been the sort to look again on her accomplishments. Becoming a member of the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame has given her an opportunity to just do that.
“Wow, there was a number of sacrifice. There was a number of onerous work,” she mentioned Friday, a day earlier than she was to be enshrined together with the dominating doubles brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan. “And, boy, was it price it.”
Considered one of 10 ladies to win a person profession Grand Slam, Sharapova turned an immediate star when she gained Wimbledon in 2004, beating two-time defending champion Serena Williams within the ultimate. Sharapova additionally gained the US Open in 2006, the Australian Open in 2008 and the French Open in 2012 and 2014, and was the primary Russian to achieve No. 1 within the WTA singles rankings.
Sharapova additionally helped Russia win the crew competitors now generally known as the Billie Jean King Cup in 2008, and she or he claimed a silver medal in singles on the 2012 Olympics, dropping to Williams within the ultimate.
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And Sharapova earned tens of millions of {dollars} extra in endorsement offers than prize cash, showing in vogue shoots and on the duvet of Sports activities Illustrated’s swimsuit version.
Sharapova retired in 2020 at age 32 after a 15-year profession that was interrupted by a number of shoulder surgical procedures and a 15-month doping ban after she examined constructive for the newly banned drug meldonium on the 2016 Australian Open. (The preliminary two-year penalty was shortened by the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport, which dominated that she bore “lower than vital fault” within the case and couldn’t “be thought-about to be an intentional doper.”)
Sharapova received a tour of the transformed Corridor in Newport, Rhode Island, on Friday and mentioned she was giddy like an adolescent because the induction ceremony approached to reconnect with individuals who had been so necessary in her profession.
“There’s the sensation that you need to stroll by way of these halls,” she mentioned. “You understand you are a small a part of such a much bigger piece, the historical past of our recreation and all of the athletes that simply completed what they’ve.”
Twins who gained a document 16 main titles in males’s doubles collectively, Bob and Mike Bryan spent 438 weeks because the No. 1 doubles pair. (Mike Bryan is the profession chief with 18 main males’s doubles titles; he gained two with Jack Sock whereas Bob was injured in 2018.)
In addition they helped the U.S. to the 2007 Davis Cup title and gained the gold medal on the 2012 Olympics — an event that’s already famous within the Corridor’s displays.
“Simply strolling by way of and seeing … all of the individuals we idolized and their relics in there, after which coming down the hallway and seeing our shirt that we wore on the Olympics is unbelievable,” Bob Bryan mentioned. “It is humbling.”
Corridor president Patrick McEnroe was captain of the Davis Cup-winning crew in 2007 — the final for the People. Bob Bryan was the captain of the U.S. crew that failed to finish the drought in Spain final yr.
“That Davis Cup and enjoying for his or her nation within the Olympics, I do know was crucial to them,” the youthful brother of Corridor of Famer John McEnroe mentioned. “One thing that I grew up with, my brother and I, from our mother and father, was that in case you had ever had the prospect to symbolize your nation, you do it.”
About 16 hours earlier than the induction ceremony, Sharapova mentioned she had her speech about 80% written. In a uncommon occasion of being on completely different pages, the Bryans quibbled over whether or not they had been going to offer one speech, collectively, or two.
“I feel I will wing it,” Bob Bryan mentioned.
