Maria Sharapova has by no means been the kind 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 plenty of sacrifice. There was plenty of laborious work,” she stated on Friday, a day earlier than she was to be enshrined together with the dominating doubles brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan. “And, boy, was it value it.”
One in every of 10 girls ever to win a person profession Grand Slam, the telegenic Sharapova grew to become an immediate star when she gained Wimbledon in 2004, beating two-time defending champion Serena Williams within the last. She additionally gained the U.S. 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 staff competitors now often called 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 last.
And he or she earned hundreds of thousands of {dollars} extra in endorsement offers than prize cash, showing in trend shoots and sharing the duvet of the Sports activities Illustrated swimsuit version with supermodels.
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 optimistic 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 important fault” within the case and couldn’t “be thought-about to be an intentional doper.”)
Sharapova obtained a tour of the reworked Corridor in Newport, Rhode Island, on Friday and stated 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 it’s a must to stroll by means of these halls,” she stated. “You notice you’re a small a part of such an even bigger piece, the historical past of our sport and all of the athletes that simply achieved what they’ve.”
Twins who gained a file 16 main titles in males’s doubles collectively, Bob and Mike Bryan spent 438 weeks because the No. 1 doubles pair. (Mike Bryan is definitely the profession chief with 18 main males’s doubles titles; he gained two with Jack Sock whereas Bob was injured in 2018.)
Additionally 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 reveals.
“Simply strolling by means of and seeing … all of the folks 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 stated. “It’s humbling.”
Corridor president Patrick McEnroe was captain of the Davis Cup-winning staff in 2007 — the final for the Individuals. Bob Bryan was the captain of the U.S. staff that failed to finish the drought in Spain final yr.
“That Davis Cup and taking part in for his or her nation within the Olympics, I do know was essential to them,” the youthful brother of Corridor of Famer John McEnroe stated. “One thing that I grew up with, my brother and I, from our dad and mom, was that if you happen to had ever had the prospect to symbolize your nation, you do it.”
About 16 hours earlier than the induction ceremony, Sharapova stated 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 present one speech, collectively, or two.
“I believe I’m going to wing it,” Bob Bryan stated.
