Maria Sharapova: The Fierce Competitor Who Put Russian Women's Tennis On World Map

Sharapova was much more than just notching up individual accolades on the WTA tour, she delivered her fullest potential when she represented Russia with distinction at major international events.

New Delhi: At the turn of the century in 2000, the dominance of the United States was very much prevalent in women's tennis as the Williams Sisters and Lindsay Davenport emerged as an unstoppable force with their thundering serves and power hitting baseline game trouncing their opponents at the grand slams with utter disdain. 

With the old guard in Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Mary Pierce, Conchita Martínez and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario either retired or at the fag ends of their careers, Europe's new challenge came in the form of Swiss Miss Martina Hingis, the Frenchwoman Amélie Mauresmo, the Belgian Duo of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin and Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic .

While Marat Safin re-established Russia's men's tennis on the global stage by winning the US Open in 2000 , the search for the next big superstar in Russia's women's tennis was very much on. 2004 was a turning point in the landscape of women's tennis with Russia announcing its entry in an emphatic style titles sweeping 3 out of the 4 women's singles Grand Slam titles.

 In 2004, Anastasia Myskina won the French Open, Maria Sharapova was crowned the Wimbledon Champion and Svetlana Kuznetsova won the US Open. Out of those three immensely talented teenagers, Maria Sharapova spearheaded the Russian challenge for the next decade and a half and became one of poster girls in women's tennis.

From 2004-2014, Russia became a powerhouse in women's tennis with a galaxy of world class players in Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonerava, Anastasia Myskina, Dinara Safina, Elina Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova, all of whom enjoyed success winning grand slam titles and helping Russia clinch a whooping four Fed Cup titles (2004, 2005,2007 and 2008).

Tall and athletically built, Sharapova with her glam-doll looks did not turn eyes with just her much talked about glamorous quotient but also had the heavy arsenal in her game to become world class tennis superstar. With $700 in his pocket, Sharapova's father left the Russian port of Sochi with his daughter for Florida after former world No.1 Martina Navratilova had recommended that the young Sharapova train abroad.

Coming to the United States, her god gifted skills with the racquet and never-say-die competitiveness had been identified at an early stage at the highly acclaimed Bollettieri's tennis academy and it was about unleashing it on the big stage. By the age of 11, she had signed a deal with Nike and within the next decade propelled to become arguably the most celebrated,popular and richest women's tennis star of her era along with her Serena Williams.

Sharapova did not have a walk in the park in racking up 5 career Grand Slam titles besides making it to the finals at majors five other times. During the 2000s, Women's tennis was just not about the Williams sisters, Sharapova was also drawn in some hard battles with fierce competitors in Lindsay Davenport, Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justin Henin Hardene, Amelie Mauresmo and the Serbs Jelena Jancovic and Ana Ivanovic besides locking horns with fellow Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova at the very top on the WTA tour.The second half of her career saw her rival the top of the class tennis stars in Victoria Azarenka, Radwanska, Simona Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitová and Li Na.

Add to the stiff competition,  her constant injury woes which always proved a major nemesis in her way to become a dominant champion. The Russian had a heart of a lion and got dubbed by her rivals and critics as one of the toughest competitors who never gave in against all odds . To be consistently placed inside the Top 10 for 10 seasons is testimony to Sharapova's endurance, longevity and match winning ability at the very pinnacle of women's tennis.

Tagged as a one dimensional aggressive baseliner whose big hitting game was ideally suited to the faster surfaces, Sharapova proved her critics wrong by incorporating a few tricks to become equally a potent force on clay. While her early success at Grand Slams came at Wimbledon (2004), US Open (2006) and Australian Open (2008) , she went onto win the French Open twice in 2012 and 2014. Moreover, she joined an elite club of tennis legends to have accomplished a Career Grand Slam, winning all four grand slams.

Sharapova was much more than just notching up individual accolades on the WTA tour, she delivered her fullest potential when she represented Russia with distinction at major international events. Two of her standout achievements were winning a silver at the 2012 London Olympics and playing her hand in leading a star studded Russian team to become Federation Cup winners in 2008.

A few days ago, Maria Sharapova announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 32. Unending injury woes saw her become a pale shadow of her illustrious past and drop as low as 373 in the World rankings. In all fairness, her last attempt in making a comeback  in 2017 after serving a 15-month doping ban for newly banned drug meldonium saw her struggle to compete at the highest level with just a lone title and quarterfinal appearance to her credit.

5 Grand Slam Titles, 36 WTA Tour Titles, 645 wins, 21 weeks at No.1, Olympic Silver medal and a Fed Cup win sums up Maria Sharapava's staggering accolades in a glittering career which spanned almost two decades. While there is not an iota of doubt that she will go down as one of women's tennis modern-era greats, more importantly she would be hailed as one of the pioneers for making Russia a potent force in women's tennis.