Maria Sharapova,
five-time grand slam winner, has announced her retirement from tennis at the
age of 32.
The Russian
disclosed this in an emotional retirement letter to Vogue and Vanity Fair on
Wednesday.
“How do you leave
behind the only life you’ve ever known?” Sharapova said.
“How do you walk
away from the courts you’ve trained on since you were a little girl, the game
that you love—one which brought you untold tears and unspeakable joys—a sport
where you found a family, along with fans who rallied behind you for more than
28 years?
“I’m new to this, so
please forgive me. Tennis – I’m saying goodbye.”
“Tennis showed me
the world – and it showed me what I was made of. It’s how I tested myself and
how I measured my growth.
“And so in whatever
I might choose for my next chapter, my next mountain, I’ll still be pushing.
I’ll still be climbing. I’ll still be growing.”
The former world No
1 burst into the tennis scene with her Wimbledon victory at the age of 17,
after which she won the US Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. The other
major victories both came at the French Open in 2012 and 2014.
She continued:
“Wimbledon seemed like a good place to start. I was a naive 17-year-old, still
collecting stamps, and didn’t understand the magnitude of my victory until I
was older—and I’m glad I didn’t.
“My edge, though,
was never about feeling superior to other players. It was about feeling like I
was on the verge of falling off a cliff—which is why I constantly returned to
the court to figure out how to keep climbing.
“The U.S. Open
showed me how to overcome distractions and expectations. If you couldn’t handle
the commotion of New York—well, the airport was almost next-door. Dosvidanya.
“The Australian Open
took me to a place that had never been a part of me before—to an extreme
confidence that some people call being “in the zone.” I really can’t explain
it—but it was a good place to be.
“The clay at the
French Open exposed virtually all my weaknesses—for starters, my inability to
slide on it—and forced me to overcome them. Twice. That felt good.
“These courts
revealed my true essence.”
She had won only
three matches since reaching the fourth round of the 2019 Australian Open and
was knocked out in the first round at this year’s tournament in Melbourne by
Donna Vekic.
In 2016, Sharapova
tested positive for the drug meldonium and was banned for two years.
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