Back in the day, the famous rivalry between Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams took over the narrative of WTA tennis and every enthusiast and critic was on their toes to record any new occurrences between the duo.
Popularly regarded as the GOAT, American tennis professional, Serena Williams, seemingly without a question overtook Sharapova’s legacy with an outstanding collection of 23 Grand Slam titles to her name in comparison to the Russian’s mere 5 crowns.
Despite many hues and cries, the WTA pair of celebrated athletes didn’t let their feud grow into anything non-constructive and rather fueled their rage on-court after having clashed with each numerous times for almost 15 years.
Any Maria-Serena match yielded high drama and the undivided attention of spectators which stands to be the reason why their rivalry to date remains the most compelling match-up ever in the WTA Tour.
The pair have met a total of 20 times during their careers and when it comes to numbers, Williams has always held the upper hand. Sharapova’s last recorded victory against the American was recorded back in 2004 when she ousted her in the Wimbledon championship final and crowned herself with her maiden Grand Slam victory.
Nevertheless, the former world No. 1 has maintained a lop-sided victory streak of 20 wins over the Russian, with her most recent win at the 2019 US Open where she sent Sharapova packing in the round of 128. Their head-to-head score tallies 20-2 in favor of the ‘King of WTA’ Williams.
In connection to having been brutally beaten up by Serena throughout her career and posing as her biggest threat in the game, Sharapova in her book mentioned the American’s name no less than a hundred times and fixated on how her career revolved around her.
Serena Williams is a prominent fixture in Maria Sharapova’s book Unstoppable: My Life So Far
In 2017, Maria Sharapova released her self-written book Unstoppable: My Life So Far, which presented itself as the Russian’s stronghold of how she managed to build a legacy, but instead, largely revolved around Serena Williams.
The 5-time champion in the book couldn’t stop using Serena’s name to define her career and wrote narratives about important pieces in tennis history. One such mention of hers involved the details of the time after she emerged victorious over Williams at the 2004 Wimbledon final.
“But, to me, the real answer was there, in this locker room, where I was changing and she was bawling. I think Serena hated me for being the skinny kid who beat her, against all odds, at Wimbledon. It was Serena whom I beat in the Wimbledon final to emerge on the international stage at seventeen, and it’s Serena who’s given me the hardest time since,” wrote Maria Sharapova.
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Be it as it may, no other professional has ever had the might to top what these professionals left behind as their legacy, and potentially, fans and tennis enthusiasts might never experience a rivalry as such first-hand.