“Please Forgive Me” – Maria Sharapova Announces Retirement From Professional Tennis

Five-time Grand Slam champion and former World No.1 Maria Sharapova has announced her retirement from professional tennis at the age of 32. However, why did the Russian decided to hang up her racquet?

Sharapova burst on to the scene in 2004 after she stunned the tennis world by winning the Wimbledon Championships at 17. The 32-year-old went on to win a total of five Grand Slam titles in her 19-year-old career.

“I am new to this”: Maria Sharapova

Despite her successful career, Sharapova never recovered after serving a two-year drugs ban for testing positive for meldonium in 2016. She was worn down by injuries that hampered her comeback following the suspension from the professional tour.

The shoulder and arm injuries over the past 18 months led her to decide to retire from tennis. According to reports, Sharapova decided to end her career her first-round defeat against Donna Vekic at Australian Open 2020.

“I’m new to this, so please forgive me. Tennis—I’m saying goodbye,” Maria Sharapova said in an interview with Vogue.

“Maria is very smart, very savvy and very professional, probably the ultimate professional. She’ll be remembered very well for what she brought to the game. I think everybody thinks of her as the ultimate competitor,” Steve Simon, the Chief executive of WTA said in a recent interview.

“I’ll miss it every day”: Sharapova

“In giving my life to tennis, tennis gave me a life. I’ll miss it every day. I’ll miss the training and my daily routine: Waking up at dawn, lacing my left shoe before my right, and closing the court’s gate before I hit my first ball of the day, ” an emotional Sharapova added.

She explained that she will miss her team, her coaches. She will miss the moments sitting with her father on the practice court bench. The handshakes—win or lose—and the athletes, whether they knew it or not, who pushed her to be her best. She will miss everything.