Sharapova Speaks About the New Generation

She moved to the US at the age of eight along with her father to ameliorate her tennis skills. Where neither of them could speak English. Her father took up small odd jobs in order to support her tennis. The Russian girl landed up winning her maiden Grand Slam at the age of 17 and by defeating the legendary American tennis player, Serena Williams at 2004 Wimbledon. She is the now the five-time Grand Slam Champion, Maria Sharapova.

In her recent interview, Sharapova opened up about the upcoming generation of tennis. Sharapova spoke out about the changes which she perceived with the new generation of the tennis players and also the shift which has taken place over the course of time.

“I think it certainly adds another dimension of pressure”, said Sharapova. “I think it’s changed very much to when I was a teenager. Now you have social media, which is a very powerful thing. I think a lot of teenagers are very influenced by it because they are surrounded by it. They have no escape sort of from it. Once you get in, it’s tough to really get out. You’re always around, you know, opinions. No matter who you are, how great you are, there are always going to be those that don’t have nice things to say”.

Sharapova also shared about challenges which a teenager comes across while succeeding in Grand Slams. How is it for the adolescents to handle that huge success at an early stage in the careers. “And probably as a younger player, someone that’s just coming up, that’s always challenging to take in the beginning of your career,” Sharapova continued. “You know, now when you see that shift of teenagers doing extremely well, pushing at Grand Slams at an earlier age, it gives them‑‑ you know, the hype I think is a lot bigger than maybe many years ago because you don’t see that so often. And that adds another level of pressure. You know, all of a sudden you’re photographed by Vogue or, you know, you’ve talked about. It can become difficult, yeah”.