Maria Sharapova: Why she could have won twice as many Grand Slam tournaments
Maria Sharapova's ex-coach explains why "MaSha" could have won much more.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Mar 19, 2020, 05:05 pm
Maria Sharapova won five Grand Slam titles in the course of her career, starting with the surprise victory at Wimbledon in 2004 when she sensationally beat Serena Williams in the final - at just 17 years of age. A triumph that stoked hope for more. Sharapova only partially lived up to this: four more major victories followed - 2006 at the US Open, 2008 at the Australian Open and 2012 and 2014 at the French Open.
Especially the victory in Melbourne in 2008 was beautiful and bitter at the same time. Sharapova may have played the tournament of a lifetime here, playing only 32 games in seven matches (not even 5 per match!); among other things she overran the then number 11 Elena Dementieva (6: 2, 6: 0), the number 1 Justine Henin (6: 4, 6: 0) and the number 3 Jelena Jankovic (6: 3, 6: 1).
Sharapova had previously played with shoulder pain, but it had become unbearable, and surgery was inevitable.
Joyce on Sharapova: "Shows her resilience and passion"
Her coach Michael Joyce at that time also knows well about this time. The American coached Sharapova from 2004 to 2011. "
”We ‘d had about a year of altering her service movement and attempting various things, she went through a duration where she was double- faulting, so individuals were questioning what we were doing and why she could not get the serve in.
”She had an excellent serve, however at the time her shoulder wasn’t strong enough to do her typical long movement. She returned to the top 10 essentially without among her most significant weapons, recalls Joyce . Sharapova still made it to the top of the world rankings in 2012.
The reason why she finally won the French Open twice was because the serve on sand didn't play such a big role, Joyce continued. Sharapova had hated the sand as a young player, moving on it "like a cow on ice", as she once said.
"For somebody to transform their game in a way to win more grand slams on their worst surface is incredible, it shows her resilience and determination."