Maria Sharapova announced her retirement from tennis in a moving essay for Vogue and Vanity Fair.
Sharapova, 32, who won five Grand Slam titles throughout her career, said she is leaving behind the life she has ever known for more than 28 years.
She recalls the moment she saw a tennis court for the first time. Her father was playing on it in Sochi, Russia. She picked up a racket twice her size.
She remembers her early years in tennis. She admits that her advantage stems from "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."
"I believed that if I kept grinding and grinding, I could push myself to an incredible place. But there is no mastering tennis—you must simply keep heeding the demands of the court while trying to quiet those incessant thoughts in the back of your mind: Did you do enough—and more—to prepare for your next opponent?" she wrote.
Moving forward, Sharapova says her determination to succeed would not go away. "No matter what lies ahead, I will apply the same focus, the same work ethic, and all of the lessons I’ve learned along the way."
Sharapova's career was barred from playing for 15 months after a doping ban in 2016. She has also experienced problems in her right shoulder. She underwent multiple surgeries, the most recent in 2019.
Sharapova also admits in her essay that she will miss tennis every day, from training to her team and her coaches.
"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," she wrote.
