Unstoppable Sharapova
Maria Sharapova reveals in Unstoppable, her new memoir including how she heard Serena Williams crying.
The tears came after their first match, the 2004 Wimbledon Final in which the 17-year-old Russian upsets the defending champion. After the match, Sharapova entered the locker room. “What I heard, When I came in and started to change clothes, was Serena Sobbing. Ever since I think she hated me for taking something that she believed belonged to her. But mostly I think she hated me for hearing her cry. She has never forgiven me for it” Sharapova writes.
Serena William however, used this defeat as a stepping stone to her advantage winning 19 of the 20 matches they’ve since played.
Serena’s intimidating and powerful on-court antics, which mirrors Sharapova’ s own. Sharapova has an eccentric stage and controlling stage father Yuri Sharapova, responsible for guiding his daughter from threadbare origins to the sport’s elite.
Sharapova recollects her early life, when she was relocated first from Gomel, in the Land of Radiation near Chernobyl to the Black Sea resort town of now famous Sochi. When Masha her childhood nickname, was six, she and her father flew to South Florida, the American capital of Tennis. They relied on the kindness of strangers after sleeping rough in sofas in Florida and smuggled to private courts to train and eventually turned by unannounced at the Academy of the renowned coach, Nick Bollettieri. Maria Sharapova appeared with an oversized chopped-down racket and shoes from the factory in Minsk.
Sharapova’s soon tasted success on the court and as her career rocketed her prowess as pitchwoman, made her the target of jealousy. Soon after she signed the first deal with Nike when she was 11 and her 18th birthday party was sponsored by Motorola. More recently she launched Sugarpova, a candy line, as she always kept her eye on her brand.
She engaged A non-fiction master Rich Cohen to collaborate the Unstoppable. When Sharapova speaks of her father celebrating her Wimbledon victory by drinking “until the night itself was defeated”, it surely Cohen’s voice appearing on the surface.
Then there are her career lows when she tested positive for Meldonium – a drug that potentially improves heart efficiency –at the start of 2016 season, a time when Sharapova wanted to throw in the towel and retire.
Sharapova writes that she started taking Meldonium in 2006, after a series of irregular electrocardiogram tests and had been taking ever since, “ as you might take aspirin to ward off a heart attack or stroke”. She missed the memo that Meldonium has been outlawed. A panel reviewing the matter determined that Sharapova had not intended to cheat, but nevertheless sentenced her to a two –year ban, later commuted to 15 months, although no sponsor ended up dropping her permanently over the doping suspension.
Sharapova’s come back in April 2017 and gained momentum with a match to the fourth round at the US Open. Sharapova writes, “ The ban strengthened her resolve to keep playing until they take down the nets or burn my rackets or stop me. All I want to see them try.”
Unstoppable : My Life So Far by Maria Sharapova Particular Books £20/ Sarah Crichton Books $28, 304 pages.