On Wednesday Maria Sharapova announced her immediate retirement from tennis at the age of 32. Her decision comes following recent struggles with injuries that has sidelined her from the tour for weeks. Pulling the curtain on a career that has lasted almost 18 years.
The best way to look at Sharapova’s career is to look at the numbers behind it. Here are 15 things you need to know about the former world No.1 and her legacy in the sport.
1 – her sole WTA Finals title took place back in 2004. She qualified and played at the season-ending event eight times throughout her career and was also runner-up in 2007 and 2012.
3 – number of WTA doubles titles she won between 2003-2004. She claimed two trophies with Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn and one with Maria Kirilenko.
5 – number of grand slam titles won (Wimbledon 2004, US Open 2006, Australian Open 2008, French Open 2012 and 2014).
6 – Sharapova is one of six women in the Open Era to have won a career slam. Where a player wins ever major event at least once in their careers. The others are Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams.
10 – the number of seasons where she finished the year inside the top 10 (2004-08 and 2011-15).
15 – Sharapova was banned from the sport for a total of 15 months due to a failed doping test after testing positive for Meldonium. She was originally issued with a 24-month penalty before an appeal reduced that sentence.
20 – the number of times she lost to Serena on the tour. Overall, they played each other 22 times and Sharapova did at one stage lead their head-to-head 2-1.
21 – weeks spent at world No.1. She has held the top position for a longer period than rivals such as Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Kim Clijsters and Jennifer Capriati.
36 – number of WTA titles won. Her first triumph was at the 2003 Japan Open and her last was at the 2017 Tianjin Open in China.
98 – number of wins over top 10 opposition. Out of that figure, she has defeated a world No.1 player seven times.
645 – number of singles matches won during her career on the WTA Tour.
2002 – the year she made her WTA debut at the age of 14 in Indian Wells. She defeated world No.302 Brie Rippner in her opening match before falling to Monica Seles.
2020 – At the 2020 Australian Open, Sharapova played her final competitive match after losing in the first round to Donna Vekic.
$38.8 million – Career prize money won. As of this week, only two players have earned more than the 32-year-old is the history of Women’s tennis. Venus Williams’ tally stands at $41.8M and sister Serena is way ahead on $92.7M.
$325 million – What Forbes Magazine estimated to be Sharapova’s total earnings throughout her career. The figure also includes sponsorships and appearance fees. On the WTA Tour only Serena has made more with her earnings believed to be in the region of $350M.
