Sharapova wins French Open
By PSR Staff | Sat, 06/09/2012 - 20:13
Whipping big serves with that rebuilt shoulder, putting forehands and backhands right on lines, and even moving well on the red surface she once worried made her look like a "cow on ice," Sharapova finally lifted the trophy at the only Grand Slam tournament she had yet to win.
"It's a wonderful moment in my career," the 25-year-old Sharapova told the crowd in French, before switching to English to add: "I'm really speechless. It's been such a journey for me to get to this stage."
So much came so easily for Sharapova at the start: Wimbledon champion at age 17; No. 1 in the rankings at 18; U.S. Open champion at 19; Australian Open champion at 20. But a shoulder operation in October 2008 made everything tougher. She didn't play singles from August 2008 until the following May, when her ranking fell to 126th.
"It wasn't getting better as soon as everyone thought it would," she said about her shoulder. "That was the frustrating thing, because it was like, 'When is this going to end?'"
It took until her 10th post-surgery Grand Slam tournament for Sharapova to get back to a major final, at Wimbledon last July, but she lost. She also reached the Australian Open final this January, but lost again.
A global celebrity with millions upon millions of dollars in endorsement deals, Sharapova put herself through the grind required to get back to the top of her sport — and to get better than ever on red clay.
She's unbeaten in 16 matches on it this season, including titles at Stuttgart and Rome.
"I could have said, 'I don't need this. I have money; I have fame; I have victories; I have Grand Slams.' But when your love for something is bigger than all those things, you continue to keep getting up in the morning when it's freezing outside, when you know that it can be the most difficult day, when nothing is working, when you feel like the belief sometimes isn't there from the outside world, and you seem so small," said Sharapova, who will return to No. 1 for the first time since June 2008 in Monday's WTA rankings. "But you can achieve great things when you don't listen to all those things."
