Maria Sharapova achieved tennis greatness thanks to her superb efforts on the court, and has gone down among the legends of the WTA Tour.
Sharapova claimed five Grand Slam titles during her phenomenal career, as well as reaching five more Grand Slam finals.
She also notably completed the career Grand Slam, having won the Australian Open, French Open (twice), Wimbledon and the US Open.
But the WTA legend has now shared insight into her inspirations on the other side of the net, having been asked to name her Mount Rushmore of women’s tennis players.
Who would be on your Mount Rushmore of tennis players?
Maria Sharapova names her Mount Rushmore of women’s tennis players
Sharapova started the discussion on Rushmore by naming her former rival Serena Williams, who fittingly welcomed the Russian into the Hall of Fame last year.
The Russian icon also defeated the American to claim her maiden Grand Slam title, winning their Wimbledon final 6-1, 6-4 in 2004.
Serena Williams
Sharapova said: “I’m going to go with the obvious choice, Serena Williams. So I had a front row seat to Serena’s greatness.
“Starting at the very beginning, where she kicked my a– and starting and finishing at the very end, where she kicked my a– many more times.
“We all know the stats, right? We all know the numbers of majors. But being across the net… first of all, her accuracy on the serve is the greatest. She has the greatest serve of anyone.
“That’s the thing, is that it’s not powerful, her toss is in the same place every single time. Usually with players on break point, they’re a little nervous, there will be hints of where they’re going to serve. Same place every time.
“And it’s not even about power, because after like 110 miles an hour in women’s tennis, if it’s 120 it doesn’t matter, but it is so accurately placed, on the biggest of points.
“And that is the biggest difference. It’s all about the little margins. And you feel it. When you play against her, first point of every set she’s serving wide.
“I think she kind of gets in the rhythm, but it doesn’t matter because the serve is so good, even though you know it’s going there, it doesn’t matter. I got to experience that greatness every single time.
“There was deep respect, but it was like, ‘You’re getting in the way of what we both want, which is the championship trophy’.
“There’s 128 players, but there’s only one winner, and whoever’s across the net, a lot of times it was her toward the semis, final, got in the way of it.”
Who is the greatest women’s tennis player of all time?
Monica Seles
Continuing her list, Sharapova noted: “Number two, I’m going to say Monica Seles. I played her twice, and I remember this one match specifically at the beginning of my career in Palm Springs.
“I’m very young, I had a wildcard. I win my first round. I draw Monica. I lose, I think it was like one and one, one and 0.
“I come off the court, and I think to myself, I felt like I just played the best match in my life. I played so well. There was nothing that I could do better.
“And she smoked me, like I wasn’t even there. I didn’t belong there, nothing. And I didn’t even cry because the level was so far.
“I was 15/16, it was like my first wildcard in a big event, and I’ve just come off the court and thought ‘Well, I guess that’s greatness, and this is how far I have to go’.”
Steffi Graf
“My third is Steffi Graf,” she continued. “Things I liked about her is that she was someone that was all in, there were no distractions.
“I feel like so many stars today, they’re faced with opportunities, they’re doing things off the court, and a lot of that is great.
“But when I think of Steffi, I think of the ultimate professional. It leads to greatness. Very stoic, just very calm.
“Nothing seems to faze her, like, just very professional about how she goes. And that was inspiring, right?
“Because when you get to the top and you look at greats, like how did they handle success? She was an example. And that slice, I mean, I would have hated to play against that slice.”
Chris Evert
Completing her Mount Rushmore of women’s tennis, Sharapova said: “My last one is Chrissie Evert.
“I’ve gotten to know Chrissie since retiring. She was always on my mood board when I was designing looks with Nike.
“She was class, but she brought an element to the game that I think transcended just being a champion.”
It is quite the list from the Russian, who understandably spoke highly of the many superb female players that she has encountered over the years.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
