For all her titles, for her Hall of Fame career that spanned more than 15 years, there had always been this central irony to Maria Sharapova.
Hers was an image built on glamour and grace…upscale brands aligning themselves with an athlete who projected an international elegance. Yet her game, her backstory, her entire approach to the sport, it was predicated on the opposite: Grit. True grit.
She once endorsed a camera with the slogan, “Make every shot a power shot." It may as well have been the anthem for her tennis. Shot after shot, round after round, she blasted away, punctuating each stroke with that familiar keening grunt.