It’s incredible to think that nearly 10 years have passed since the 17 year old Russian starlet by the name of Maria Sharapova defeated Serena Williams for the 2004 Wimbledon title. But what’s even more incredible is that since 2004, Williams has won every single match between the pair. With her victory in the Sony Open semifinals in March, Williams has now won 15 straight matches between them, mostly in dominating fashion.
In many ways, this is sort of a rivalry that never was. For some reason, Sharapova’s game simply cannot match the physical strength and power of Serena’s. While Maria has enjoyed a wonderful career and has won each of the 4 Grand Slam titles, she simply cannot beat the current world number 1!
Additionally, the pair has had a heated relationship off the court, which exploded in the media last summer at Wimbledon when the players traded barbs about each other’s relationships with their boyfriends. But while those unfortunate remarks have subsided, the Williams dominance of Sharapova has continued.
Sharapova barely even manages to win a set whenever they play one another and now is in that point where her inability to succeed seems to be mental. On her day, Sharapova can beat anyone in the world, so can’t she beat to strong American? Fortunately for her, she remains several years younger than Serena, so she can potentially turn this back into a real rivalry in the coming years as the skill levels balance out, but one thing remains certain: with every passing match (and subsequent loss) to Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova is missing out on more opportunities to firmly establish a rivalry that has yet to really flourish!
Nicholas Spiller
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