Sharapova reveals her Mount Rushmore of women’s tennis icons

Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images Maria Sharapova’s impact on tennis is clear, with a career that ranks her among the legends of the WTA Tour. Over her career, Sharapova won five Grand Slam titles and appeared in five more finals. She also completed the rare feat of winning all four majors at least once, lifting trophies at Wimbledon, the US Open, Australian Open, and French Open – which she won twice.

When asked to pick her Mount Rushmore of women’s tennis players in 2022 by Sports Illustrated, Sharapova gave an interesting insight into who inspired her during her own rise. Maria Sharapova picks her Mount Rushmore of women’s tennis players Sharapova began her Mount Rushmore selection by naming Serena Williams, who fittingly inducted the Russian into the Hall of Fame last year. The Russian legend defeated Williams to win her first Grand Slam title, beating the American 6-1, 6-4 in the Wimbledon final back in 2004.

Serena Williams Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images 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.