Sharapova opens up about retirement

Maria Sharapova enjoyed a great tennis career before she retired in February 2020.

The 33-years-old Russian spent almost 20 years on the WTA Tour and won 5 Grand Slam titles. In total, she triumphed at 36 tournaments and became world number 1 in 2005. The decision to retire was definitely not easy, and now, she opened up a bit about it.

"It's a question I've addressed several times over the past few months before announcing my retirement. You have to search within yourself and what you feel, what your body tells you and also what your mind is saying."

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"You can have influences from people who are close to you and want to guide you towards the right decision, but to the in the end it is you who decide for your career and you must be 100% sure you do it this way."

"I realized that I was showing off but not as a tennis player by now and I had lost sight of the competition. It became a hard and difficult process to manage but together with my team I realized that it was necessary to move forward and I could use many other better and perhaps more meaningful ways. For many years I have focused only on this sport and I have given everything by applying and working hard to achieve results."