The Rivalry between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova

Williams has beating Sharapova 17 out of 19 times in their 11 years on the court.

In US gambling news, Serena Williams, having just won the 2015 Wimbledon Final against Garbine Muguruza, is the holder of 21 grand slam titles. The World’s number one ranked female playre is only three titles behind the record holder Margaret Court. Williams, growing up between Compton, California and West Palm Beach, Florida, had also won 13 women’s doubles titles and has held all four grand slam titles together. Williams is known for being one of the stronger, more powerful players in the game.

• Serena Williams is six years older than Maria Sharapova
• Both Williams and Sharapova attended Rick Macci Tennis Academy
• Sharapova makes USD 2 million more than Williams yearly

Maria Sharapova, ranked number two in world, is from Russia, but has lived in the U.S. got 11 years. Having held the number one ranking five times, Sharapova has always been considered a force on the tennis court. Like her counterpart Serena, Sharapova has had a rather long career for women’s tennis. Sharapova has won one singles title a year since 2003. In addition, she has won a total of five grand slam titles and 35 singles titles.

Their brief history before the rivalry

Before their rivalry, Serena and Sharapova had humble beginnings. Serena, as a child lived in Compton, California an inner city area of South Central Los Angeles that’s known to be violent. At nine, her father moved her family to West Palm Beach where she and her sister Venus went to the Rick Macci Tennis Academy. Sharapova, born in Nyagan Russia, recently moved before her birth because of her Bellarusian parents were concerned about the regional effects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

With support from Alexander Kafelnikov, the son of Russian tennis great Yuri, and early training by Russian coach Yuri Yutkin, Sharapova trained and attended a tennis clinic given by Martina Navratilova. On her recommendation, Sharapova moved to Bradenton, Florida and briefly attended Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy. Her father had to borrow money in order to go and worked low-paying jobs to fund her lesson.

In two years time, Sharapova was able to get a contract with International Management Group (IMG), a well known athlete, model and celebrity agency. She was able to get her training at Rick Macci Tennis Academy funded by the agency. Sharapova had a successful junior tennis career winning three titles. Due to racism experienced early by the Williams sisters when they played juniors, Richard Williams, took his daughter out of juniors competition. Sharapova and Williams enter the professionals at 14 years old.

Sharapova made UK gambling news when she won her first grand slam title in 2004 when she won the finals at Wimbledon against defending champion Serena Williams. At the time, both Serena and Venus Williams were considered the top players in women’s tennis and were very popular. Sharapova’s victory was written by the media as “the most stunning upset in memory.” Many critics and writers were waiting for a serious challenger who could rival the dominance of the William’s sisters.

The rivalry begins

With her victory, Sharapova saw herself in the top 10 for the first time in her career. Her Wimbledon victory started “Maria Mania” and everyone became fascinated by the young Sharapova who led a group of dominant Russian players including Kuznetsova, Myskina and Petrova. Later that year she would defeat Venus at the Zurich Open and defeated Serena at the U.S. Open. The next year, Serena would get revenge by defeating Sharapova at the Australian Open.

While defending her Wimbledon title, Sharapova lost to Venus in the semi-finals. Early on, the rivalry was more directed to Sharapova and the William’s sisters. After Serena became clearly the more dominant player, the focus on Venus faded. Much has already been said about the physical difference between the two players. Serena, has been portrayed more as muscular and less feminine than the traditional slim physique of Sharapova.

Fuel was added to their relationship when Serena made some “off the cuff” comments in an interview which were published in Rolling Stone Magazine. In a phone conversation with her sister during the interview, Serena imitated Sharapova who started every interview with “I’m so happy. I’m so lucky” and described Sharapova’s intro as “so boring” and if she wants to be with a guy with a black heart, go for it.” That “black heart” Serena is referring to is men’s tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, Sharapova’s boyfriend, whom broke up with Serena in a previous relationship.

Out of the 19 confrontations, Serena defeated Sharapova the last 17 times. This is even more impressive considering Serena six years older. Although Sharapova has only won five grand titles, she earns more money than Serena. Last year, Serena’s earnings equaled USD 22 million while Sharapova’s were USD 24 million making gambling news. Sharapova’s endorsement deals equal USD 20 million and Serena, the top athlete in Women’s sports, makes on USD 11 million from endorsements.

Much of this has caused another resurgence in body issued concerning female athlete, most notable in tennis. Serena, would had body issues early on from her comparison with her “taller, more slender” sister, has found some peace. Yet, much negativity in the media is said about Serena’s muscular body type. Sharapova was quoted as saying she would like to be thinner and she “of course wants to look like a woman.”