Maria Sharapova announces retirement
February 26, 2020
Maria Sharapova announced on Wednesday that she was retiring from tennis.
The 32-year-old won five Gram Slam titles during her career, but has been battling shoulder problems in recent years.
The former world number one played just two matches this season.
Sharapova, one of the highest paid sportswomen in the world, broke the news of her retirement in an article for Vanity Fair magazine. "I'm new to this, so please forgive me. Tennis -- I'm saying goodbye," she wrote.
"How do you leave behind the only life you've ever known?" read the essay.
Sharapova made her tennis debut with a victory at Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 17. However, her last years were fraught with losses, a doping scandal and injuries. She only played two matches this season and lost both, while she served a 15-month ban from the sport after testing positive for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.
She has also struggled with health problems in her right shoulder for more than 10 years.
Read more: Sharapova just tip of the doping iceberg
"Looking back now, I realize that tennis has been my mountain. My path has been filled with valleys and detours, but the views from its peak were incredible," she said.
"After 28 years and five Grand Slam titles, though, I’m ready to scale another mountain, to compete on a different type of terrain."
lc/aw (AP, Reuters)