Tennis News - Maria Sharapova: "Serena Williams hated me"

The lopsided rivalry of Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams is nothing new and is continuing since 2004. They faced each other for the first time in that season thrice: in Miami, in the final at Wimbledon, and at the Los Angeles Masters. Serena defeated Maria in Miami but Maria took over Serena in the rest two matches and also won the Wimbledon final.

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After these face-offs, Serena won a streak of 19 consecutive matches again the Russian player. Also, they met each other at the courts in 3 other Grand Slam finals: Australian Open 2007 and 2015, Roland Garros 2013, and in 2012 at the final of the Olympic Games. And Williams simply conquered over her opponent Sharapova. Maria could manage victory only twice agast the American whereas Serena won 19 times against her. The rivalry came to an end after Sharapova's Sharapova in 2020.

In the autobiography of Sharapova "Unstoppable: My Life so far", she dedicated a few pages for her biggest rival. In the book, she wrote about one of her biggest victories, the 2004 Wimbledon final. It is mentioned, "What I heard when I came into the locker room was Serena Williams bawling. Guttural sobs. I got out as quickly as I could, but she knew I was there. I think she hated me for seeing her at her lowest moment. But mostly I think she hated me for hearing her cry. She's never forgiven me for it."

They met again in New York for the MET Gala a couple of days ago at the Metropolitan Museum. Many other tennis stars like Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez were also present.