Howdy, y’all and Happy Tennis Tuesday! There is a ton to catch up on this past week and honestly, I’m not even sure where to get started. Perhaps the biggest news of the week came from Newport, Rhode Island where Maria Sharapova was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame alongside Bob and Mike Bryan.
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When Maria Sharapova first burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old Wimbledon champion in 2004, it was clear that she would change the trajectory of women’s tennis. What wasn’t as clear was just how far her influence would extend. It ended up beyond Grand Slam titles, beyond endorsement deals, beyond the walls of the court. Her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this past weekend is not just a recognition of her numbers — it’s a recognition of her impact.
Her resume speaks for itself and she’s more than deserving of the honor. Five majors, including a career Grand Slam, 36 career titles, World No. 1 and an Olympic silver medal. But Sharapova’s career has always been about more than her wins and losses. She brought a ruthless mental edge that made her one of the toughest competitors of her generation, and a distinct brand of icy intensity that resonated with audiences worldwide. Her on-court persona was magnetic, and her ability to deliver on the sport’s biggest stages made her a permanent fixture in tennis conversations for over 15 years.
Off the court, Sharapova set a new standard for athlete-as-entrepreneur. From building Sugarpova into a global business to investing in wellness, tech, and fashion, she navigated the rare leap from sports celebrity to mainstream entrepreneur. For many players—especially on the women’s side—she provided a blueprint for what comes next after the last ball is struck.
Of course, her story is not without its complications. The 2016 suspension for a failed drug test put her career and reputation under scrutiny, and for some, it remains part of her legacy. Yet, the way she returned, owning her mistakes, fighting to compete again, and ultimately retiring on her own terms, speaks to the resilience that defined her career.
What her Hall of Fame induction confirms is that greatness is not always linear or uncomplicated. Sharapova’s career was messy at times, polarizing at others, but undeniably influential. She pushed rivals (including a tantalizing head-to-head with Serena Williams, who surprised the world by introducing her in Newport), inspired a generation of players from Eastern Europe, and showed that tennis stardom could be a platform for global impact.
In Newport, her story now sits alongside legends of the sport. For fans who followed her from that first Wimbledon roar to her final wave goodbye in Melbourne, it’s a reminder of just how much she gave to the game—and how much she changed it.
While Sharapova was getting recognized three hours away, main draw at the U.S. Open began and yesterday saw two big upsets in No. 6 Madison Keys and No. 12 Elina Svitolina dropping their first rounders. Also losing yesterday were Petra Kvitova and Caroline Garcia, who were both bidding farewell from professional tennis after this tournament.
Kvitova and Garcia, in different ways, represented perseverance: Petra as a survivor who never lost her attacking instincts following a home invasion where she nearly lost her playing hand and Caroline as a player who battled doubt and reinvented herself into a champion. Their exits, paired with Sharapova’s enshrinement, highlight the cyclical nature of the sport: the legends we grew up with are becoming history, even as new names step into the light. For every Sharapova, Kvitova or Garcia, there’s an Mboko, Eala or Andreeva ready to take center stage.
There’s still more! On to links!
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This Week in Women’s Tennis
In a tournament that brought controversy, different match content but ultimately kudos from many players, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori were the lone all-doubles specialist duo in the U.S. Open mixed doubles draw and emerged champions for the second year in a row.
Diana Shnaider captured her fifth WTA singles title at the Abierto GNP Seguros with a win over Ekaterina Alexandrova in the final. In doubles, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Cristina Bucsa won the doubles title without dropping a set, beating Guo Hanyu and Alexandra Panova to win their first title as a pair.
At Tennis in the Land, Sorana Cirstea won her third WTA singles crown and first on a hardcourt since 2008 by downing Ann Li in the championship. The doubles winners were Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic who bested Chan Hao-ching and Jiang Xinyu.
It’s really nice to see Althea Gibson get more of the flowers she deserves at the U.S. Open this year:
How can doubles players find their footing in the International Tennis Hall of Fame when players like Lisa Raymond and Cara Black have yet to get enough votes into Newport?
I’ll say it loud and I’ll keep on repeating it: representation matters! Look at former player Brian Vahaly or current stars like Janice Tjen and Alex Eala:
Sachia Vickery found herself in the headlines for her foray into OnlyFans and how she’s capitalizing on the platform while still navigating a pro career.
Aryna Sabalenka used to be daunted by the New York buzz at the U.S. Open but she’s embracing it as she defends her title and the No. 1 ranking.
Jessica Pegula, Jennifer Brady, Madison Keys and Desirae Krawczyk will be rolling out their podcast, The Players Box, this week:
While players are yearning for a bigger piece of the pie, the WTA shared they’ll have nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in prize money this year.
Some players change their racquets mid-year, while others swap clothing sponsors. Coco Gauff? She let coach Matt Daly go right before the U.S. Open and brought in biomechanics expert Gavin MacMillan to help her serving woes.
Leslie Allen returned to Cleveland last week to mentor some of the WTA players playing and reflect on her barrier-breaking journey.
Congratulations to Sloane Stephens, who unveiled her expansion of her Doc n Glo beauty line that now includes haircare:
Reese Brantmeier’s lawsuit against the NCAA regarding keeping professional tournament winnings could see up to 17,000 plantiffs.
Hall of Famer and former Wimbledon champion Angela Mortimer Barrett passed away yesterday at the age of 93.
Slay, Tay!
Eight players will make their Grand Slam main draw debut at this year’s U.S. Open.
In some good college news, Iona University is reinstating their tennis programs!
Tweet of the Week
I mean, we were all gagged:
Five at The IX: 2025 International Tennis Hall of Fame Induction
Q. Maria, can I pick up on something you said at the dinner last night, which —
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Oh, God.
Q. — people not be have to totally clocked into, that your fight and determination, refusal to lose, was for you, but also for the kid in the stand, hoping to inspire the next generation. I want to take you back to one specific moment of fighting back. Probably the hottest day at the Australian Open. You had done your career. You had won your titles. You had made your money, and you were down against an Australian player. I can’t remember her name. Terrible. You may remember it, and I was commentating on AO radio, and I said to Chris Bowers, Why did she need this? You were dying out there. We spoke about it. You remember the match? Can you pick up on that? It was four days of Australian heat like we probably had never known. You caught the end of it, and you were way down, probably a set or a break down, and you refused to just give in, which would have been so easy.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I tend to forget those matches very quickly. There were certainly a few of those in Australia, especially in the heat.
I think, look, some of those moments — not necessarily the exact particulars of the match, but I do look back at the moment of that physical exhaustion where you know that you’ve given everything you’ve had, where you ran for every ball, you pumped every fist, you exerted yourself to a level you didn’t know was possible mentally and physically.
As I look back, I think those are the moments that I am very proud of, because I may not have won all those matches, but I do think I learned more lessons from those matches than most of the matches that I won.
I think it’s when you end up doing your best work is when you are not at your best, when you are hungry for more, when you go back to the drawing board and you face your team and you face your coaches, and you do it with an honesty and vulnerability that involves saying, We messed up and we weren’t the winners at the tend of the day, and what do we do now? How do we get better? Where do we improve? Because if we don’t make those changes now, we’re never going to make them.
I crafted my teams around making those decisions. I hired people that I would be comfortable losing with. There’s an important part of the process, because I think we can all — we’re all very good at celebrating. We can lift and cheers, but at the end of the match when you had it and were ready to win and you just didn’t, you have to be able to face that person, that team and say, We failed today. To do it with people you respect was really important for me.
Q. I want to go back to June 2004 just before Wimbledon. Who was that 17-year-old? Who was she then? What would you tell her now?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Hmm, well, a couple of weeks before that Wimbledon, I was in Birmingham, and I remember it very clearly. I was watching the French Open final in my little hotel room with no spaces for my suitcases. I was literally watching it while sitting on my suitcase and a little TV, and I watched Myskina win the French Open.
I wouldn’t use the word angry, but I expected myself to be there. I really wanted to be. I had just lost in the quarterfinal in that tournament, and that little competitor in me was, like, I want to be that, I should be that. I said it to myself, and that was like the little voice.
You know, it’s never easy losing. I was excited, because it was the first time I reached the quarterfinal of a Grand Slam. There was a lot of momentum. I went to Birmingham, head down. I won singles. I won doubles. I played those ten matches, and I think they were really instrumental in that trajectory of winning Wimbledon.
Q. You’re a mom. Theo is 3 years old. I think it’s so tough for women. It’s changed a lot. What did you discover about yourself, maybe your parents, their way after Theo was born?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: That’s a really good question. I think as a first-time parent, you learn a lot. You’re surprised a lot. You know, you care so much about this little human being. You realize how vulnerable they are, especially in the first year of their life, but also how much influence and impact you have.
In some ways it’s beautiful, but I think it also adds a lot of pressure on parents. I’m very fortunate that I can and that I can choose the times when I’m with him. You know, we have family that help a lot when we work and we travel, but I’m so fortunate that I get to watch him grow up and become this little character.
There are just so many sides of both myself and Alexander that we see in him, and it’s really beautiful. It’s the most challenging job, role that I’ve had in my life. Every decision that you make is with him in mind. I think every parent can relate to that. But it’s hard work, there’s no doubt about it.
Q. I have a question for you, Maria. You became a champion and also businesswoman and a brand before the social media era, the TikTok era, became such a big part of the athlete’s life. If you ask players today, they’re, like, Oh, I would love what Maria did back in the day. I’m just wondering, you look at it, do you feel like, oh, there’s so much more opportunities right now, it’s fantastic, or like, well, I dodged a bullet?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think ultimately you can’t forget what your core work is, what your core mission is. I think you’re absolutely right. There are more opportunities. There’s a lot more engagement. Fans get to see you from many different perspectives and avenues and whether it’s social media or all the fan engagements that the individual tournaments put on.
All of that is fantastic, but you also need to preserve your energy for what truly matters. I mean, I think we can all agree that the more that these players win, the more opportunities they’ll get, and what they choose to do with their opportunities is a very individual choice.
I understand both sides of it, because you want to maximize your earnings, and you want to maximize your potential, but you also want to preserve your quality, and your quality is what makes you a champion.
Q. For Maria, you seemed early on to have really great business savvy. How did you choose to embark on your ventures, and did you ever feel overwhelmed by your dual interests in tennis and business?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I never felt overwhelmed, because I knew where my ultimate passion was, but I also knew that as a woman, I had a certain time frame. I was very well aware of that from a young age.
It was very important to me. I made a conscious effort of setting up meetings from a very early age to make sure that I had a foundation as strong as it possibly could to set me up for the next stage of my life. I didn’t know if that was going in my 20s, in my 30s. You just don’t know as an athlete.
As a woman, you might have other interests. You might want to start a family. You might get injured. You might just want to call it quits. I mean, there are so many variables in sport.
I was also very interested in it. I realized that it’s very important to be curious, to grow. There might be interests you thought you were interested in, and then you just lose interest in those. You have to find what works.
I’ve always identified many parallels in business with sport. They’re both very team-oriented. They’re very competitive. You don’t have that match point feel, but God, when you get a deal done, it’s a pretty special feeling.
So yeah, I think all those qualities I felt like and because there were so many brands that I worked, and I was actually in the meetings with them learning from these incredibly talented individuals. I got to selfishly learn from them and kind of grow my own knowledge.
| Mondays: Soccer |
| By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer |
| Tuesdays: Tennis |
| By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer |
| Wednesdays: Basketball |
| By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next |
| Thursdays: Golf |
| By: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX |
| Fridays: Hockey |
| By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden |
| Saturdays: Gymnastics |
| By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer |
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