Naomi Osaka Should Learn From Maria Sharapova

It was a despairing moment for Maria Sharapova yesterday at Wimbledon as she retired from her opening round match due to an injury in her left wrist tendon. It was her third match on grass this season, but it happened to be distressing for the Russian. Later, she turned up for the press conference and sounded melancholic.

Even though she was dispirited and teary-eyed, Maria Sharapova made it a point to complete her entire press conference. Unlike, the Japanese World Number two, Naomi Osaka who adjourned her presser in the middle since she was wretched after her opening round loss at Wimbledon Championships 2019 and later she broke down. Sharapova sat tight until the end of her presser and responded to all questions.

“I don’t want to leave,” Maria Sharapova said. “Everyone has a job in this place. You guys have a job. Of course, I withdrew in the middle of the match. I rarely do that. I haven’t given a press conference in a long time at a Grand Slam. I want to show up.”

The five-time Grand Slam champion, Maria Sharapova hasn’t really given any Grand Slam pressers in a while now, despite the grim situation she mentioned about accepting challenges in life and focusing on fixing those setbacks.

“I’m still proud that I’m here. This is not the easy way. I think the easy way would be just for me to maybe do other things because I’ve set up the opportunities for myself. This is far from easy. I’ve never taken the easy route. I’ve always worked, committed, focused. As I said, these moments are hard, but I love what I do. I still have a lot of passion for it,” Maria Sharapova added.

Right after her retirement from the match and giving the scan test of her wrist, Maria Sharapova presented herself in the press room. “Yeah, I mean, it’s, what, 30, 40 minutes after the match. I just saw a doctor, did a scan. Those things are not fun. I haven’t seen my team yet. This is part of the job,” she concluded.