The tennis world will always remember Maria Sharapova‘s instinctive shots and the way she presented herself on and off the tennis court. The best part of her sporting career was the way she conducted herself, both physically and mentally. And after almost three years of retirement, Sharapova’s former coach, who also trained her archrival, Serena Williams, talked about an important GOAT criterion. It was none other than the Hall of Fame coach, Rick Macci.

And, while expressing his admiration for Sharapova, Williams’ former coach placed her ahead of Venus, Serena, and Jennifer Capriati. After mentoring them in the sport at an early age, Macci has practically seen these tennis players grow into the world of tennis. So let’s take a look at his statement regarding the Russian star. 

Rick Macci draws a clear comparison between Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams 

After shaping tennis stars’ career for 40 years, the 68-year-old American tennis coach recently shared a crucial GOAT skill and revealed how the five-time Grand Slam champion is a step up from other Grand Slam champions he has trained. According to him, Sharapova, at an early age, developed a significant mental stability that served as her greatest strength both on and off the tennis court.

He wrote, “@MariaSharapova at age 11 already had laser maturity and that mental box checked. Better than Serena Venus and Jennifer. God given uncanny ability to be in a quiet bubble and the mindset to forget and lock in lock you out and keep the keys.” 

He also noted how the 11-year-old Sharapova was just different from the other tennis legends, such as Venus and Serena of her age. As they somehow fell short of the astounding mental prowess that the 37-year-old exhibited at an early age.

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Similarly, last year the American tennis coach also detailed the time when he identified Sharapova’s tennis talent at a very young age. 

When Williams’ former coach identified Sharapova’s tennis talent 

Macci was a guest on the PBD podcast last year and discussed the importance of nurturing players from a young age. He mentioned in the conversation that he was confident the Russian tennis player would succeed on the tennis circuit and would one day be at the pinnacle of women’s tennis. 

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He further mentioned that tennis kids as young as 7 or 8 who enroll in his academy are already performing much beyond their years. With Sharapova, he anticipated her rise to the top of the world rankings when she first arrived at age 6. And gradually, she rose to become one of the best players in the world, achieving the top spot in 2005.