At the mere age of 17, Maria Sharapova stunned the entire tennis realm by clinching her first-ever major title at the grass-court event in London. Since then, the former Wimbledon champion marked four more triumphs in other Grand Slam competitions, further solidifying her place among the elites. However, in addition to accolades, the Russian tennis star has been the subject of a number of controversies during her bitter-sweet journey in the women’s circuit.

One such similar incident happened in 2015 when the Russian tennis star was in hot waters due to her fierce attitude towards her Wimbledon opponent, Coco Vandeweghe. After getting outshined by the former tennis ace in the quarterfinal round, the American player accused her of poor sportsmanship. Here’s what transpired between the two WTA players that became a contentious incident in the tennis community.

Maria Sharapova was once accused of ‘poor sportsmanship’ by her Wimbledon opponent

After her disappointing quarterfinal defeat (6-3 6-7 6-2), the 31-year-old player was quite blunt in her assessment of Maria Sharapova’s demeanor on the court. In her post-match press conference, Coco Vandeweghe vented out her frustrations about how the former tennis ace was interrupting the motion of her serves by constantly moving around.

The American tennis player also revealed that she also issued a complaint about the same to the chair umpire. Vandeweghe asserted that the umpire was quite intimidated by the Russian tennis star since she disagreed with her allegations. She said, “Towards the later end of the second set, I said if she has a problem speaking to Maria, if she’s too scared to do it, I had no problem speaking to her.”

Later, the American player didn’t hold herself back from accusing the 5 singles Grand Slam champion of an “unsportsmanlike” attitude on the court. Vandeweghe said, “What I experienced, what I felt from her moving around in between my serving motion was not sportsmanlike, in my opinion. I try to play as fair as I can.”

The 31-year-old player’s assertions later received a quick response from the former Wimbledon champion.

Sharapova had a blunt response to her opponent’s allegations

The Russian tennis beauty was later asked about those ‘poor sportsmanship’ assertions during her press conference at the British Slam. She candidly answered by saying, “It is what it is and I am not going to argue against her words.”

Sharapova then changed the contentious topic by emphasizing her performances in the grass-court major event. The former Wimbledon champion seemed unbothered by that criticism as she was only focused on lifting the title again on the Centre Court.

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What do you think of the American tennis player’s previous allegations about Sharapova? Let us know in the comments section.

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