Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova was one of the best tennis players of her time. The 35-year-old has five Grand Slam titles to her name and was one of the toughest opponents for the American ace Serena Williams. If it wasn’t for Serena’s brilliance, the Russian would’ve surely retired with far more majors than five.

When Sharapova finally hung her racket in 2022, former tennis star Martina Navratilova was all praise of her. Here’s how she analyzes the rivalry between Serena and Sharapova.

Serena Williams’ rivalry with Maria Sharapova

Navratilova had high praise for Sharapova. She credited the Russian as the ultimate competitor. However, she said that the 35-year-old’s performance against Serena Williams is something that people will remember.

“Sharapova will be partly judged by her record against Serena Williams. Unfortunately for Sharapova, you can be the most mentally tough player in the world, but sometimes there will be a player you just don’t match up that well against, and that was Williams,” she said.

Further, she explained what went wrong for Sharapova.

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“That match-up against Williams just didn’t favor her, particularly as the American certainly served a lot better. Sharapova was good enough against everyone else, but Williams always got up for her matches against the Russian. To her credit, Sharapova never relented in those matches. That wasn’t in her nature,” she added.

Read more: ‘Started Moving My Body Again’ – Maria Sharapova Provides an Update on Her Physical Condition After Announcing the Birth of Her Child

Serena holds an epic 20-2 head-to-head record against the Russian.

Winning French Open twice was her biggest achievement: Navratilova

Maria Sharapova jumped into the limelight after winning her first Grand Slam title, the Wimbledon Championships aged just 17. However, Navratilova believes that it was not her best achievement.

Analyzing her career, the 65-year-old said that her style of play was more suited to the hard and grass courts. As the Russian called herself a “cow on ice,” on the clay court.

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Still, she managed to win two French Open titles. Which, in Navratilova’s opinion, was the biggest achievement of her career.