Maria Sharapova is one of the most successful WTA icons of all time, with five Grand Slam titles under her belt and a career that spanned over two decades. However, her journey to the top of the tennis world started long before her first Grand Slam win. One of her earliest experiences in the world of professional tennis was playing in the Australian Open Juniors tournament in 2002, where she made it to the final but ultimately lost to Barbora Strýcová. However, the fight she put up against Strýcová wasn’t just with her power strokes on the court but also with some built-in anger towards the Czech over a personal issue.

Sharapova was just 14 years old at the time and had already shown great promise as a tennis player. She had won the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in 2000 and was a finalist at the Orange Bowl in 2001. The Australian Open Juniors tournament was another chance for her to showcase her skills on an international stage. Nonetheless, she had the emotional range of any normal teenager and she disliked Barbora even off the court.

Maria Sharapova was a tough nut against Czech rival Barbora Strýcová and it’s not what you think

In the tournament, Sharapova played some of her best tennis, winning all of her matches leading up to the final in straight sets. She faced tough competition along the way, including future Grand Slam champions Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwańska. However, her biggest challenge came in the form of Barbora Strýcová, a tough Czech player who would later climb as high as number nine in the world rankings.

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Reminiscing about the match in her autobiography “Unstoppable”, Sharapova says, “She was a whirlwind, coming at me from every part of the court, returning every flat, hard groundstroke with a little dink that grew maddening as she won more and more points.”

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However, Sharapova’s dislike towards Strýcová stemmed from something happening beyond the court, in Barbora’s personal life. It was about the person Strýcová was dating at the time- someone who Sharapova also had a crush on. Recalling the emotions of her teenage self, Sharapova reveals, “Not only did she beat me, but she was dating my first-ever junior crush, Philipp Petzschner. I didn’t like that at all.”

How did the match turn out?

In the final set, Sharapova struggled to keep up with Strýcová’s relentless attacks after she heard her father shout at her over losing a Nike endorsement from the audience. Sadly, after she lost the first set without winning a game, her efforts faced an uphill battle to try and come back in the second set. As she herself says, “If you don’t slow down the world and really grab hold of the moment, it’s over before you know it”. Although Sharapova managed to win five games in the second set, it wasn’t enough to overcome Strýcová’s dominance.

However, she had a great tournament and it only showcased her truest potential that would advocate for her in the years to come, pushing her to the heights of fame in the sport.

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