Maria Sharapova career history

Maria Sharapova has played tennis professionally since 2001.
2001-03: Professional debut
Sharapova turned professional in 2001 but played just one tournament, on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Circuit, that year. The following year, the 14 year-old Sharapova became the youngest girl to reach the final of the junior Australian Open and repeated this feat at Wimbledon later in the year. She also won three titles on the ITF Circuit and played her first matches on the main Women's Tennis Association Tour, including winning a match at the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California before losing to Monica Seles in the second round.
Sharapova started playing tour events full-time in 2003. She won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw at both the Australian Open and the French Open but subsequently lost in the first round of both events. At the DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, she reached the semifinals of a main tour event for the first time, defeating top seed and World No. 15 Elena Dementieva en route for her first win over a Top 20 player. She was consequently awarded a into the main draw at Wimbledon, defeating the 11th and 21st seeds to reach the fourth round where she lost to compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova. The week after, Sharapova lost in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, a Tier I event. the first Russian to win the tournament, and, to that point, the lowest seed to win the women's event.
During the North American summer hard court season leading up to the US Open, Sharapova played three tournaments. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, In February at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Sharapova won her first Tier I event, defeating top ranked Lindsay Davenport in the final. To complete the spring hard court season, Sharapova lost to Kim Clijsters in the final of the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. When questioned by the media about her on-court grunting at this tournament, Sharapova said, "I know this is your job. But take your notepads, take your pencils down, take your grunt-o-meters down, the fashion police, put it all away and just watch the match." Three weeks later, Sharapova lost to Henin again in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
That autumn, Sharapova won two tournaments in consecutive weeks. At the Tier I Zurich Open, Sharapova defeated Daniela Hantuchová in the final.
Sharapova finished the year ranked World No. 2 and, for the second year, as the top Russian player. Her total of five titles was second only to Henin's six.
2007: Shoulder injury begins, resulting in just one singles title
Sharapova was the top seed at the Australian Open because of World No. 1 withdrawal.
Sharapova defeated the 62nd-ranked Camille Pin in the first round 6-3, 4-6, 9-7 on her fourth match point in air temperatures that exceeded 40 °C (104 °F) and on-court temperatures that exceeded 50 °C (122 °F). In the semifinals, Sharapova defeated fourth-seeded Kim Clijsters It was Sharapova's earliest exit at a Grand Slam singles tournament since she lost in the same round at the 2004 US Open.
Sharapova did not play again until the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow in October, where she lost to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the second round.
Sharapova ended the year ranked World No. 5, the fourth consecutive year that she finished in the top five. However, for the first time since 2004, she did not finish the year as the top-ranked Russian (the honor instead being held by Kuznetsova). Sharapova also won just one title, the first time she had failed to win at least two titles since 2002 (when she played just three WTA matches). She defeated former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the second round and World No. 1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinals 6-4, 6-0, ending the latter's 32-match winning streak. Sharapova then reached her second consecutive Australian Open final when she defeated an injured in the semifinals. Sharapova defeated and won this tournament without losing a set. in Fed Cup against Israel
She was the top-seeded player at the Tier II clay court tournament in Amelia Island, Florida. third round victory was her longest ever match. The next day, she needed an additional 2 hours, 36 minutes to win her quarterfinal match. Sharapova then received a walkover to the final after Davenport withdrew from the tournament. In her first career clay court final, Sharapova defeated Dominika Cibulková. and claimed the second set but then won only nine points in the final set. Sharapova was the second-seeded player at the Tier I Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Sharapova nevertheless regained the World No. 1 ranking because of Henin's sudden retirement from professional tennis and request to the Women's Tennis Association that her own ranking be removed immediately.
Sharapova was the top-seeded player at the French Open from becoming the first female top seeded player in the open era to lose in the first round of this tournament. Sharapova ultimately lost to 13th-seeded and eventual runner-up Dinara Safina fourth round match 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 6-2. Sharapova saved two set points in the first set tiebreaker before winning the last four points to take the set and then had a match point at 5-3 in the second set and led 5-2 in the second set tiebreaker before losing the last five points of the set. Safina won the last four games and ten of the last twelve points of the match. Sharapova lost the match despite hitting 65 winners and only 39 unforced errors. She relinquished the World No. 1 ranking as a result of this loss.
Sharapova withdrew from the grass court tournament in Birmingham, United Kingdom because of a shoulder injury sustained during the French Open. At Wimbledon, Sharapova was seeded third but lost in the second round to compatriot and World No. 159 Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2, 6-4.
At the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Sharapova had the chance to regain the World No. 1 ranking. In a second round match that lasted 2 hours, 55 minutes, she defeated Marta Domachowska of Poland 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. Sharapova committed 17 double faults during the match and twice needed treatment for her right shoulder. She then withdrew from the tournament to prevent the injury from becoming worse. Shortly afterwards, a magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed that Sharapova had been suffering from a torn rotator cuff since April. This injury prevented Sharapova from playing again in 2008, missing both the Beijing Olympics and the US Open. On September 26, she announced on her website that she was taking the rest of the year off, thus missing the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships.
Sharapova finished the year ranked World No. 9. She won three titles and had a win-loss record of 32-4.
2009: Long recovery from injury
Sharapova withdrew from her first scheduled official tournament of the year, the Australian Open, where she was the defending champion, explaining that she was not yet in match condition. In February, Sharapova withdrew from the Open GDF Suez tournament in Paris and the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. Sharapova returned to the tour playing only doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, the first Premier Mandatory event of the year. She and partner Elena Vesnina lost in the first round. She then withdrew from the singles competition at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, the second Premier Mandatory event of the year, saying that she felt her shoulder needed more rest.. In May, she announced her withdrawal from the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, a Premier 5 event in Rome, and the Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open.
Fed Cup participation
Sharapova's representation of Russia in the Fed Cup has been controversial. At the end of 2004, compatriot Anastasia Myskina stated she would stop playing for Russia if Sharapova joined. Nevertheless, at the end of 2005, Sharapova stated she was now keen to make her Fed Cup debut and was set to play against Belgium in April 2006, but withdrew.
Sharapova later withdrew from ties against Spain in April 2007 and against the United States in July 2007 because of injuries. The latter withdrawal led to Russia's captain saying she would be "ineligible for selection" for the Fed Cup final in September. However, Sharapova attended the final, cheering from the sidelines and acting as a "hitting partner" in practices, resulting in some of her Russian teammates implying that she was attending only to enable her to play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (rules state that players must have "shown commitment" to Fed Cup in order to play). Svetlana Kuznetsova said, "She said she wanted to be our practice partner but if you can't play how then can you practice?"
Sharapova finally made her Fed Cup debut in February 2008, in Russia's quarterfinal tie against Israel. Sharapova won both her singles rubbers, against Tzipora Obziler and Shahar Pe'er, helping Russia to a 4-1 victory. Sharapova, however, did not play in Russia's Fed Cup semifinal or final later that year.

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