Maria Sharapova retired from tennis in 2020. In 2016, she tested positive for a banned substance, and she served a doping suspension for a little more than a year. When she came back in 2017, she had brief moments of greatness followed by weeks or months of pretty terrible results. She never really “came back” to the heights she had previously reached. And those were pretty great: five majors titles, a career Grand Slam, an Olympic silver medal, dozens of WTA titles and she made it to #1 in the world. She also made tens of millions of dollars from very lucrative sponsorships.

Over the course of Pova’s career, she faced Serena Williams 22 times. Pova beat Serena twice in 2004 and then… never again. Serena beat her every single time they met on the court after 2004, making the head-to-head

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