Maria Sharapova: What Will a French Open Victory Mean for Sharapova's Career?

May 31, 2011

Maria Sharapova Continues Quest For Career Grand Slam

A victory over Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska advanced Maria Sharapova to the quarter finals of the 2011 French Open, the tournament where she's been borderline infamous for never coming close to taking home the championship.

But with the top three seeds (Kim Clijters, Caroline Wozniacki, and Vera Zvonareva) each already eliminated and both Williams sisters not in the field, Sharapova has as good a chance as ever to claim victory in Paris.

Should she do that, the 24-year-old will join a very prestigious group of female tennis players.

In the history of the sport, only nine women have ever won the career Grand Slam (i.e. wins at the French Open, US Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon).

That would be a truly tremendous accomplishment for Sharapova, especially since she has been riddled with injuries in recent years.

Still, even if she does achieve win this week in Paris, it would be hard to consider, at this point in time, to consider her one of the true all-time greats of the womens game.

Yes, she was a phenom when she won Wimbeldon at age 17 and since then has been won of the sports biggest stars and one it's best players, but she hasn't been a consistent threat to win Grand Slam events at any point in time. She's never been to the Finals at the French Open, only once at the US Open (which she won in 2006), and hasn't returned to the Finals at Wimbeldon since her triumph in 2004.

If you look at the list of all time great womens players--the women who Sharapova will join if she wins this week in Paris--you'll see that they've won or reached the finals of Grand Slam events many more times than Sharapova.

Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Stefi Graf, Serena Williams, and Billie Jean King, each went to handfuls of Finals at the key events in the game, winning at least 12 Grand Slam events.

Yes, Sharapova has a lot of tennis ahead of her if she stays healthy and she certainly can walk away from the game with 10 or 11 Grand Slam wins. But first she has to bump that number up from three to four, something she can do this week.

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