After Maria Sharapova announced her retirement on Wednesday morning, Ben is joined by Tumaini Carayol of The Guardian for an emergency episode to discuss her career and its many highs, lows, and controversies.
After expressing some relief that she's stopped, we discuss what made Sharapova keep pushing on through the pain so long, and also what our early memories of her career were. We discuss her arrival as a star, and then the darkening of that when she tested positive for a newly-banned substance in early 2016, which complicated and muddled a career which was already likely on its downhill.
We also share some of our favorite memories of Maria, and what made her such a tremendously satisfying antagonist on the tour--particularly for Serena Williams, whom she was a distant second behind in the end.
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Episode 163: Golden Girl Monica Puig and More Rio Results
Episode 162a: Olympian Upset: Delpo Defeats Djokovic
Episode 162: Federer Out, Olderers In
Episode 161: Vika, Zika, Paprika
Episode 160d: Wimbledon Volley 4: Serena and Murray Slay
Episode 160c: Wimbledon Volley 3: Super Semifinals Set!
Episode 160b: Wimbledon Volley 2: Querrey Stuns Djokovic
Episode 160a: Wimbledon Volley 1: Marcus Willis (Cartman)
Episode 159: Wimbledon 2016 Draw Preview Super-Duperness!
Episode 158: Walking Wimbledon, From Lands Of Grass and Ice
Episode 157: Nick Lester
Episode 156: Muguruza Wins a First; Djokovic Wins Everything
Episode 155c: French Open Petit, Trois: Into the Second Week
Episode 155b: French Open Petit, Deux: Adios, Rafa (With Marta Mateo)
Episode 155a: French Open Petit, Un: Maria, Osaka, Gulbis
Episode 154: Draw Me Like One of Your French Opens, Part Deux
Episode 153a: The NCRvision Song Contest!
Episode 153: Madrid, Murresmo, Mozzarella
Episode 152: In Madrid with Timea Bacsinszky
Episode 151: You Can't Do That on Television
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