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 235: Dude Tennis With Ricky Dimon
Episode 234: Tennis Politics with Vasek Pospisil
Episode 233: Bianca, Rafa Win a U.S. Open for the Millennium
Episode 232: U.S. Open 2019 Preview
Episode 231: On Stopping
Episode 230: Halep Takes the Wheel; Big 3 Roll
Episode 229: A Wimbledon Preview From Centre Court
Episode 228: Barty, Nadal Party in France
Episode 227: Draw Me Like One of Your French Opens, 2019
Episode 226: Nick Kyrgios
Episode 225: Quartermarks and Coups
Episode 224: The 10 Most Important Women in Tennis History
Episode 223: Australian Open - Djokovic and Osaka Again
Episode 222: Steve The Talk - Stefanos Tsitsipas, with Vicky Georgatou
Episode 221: Mary Carillo Returns
Episode 220: 2019 Australian Open Draw Show
Episode 219c: Remember When? 2018, Part 3
Episode 219b: Remember When? 2018, Part 2
Episode 219a: Remember When? 2018, Part 1
Episode 218: A Season Ends; A Ninja Departs
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