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 302: Quiet, Please - Wimbledon 2021 Draw
Episode 301i: French Open Day 15: Novak Djokovic the Inevitable
Episode 301h: French Open Day 14: Barbora Krejcikova Breaks In
Episode 301g: French Open: A Serbian Special (With Saša Ozmo)
Episode 301f: French Open Day 13: Djokovic Turns Back Nadal
Episode 301e: French Open Day 12: Speaking Greek Tennis (With Vicky Georgatou)
Episode 301d: French Open Day 11 - Women Open Up, Top Men March Onward (With Pam Shriver)
Episode 301c: French Open Day 10: Tsitsipas Beats Medvedev
Episode 301b: French Open Day 9: Quarterfinal Previews and Such
Episode 301a: French Open Day 8: Federer and Serena Age Out
Episode 300: This Is A Spartan! Maria Sakkari (French Open Day 7)
Episode 299k: French Open Day 6: Sorana Cirstea & Picks With Ricky
Episode 299j: French Open Day 5: RG Recap: Barty Bows Out; Bob Van De Slap
Episode 299i: French Open Day 4: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Episode 299h: French Open Day 3: Reilly Opelka
Episode 299g: French Open Day 2: Naomi Osaka Steps Back (with Mary Carillo)
Episode 299f: French Open Day 1 - Slams Dig In Against Osaka's Stand
Episode 299e: Draw Me Like One of Your French Opens, 2021
Episode 299d: Naomi Osaka Chooses Silence
Episode 299c: NCRvision Spotlight: Dan Bern
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