Sharapova: The Queen is back

Sharapova wins! The 2012 French Open ended with Maria Sharapova winning her first French Open title on clay at Roland Garros and completing a grand slam that no one has done in years. It took her eight years of ups and downs, starting with her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2004. With Justine Henin retired, Serena becoming a mother and the Williams sisters in decline, Sharapova's rise on clay could be the beginning of a new era in troubled times.

French Open to return to the top

On June 9, Beijing time, in the French Open women's singles final, Sharapova 6-3, 6-2 victory over the dark horse Errani. At the moment of winning "all slam points", Sharapova fell to her knees, cried tears of joy, embraced the clay, embraced the victory!

She returned to the No. 1 ranking for the first time since June 2008 after winning the Suzanne Langlang Trophy at the French Open, where she felt like a cow on ice. This victory for Sharapova, no doubt, is significant. Sharapova admitted she was proud of her return to the top after a serious shoulder injury, a lengthy layoff, doubts, a difficult comeback and two missed titles. Sharapova, who now holds all four Grand Slam titles, has earned the honor of returning to the WTA World No. 1 ranking. It is rare for a young and famous woman like her to focus on tennis all the time. Fame, injury, and love have not taken away her love for tennis. News of Sharapova's French Open triumph also caught the attention of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who spoke to Sharapova by phone to congratulate her on her "unforgettable victory at the French Open."

Interestingly, Sharapova's "even-year law" has come true again. She won Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 17, the US Open in 2006 at the age of 19, and the Australian Open in 2008 at the age of 21. After that, a shoulder injury came to her unexpectedly, and she became the "queen of double faults" for a time. But she did not give up her persistence in tennis, and then came the French Open in 2012.

Nirvana legend rose bloom

Maria Sharapova, the beautiful Russian rose, is best remembered as the grinning little girl who won Wimbledon on the grass in 2004. If becoming famous early is the measure of success, Sharapova has certainly succeeded by achieving at 17 which many people would never achieve in their entire lives. Winning a Grand Slam at 17 is enviable, even in a world where women's fame is falling at a younger age.

As the fresh-faced Sharapova set out to become a competitive player in women's tennis, her first few years did not disappoint. Sharapova, with her sweet face and slender figure, has quickly become another attraction in tennis, a darling of advertisers and television, and a gift that allows her to work less hard on the court. Instead of taking the easy way out, Sharapova took the path she was best at and loved the most. Without tennis, she once said, she would be human. So, she would rather play step by step, rather than follow in the footsteps of the elder Kournikova "vase".

Even though the Williams sisters and the Belgian sisters were at each other's feet, Sharapova was able to find her niche in women's tennis. Without the shoulder injury, perhaps 2008 would have been Sharapova's big rise. Especially after winning the Australian Open title earlier this year, Henin's retirement has left a power vacuum in women's tennis. But Sharapova suffered a recurrence of a shoulder injury that forced her to withdraw from the Olympics and the U.S. Open and miss the rest of the year when she was already the world No. 1.

The next two years are not easy to endure, for a person who has climbed to the peak, it is difficult to imagine the gradual decline of the trough will be how helpless and sad. Sharapova missed the chance to defend her 2009 Australian Open title because of a lingering shoulder injury, and a long absence from the tournament has seen her ranking drop outside the top 100. It was thought that adequate recuperation could lay the foundation for the following comeback. Instead, she faced a series of humiliations: a disappointing doubles defeat at the Indian Wells Open; was beaten by Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-finals of the French Open, where she is not very good. Even at Wimbledon, she was swept by Justina Dulko in the second round. It wasn't much better at the US Open, where she struggled in three sets to defeat America's new 17-year-old sweetheart in the third round, a loss that was seen as a classic case of "the tide pushing the tide." The following year, Sharapova's decline was inevitable again, with her best Grand Slam performance reaching only the fourth round. Compared with her record of reaching Grand Slam finals almost every year, the world suddenly thought it would be hard for Sharapova to rise again.

Despite the hardships, Sharapova's love of tennis has never wavered. Some have speculated that perhaps Russian beauties will marry young and retire from professional tennis. At another fork in the road, Sharapova is firmly on the tennis side again.

In 2011, after a shoulder injury, surgery, rest, and a comeback slump, she finally began to show signs of recovery. With a new coach at the start of the year, Sharapova reached the Miami final, where she lost to Azarenka, but the Russian beauty returned to the top 10 for the first time in two years ahead of the clay-court season. Sharapova went on to beat then-world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and Samantha Stosur on her way to her first career clay-court title in Rome. That helped propel her to the French Open, where she went all the way to Roland Garros before falling to China's Li Na, who also won the Suzanne Langlang Trophy. On Wimbledon, Sharapova's favorite grass court, she reached the final but lost to Kvitova.

The year saw her climb back to No. 2 in the world rankings.

In 2012, Sharapova began to burst into full force, playing in the Australian Open without warming up, all the way to the final, eventually lost to Azarenka, and narrowly missed the world No. 1 ranking. However, she continued to play strongly, winning the Indian Wells Crown and then the so-called "fifth Grand Slam" Miami runner-up.

The clay-court season finally brought Sharapova to the Stuttgart final against world number one Victoria Azarenka, and this time the Russian did not let up and swept the title cleanly. Next, she defended her title in Rome against Li Na of China. Sharapova's success on clay gave her enough confidence to finally lift the Susan Langerang Trophy at Roland Garros, and it was only then that Sharapova's return to the No. 1 ranking in the world truly achieved nirvana.

Only one person in 10 years to win a grand slam

To date, there are nine women in the Grand Slam club, Maureen Connelly, Doris Hart, Shellie Alvin, Margaret Court, Mrs. King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffen Graf, and Serena Williams. The last player to complete a Grand Slam was Serena Williams, who won at Wimbledon in 2002 and now holds all four Grand Slam titles. That year, the American Black Pearl was 21 years old.

Since then, no one in the women's game has reached that pinnacle, not Clijsters, not Henin. After Henin, Sharapova became the only other female player with a chance to complete the Grand Slam, but her path has also not been smooth. Since 2007, Sharapova has been fighting for a Grand Slam, but Roland Garros has been the biggest obstacle in her way.