Published July 09, 2015 12:13
LONDON, England - Eleven years ago on the pristine lawns of the All-England Club, a star - one of the biggest WTA stars - was born. Maria Sharapova, who went into the fortnight as a 17-year-old, No.15-ranked up-and-comer, left as a Grand Slam champion, making headlines around the world.
She did come in on some grass court momentum - she won the lead-up tournament in Birmingham.
And round by round she kept building steam, taking out her first four opponents of the fortnight in straight sets, and after battling past Ai Sugiyama in three sets to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal, she then pulled off a massive surprise in those semis, beating Lindsay Davenport, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.
She did it in dramatic fashion, too - she rallied from a 6-2, 3-1 deficit to make it past the American.
And then another American in the final. She took on Serena Williams, who wasn't just the No.1 seed, but the two-time defending champion too - she had won 20 straight matches at Wimbledon too.
But with nothing to lose and everything to gain, the No.13-seeded Sharapova swung away, storming through the first set, 6-1, and then rallied from 2-4 in the second set to outdo Williams, 6-1, 6-4.
"It's amazing, really," Sharapova would say after winning the first of her five Grand Slam titles.
"I'm absolutely speechless. I never, never in my life expected this to happen so fast. And it's always been my dream to come here and to win, but it was never in my mind that I would do it this year."
At 17 years and 2 months, Sharapova became the third-youngest Wimbledon champion in history after Lottie Dod (15 years and 9 months in 1887) and Martina Hingis (16 years and 9 months in 1997).
The victory propelled Sharapova into the Top 10, from No.15 to No.8. But she didn't want to stop there.
"I thought winning Wimbledon was just my dream. Now, of course, my goal is to be No.1 in the world."
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