She did it her way: Notes on Sharapova's retirement launch

There would be no fanfare. There would be no ballyhoo. No year-long sendoff, no on-court speech, no tears.

For all the press over the years, on and off court, Maria Sharapova would author her retirement headline.

And yet. There was a sendoff, and a remarkably but unsurprisingly high-end one at that. When it comes to the number of tennis players who have launched their retirement—yes, you read that correctly—via the likes of Vogue and *Vanity Fair*, you have this: Maria Sharapova, party of one.

As to how many tennis stars have retired on the front end of

What an inspiring story ????! Don't miss @MariaSharapova's #SharkTank debut this Friday. pic.twitter.com/NbQhe5eAhz — Shark Tank (@ABCSharkTank) February 25, 2020" target="_blank">

What an inspiring story ????! Don't miss @MariaSharapova's #SharkTank debut this Friday. pic.twitter.com/NbQhe5eAhz — Shark Tank (@ABCSharkTank) February 25, 2020" target="_blank">their debut

What an inspiring story ????! Don't miss @MariaSharapova's #SharkTank debut this Friday. pic.twitter.com/NbQhe5eAhz — Shark Tank (@ABCSharkTank) February 25, 2020" target="_blank"> on a network TV show: Sharapova, numero uno.

"I don’t feel I need to go on the court for the entire world and every fan to know that this is my last time on the court," Sharapova said, as shared with New York Times stalwart Christopher Clarey, obviously opting instead for another exclusive interview. "Even when I was younger, it was not the way I wanted it to end."

Sometimes you have an Andre Agassi or Andy Roddick monologue, lachrymose and lathered in closure, delivered within the tennis court's comfortably familiar rectangle of 90-degree lines. Other times you have this—a video embedded in Vogue and Vanity Fair stories, in which the still-fresh-faced retiree reads back portions of her own byline.

No way is the perfect or correct way. And insofar as she could, arguing for over a decade with a diminished, failing right shoulder, Sharapova surely did it her way.

Look, here's the tell-tale stat line: Five-time major champion. No. 1 ranking. Olympic medal. Year-end champion. Fed Cup team title. Wimbledon title as a teen against Serena Williams. To come on first ballot: the Hall of Fame.

There have been controversies, of which we're all quite acquainted. And there's this: Her legacy in the game is intact.

When the four major events—Australian and French Opens, Wimbledon and US Open—salute you, and you've won all of them, the world cranes its collective neck.

Even so, it's what she has seized on outside of tennis that distinguishes the Russian. She proved to be significantly more than the second coming of Anna Kournikova that some tennis scribes made her out to be as a 16-year-old.

When Forbes gushes over your $325 million in career earnings; a pensive, writerly peer such as Andrea Petkovic writes at lengthabout your place in history; and Reese Witherspoon tweetsher well-wishes, you know you've more than made it.

Sure, it's abrupt and it feels weird, but at the same time, that's so tennis.

Over the years, she seemed to relish both in many a winner struck on court and a reliable litany of verbal volleys. Lines like "Isn't she already back in Poland?" and "Check her blood pressure" and "Allez! Up your f—ing a–!" will appear in plenty of click-hungry filings about her sharp, in-the-moment wit.

That's Sharapova, in a nutshell: Her retirement launches a thousand zingpieces.

But she could be understatedly kind to fans and inquirers, which she didn't seem to flaunt, ever. (Here's exhibit A.)

Say what you will about Maria Sharapova, and everyone has. At the end of the day, and at the end of a career, she made tennis better and shined a light on it in the wider popular and global cultures.

Thus ends a storied career. Considerations of this one will be bandied about for some time. Inarguably, though, we all heave a sigh of relief in massage when players go out on their own terms.

So goes Sharapova. In announcing her retirement from tennis like so, she also avoided the “fairly ugly carpet” of certain hotels that she winkingly maligned in her March 2016 doping-ban reveal.

Her tenacity was rarely matched. Her strokes could be, well, fairly ugly—but brutal, laser-like. And her career's cup ultimately brimmed and ran over with accomplishments. Beyond saccharine Sugarpova dreams, what's next is everyone's guess.