Maria Sharapova considered Ana Ivanovic a “B***H” says her ex-Coach Michael Joyce
Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic
Russian former World No.1 Maria Sharapova and Serbian former World No.1 Ana Ivanovic have faced off 14 times in their career and it was one of the most anticipated matches in the late 2000s and early 2010s. They did not have a great relationship outside the court too and that added more flavor to their already spicy on-court showdowns.
“Maria understood that if she liked them(opponents) too much or if she was too close to them, in a certain way, it was difficult for her to burn off this intensity. I know she did well against girls she didn’t like that much. And quite often, she didn’t like them for no reason. It was actually quite funny. She and Ana Ivanovic never really liked each other.
“And Ana always said that she didn’t know Maria very well, but she was always friendly and seemed like a nice enough girl. One day, I asked him: ‘What do you have against this Ivanovic? And she said, ‘Aaahhhh, she’s a b***h’ or something. I then asked, ‘What did she do?’
“And she said, ‘Nothing, I just know who she is. So I knew that as soon as she was going to play against Ana, she would act like she was fighting her own enemy, I knew that Maria was going to use that to motivate herself“, said Michael Joyce in the podcast broadcast by the Tennis.com site
Maria Sharapova vs Ana Ivanovic – The battle of beauties
Career Grand-slam winner Sharapova had also reached the finals of women´s singles in the 2012 Olympics where she lost to the American 23-time Grand Slam Champion Serena Williams in straight sets. If she was able to win that match, she would have gotten a special place in tennis history by becoming a golden slam winner.
Golden Slam remains an achievement that even the tennis greats Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have not achieved. The Greatest of all time – Rafael Nadal is an exception though. She was also the first Russian woman ever to top the singles rankings at the age of 18 in August 2005.
Former French Open Champion Ana Ivanovic won the title in 2008, the same year in which she became the world No.1 also. She went on to beat another Russian, Dinara Safina in that only major finals victory.
She had to finish as runner-up in two of the previous major finals she played – the 2007 French Open final where she lost to Former World No.1 Justine Henin and the 2008 Australian Open final against arch-rival Maria Sharapova.
1987-born tennis beauties have faced off 14 times on the court and Sharapova leads their head-to-head 10-4. In Grand slam matches, they are tied at 1-1. The Serbian won their first Major showdown in straight sets in the 2007 French Open Semi-final.
The Russian took the revenge of it in the 2008 Australian Open final in the same way. They played against each other for the last time in Brisbane Open 2015 Final when the Russian edged past in 3 tight sets.
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