“I didn’t see her for two years”- Maria Sharapova reflects on the separation from her mother during her training at the US

Former Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova recently sat down for an interview on Armchair Expert Podcast. She discussed various topics ranging from her personal life to her professional tennis career.

In a segment of the podcast, the former World No.1 talked widely about the challenges she faced in her childhood while training hard to make her mark in the world of tennis. Speaking about how her mother, Yelena, did not show up for the first 2 years of her training life in the United States, she stated,

My mom didn’t join me for the first two years. I didn’t see her for two years. It’s very interesting looking back at it because I’m now a mother of a 16-month-old and I cannot imagine that type of separation.

Maria Sharapova via Armchair Expert Podcast

In the podcast, the 5 time Grand Slam champion extensively talked about how she had a tough time reaching out or connecting with her mother back home when she got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train in the United States.

Sharapova also spoke at length about how acquiring a visa at the time was something so rare and difficult. The 2 time French Open champion stressed on the fact that there were no smartphones back then and she had to physically write to her mother in the hope of meeting her soon.

While Maria Sharapova and her father flew to the States for better training, her mother was left behind at their home in Russia. This separation between a mother and a daughter was something that the retired tennis player did not like, but had to get her head around it. She talked about how they saw this as an extremely amazing opportunity, which is why such a tough decision had to be made in her life for the initial couple of years.

Maria Sharapova discusses how things may have been different in today’s new generation

The 5 time Grand Slam champion often found herself drifting away from her mother during her initial years of training due to the lack of technologies and smartphones in that era. Talking about how if she had such facilities back then, the former World No.1 stated,

But I think that if we had that daily ‘see each other on video’, it almost forms a closer bond and you constantly think ‘When are we going to see each other?’ So it feels like it could’ve been helpful but it was challenging for my mother.

Maria Sharapova announced her retirement from the sport on the 26th of February, 2020. With an illustrious career spanning over 19 years, she went on to win 5 Grand Slam titles and established herself as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time.

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