US Open exit not even close to my worst time: Sharapova
Maria Sharapova laughed off suggestions that losing in the US Open fourth round represented the toughest period of her life.
That, she insists, came when she arrived in the United States with her father - but without her mother - and just US$700 (S$960) in their pockets.
"What's challenging is when you're a teenager and you have a few hundred dollars and you've got no sense of the future, you don't know where you're going to end up. You just have a dream," said Sharapova.
"I think that's a lot tougher than being 31 years old and having the opportunity to do whatever I want in my life."
Sharapova, speaking after losing 6-4, 6-3 to Carla Suarez Navarro yesterday morning (Singapore time), was referring to the time when at seven years old, she left Russia for Florida.
She and father Yuri spoke no English when they arrived in the United States while visa restrictions prevented the young Sharapova from seeing her mother Yelena for two years.
Those traumatic days have long since given way to one of sport's most powerful rags-to-riches stories, which has seen Sharapova earn a personal fortune estimated to be in the region of US$200 million.
Yesterday, Sharapova was attempting to reach the quarter-finals in New York for the first time since 2012.
But she ran into an inspired Suarez Navarro, who marked her 30th birthday with a second win in five meetings against the Russian.
The Spaniard will meet 14th seed Madison Keys in the quarter-finals tonight.
- REUTERS
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