Paris (AFP)

"Tennis - je adieu adieu": it is on this clap of theatrical end that the Russian Maria Sharapova left Wednesday at 32 years the sport of which she was a star for 18 years with her Hollywood physique, her titles and her suspension for doping.

Businesswoman who has long made her image grow, it is through a platform first published on the site of the fashion magazine Vogue, before being posted on social networks, that the tall blonde (1.88 m ) formalized a decision that seemed to have become inevitable.

"Throughout my career, + Is it worth it? + Has never been a question. Lately, it has been permanently," said the Russian, whose last years of performances have been sealed. by injuries.

Suspended 15 months for doping (meldonium) in 2016, Sharapova never managed to regain the level it was before this interruption.

"A year and a half away from tennis it was terrible, it dealt a blow to her. That is why she ended her career prematurely," said the president of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishev. , quoted by the RIA Novosti agency.

Former world N1 dropped to 373rd in the world, Sharapova thus remained on four consecutive defeats, including eliminations in the first rounds of the US Open 2019 against Serena Williams and the Australian Open 2020 against the Croatian Donna Vekic, his Last match.

- Cries -

But, unlike his compatriot Anna Kournikova who had very early changed his player costume for that of starlet, Sharapova marked the female circuit by spectacular results obtained by force of noisy aggression. The shrill cries that accompanied each of the diva's strikes will resonate for a long time on the biggest courts in the world where she wrote a few pages of world tennis.

She is thus one of the rare players to have won the four Grand Slam tournaments: Wimbledon (2004), US Open (2006), Australian Open (2008) and Roland-Garros (2012 and 2014) for a total of 36 titles and 21 weeks at the top of the world hierarchy between August 22, 2005 and June 8, 2012.

"She had a hell of a career! Obviously, she was behind Serena (Williams), but she is probably the best after Serena," said Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has Russian origins through his mother, on Wednesday. "She has brought a lot to our sport," he added on the sidelines of the Dubai tournament.

In his career, Sharapova thus earned $ 38.8 million. Only the sisters Serena and Venus Williams (92.7 and 41.8 million dollars respectively), earned more money than she did on a tennis court.

The little girl born on April 19, 1987 in Nyagan, in the plain of western Siberia more than 1,700 km from Moscow, also lived an American dream on the sidelines of her sports career.

- American dream -

"At six, I crossed the planet to Florida with my father (...) Everything seemed huge to me, just like my parents' sacrifices were," she recalls in Vogue.

These sacrifices paid off because from 2005 to 2015, the Russian stayed at the top, not of the WTA ranking, but of the Forbes list of the best paid sportswomen. This Wednesday, the magazine estimated its fortune at 325 million dollars, including its tournament earnings, its various interventions but also and above all its commercial partnerships. Only Serena Williams has done better with $ 350 million to date.

In 2019 again, despite small tournament winnings ($ 1 million) due to injuries that only allowed her to play 18 games, she received $ 6 million in advertising contracts for a total of $ 7 million which was still the 7th highest paid tennis player of the year.

"Beauty sells. I know that's part of the reason people want me and it suits me. I'm not going to make myself ugly on purpose," she said one day.

In 2019, she was linked to Nike, Porshe, Head, Evian and Tag Heuer. It also invested in 2016 in the UFC, the main organizer of MMA, and in 2012 launched its own brand of candy Sugarpova.

After Wozniacki in January, Sharapova is the second big name in tennis to permanently leave the circuit in 2020.

© 2020 AFP