Serena Williams surprised her "former rival" Maria Sharapova on Saturday, August 23 to induct her into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The two Grand Slam winners competed fiercely throughout their careers. Their rivalry began in 2004 when Maria, who was just 17 at the time, defeated Serena in the finals of Wimbledon. Two decades later, the athletes are friends. But that doesn't overlook their "intense rivalry."
Both Serena, 43, and Maria, 38, started their tennis journeys when they were just kids. Serena turned professional in October 1995 when she was 14 years old. Just four years later, she won her first Grand Slam title at the 1999 U.S. Open.
Just like Serena, Maria went professional at 14 and won her first Grand Slam at 17 in the finals that launched their rivalry. The two players were the most popular women tennis players of the 2000s and changed the sport. During their careers, Serena and Maria played each other 22 times.
2004 Wimbledon finals
Serena and Maria first met in 2004 at the Miami Masters. A few months later, they played against each other in their first Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon. Ahead of the match, Serena was heavily favored. She was attempting to become the first woman to win the title three consecutive times since Steffi Graf did in the '90s.
Maria went on to defeat Serena in two straight sets. At Maria's Hall of Fame ceremony, Serena said: "To this day, [Maria] calls it [the 2004 Wimbledon final win] the highlight of her career. And to this day, I call it one of my hardest losses."
Their rivalry continued
Although fans of tennis remember this rivalry fondly, Serena dominated their matches. The two met in nine Grand Slam matches. But out of their 22 matches, Serena won 20. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Maria shared her thoughts on the media's role in her rivalry with Serena.
"I think there was more beef in the media than there actually was. I think we were these two competitors wanting to win, and perhaps we said things that we look back on and we can laugh at right now," she explained.
And yes, many things were said during their rivalry. In 2013, Serena reportedly told Rolling Stone: "She begins every interview with 'I'm so happy. I'm so lucky' – it's so boring. She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it.'"
But while Serena never mentioned Maria's name in the interview, the writer made an "educated guess" that she was talking about her rival.
All of the supposed beef has been put to rest, with Serena telling the Hall of Fame crowd: "Even though we didn't talk about it…we really respected each other immensely because to survive at the very top of the sport, you need resilience. You need toughness. You need to show up every single day year after year. And Maria did just that."