Maria Sharapova always found a way back, and now she's found her way to the Hall of Fame

When Maria Sharapova and her father, Yuri, arrived in Florida in 1994 -- from the frigid outer reaches of Eastern Europe -- they only had a borrowed $700 and couldn’t speak English.

Sharapova was seven years old.

A year earlier, at a tennis clinic, 18-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova had recommended professional training at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida with coach Nick Bollettieri. Two years later, Sharapova was already so clearly talented that IMG underwrote her scholarship.

The gamble paid off. What began as a scholarship soon became one of the most recognizable careers in modern tennis.

On Saturday, the five-time major singles champion -- and one of only seven women in the Open Era to complete a career Grand Slam -- will be enshrined along with doubles champions Mike and Bob Bryan in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

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It’s a worthy honor, for Sharapova finished her career with 36 WTA Tour-level titles, more than $28 million in prize money and a record of 645-171 (.790). She first achieved the No. 1 ranking at the age of 18.

Breakthrough at Wimbledon

You could see her coming.

Four years after landing at the IMG Academy, she was the winner of the 2000 Girls' 16 division at the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships -- at the age of 13. Two years later, she was a finalist at the Australian Open and Wimbledon junior tournaments.

Sharapova turned professional on the day of her 14th birthday.

In 2003, at the age of 16, she crashed the Top 50. After winning her first two career titles, the Japan Open and the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, she was named the Newcomer of the Year.

A year later, she kicked it into another gear, winning Wimbledon at the age of 17.

Sharapova loved the strawberries and cream, but most of all she enjoyed stunning two-time defending champion Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4 in the final. That win ended the numerous comparisons to countrywoman Anna Kournikova, a blazing talent who never quite panned out as a professional. Sharapova was the first player from her country to win Wimbledon and, overall, the third youngest ever.

Years later, she was asked for a favorite memory from her playing days.

“I’d say your first Grand Slam final is ultimately just the most memorable one,” Sharapova said. “In my career, it came at a very young age. I was 17 years old and it was in London, in Wimbledon, and the whole world was watching. I was playing against Serena Williams, and everything felt like I should have just been happy to be there, but I was so fearless.

“It’s always the memory that comes to mind because I least expected it to come then,” she said. “And I was so tough. I went for it.”

Backing it up

Sharapova, at 6-foot-2, was a baseline banger with a big, well-directed serve. Her secret weapon, though, was an iron will and an unyielding work ethic.

In 2006, at the still-precocious age of 19, she won her second major, the 2006 US Open. This time she beat another of the sport’s icons, Justine Henin, 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

After Henin found the net on match point, Sharapova fell to her knees, held her head in her hands and ran to embrace her father.

“I figured I lost the last four times against Justine so I thought I would just flip everything [180] degrees and do the total opposite,” Sharapova said at the time.

Henin, who reached all four major finals that year, gave Sharapova her due.

“She's been a real fighter tonight and she deserves it,” Henin said.

Two years later, at the 2008 Australian Open, Sharapova added a third different Grand Slam to her eclectic resume.

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After missing chunks of time the previous year with a serious shoulder injury, Sharapova -- in terms of ranking -- was actually the underdog against Ana Ivanovic after getting through, among others, Lindsay Davenport, Henin and Jelena Jankovic.

In sweltering conditions, Sharapova emerged as a 7-5, 6-3 winner in 91 minutes.

“If someone had told me in the middle of last year I’d be standing here with the big one,” Sharapova said, “I’d have said, ‘Forget it.’”

An unexpected turn

For Sharapova, the right shoulder was always the fulcrum of her success. And, because of the stress involved, her greatest vulnerability.

A few months after winning in Melbourne, Sharapova developed shoulder pain and eventually two tears were discovered in her rotator cuff. When rehabilitation didn’t work, she elected to undergo surgery.

“I had my doubts,” Sharapova said. “I would always ask around who had such problems with their shoulder and who recovered from it, and who had surgery, and who got back to the top. And I didn’t get many answers back, which was a little frightening, because you always want to look toward the positives.”

After sitting out for 10 months, she returned to tennis in the spring of 2009. Adapting to that adversity, Sharapova redesigned her serve -- reinvented herself, actually -- to take pressure off the joint most responsible for her success.

And while that leave of absence took her outside the Top 100, she returned to the No. 1 spot after an unexpected title run at Roland Garros in 2012.

On the red clay that had once left her completely befuddled, Sharapova beat Sara Errani in the 2012 final and, with it, joined the short list of women to win all four majors.

“It’s the most incredible feeling,” Sharapova said after her win in Paris. “I’m so happy. I’ve worked so hard for this -- it took a lot to get to this stage and even more to win it.

“There are so many tough days where you feel like giving up, but you don’t. It’s been such a journey to get to this stage again.”

And then she did it again two years later, defeating Simona Halep in a three-set match that ran more than three hours.

“This is the toughest Grand Slam final I’ve ever played,” Sharapova told reporters. “If somebody had told me ... at some stage in my career, that I’d have more Roland Garros titles than any other Grand Slam, I’d probably go get drunk -- or tell them to get drunk. One or the other.”

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