Maria Sharapova laughs off suggestions US Open exit represents toughest period of her life
"I think I've done plenty in my career, established a lot for myself personally, professionally"
Tuesday 4 September 2018 17:36, UK
Maria Sharapova insists she still has belief after laughing off suggestions that losing in the US Open fourth round represents the toughest period of her life.
Sharapova's long-unbeaten record in night-session matches at Flushing Meadows was ended in the fourth round by Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.
Sharapova, the champion in 2006, had won 23 straight matches under the lights, including her previous three contests this year, but Suarez Navarro, on her 30th birthday, clinched a 6-4 6-3 victory to reach her second quarter-final in New
York.
It was well deserved for the 30th seed, who next plays Madison Keys, as she drew the errors from the Sharapova racket - 38 unforced, including eight double faults - and used her flowing single-handed backhand to great effect.
Sharapova matched her performance from last year but then, in her first Grand Slam since the end of her doping ban, the fourth round seemed a sign she could return to her best. Twelve months on, that seems significantly less likely.
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The Russian, who first arrived in the United States with her father - but without her mother - and just $700 in their pockets, said: "If I didn't have the belief to keep doing this and to keep having the motivation and the grind of doing this every day in order to get myself in these positions, I don't think I would be here. I think I've done plenty in my career, established a lot for myself personally, professionally.
"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. I think that's a lot tougher than being 31 years old and having the opportunity to do whatever I want in my life."
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Tennis is back on Sky Sports screens with the Laver Cup in September while we will also have coverage of the ATP Finals in November with every match live on Sky Sports. But first, we will be across the final major of the year in New York as the US Open right through to the final with live blogs, reports, features and reaction.
