{"id":920,"date":"2025-08-24T11:25:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T11:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=920"},"modified":"2025-08-24T11:25:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T11:25:50","slug":"serena-williams-makes-shock-return-to-tennis-stage-in-honour-of-her-biggest-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=920","title":{"rendered":"Serena Williams makes shock return to tennis stage in honour of her biggest rival"},"content":{"rendered":"

They were sworn enemies throughout their careers, but respect is now flowing between Serena Williams<\/a> and Maria Sharapova<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From the moment a 17-year-old Sharapova beat Williams to win her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2004, this often bitter Russian-American rivalry was born.<\/p>\n

Williams took it upon herself to ensure she would put her glamour girl rival in her place and on the court she did just that, winning 20 of their 22 meetings in a relentless show of power that helped to cement her legacy.<\/p>\n

For much of that time, Sharapova was her primary rival for the biggest titles in tennis, with their battle at the top of the rankings a key narrative in the women\u2019s game for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Sharapova cemented her legacy as an all-time great of the game by joining the exclusive club of players to win all four Grand Slam titles, but she was usurped by Williams, who claimed a stunning 23 Grand Slam wins as she pressed her claims to be the greatest female player of all-time.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Maria Sharapova handed huge honour \u2013 but her nomination will divide opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

Maria Sharapova issues stark social media warning<\/a><\/p>\n

When they were rivals on court, there was no love lost between the superstar duo, but that animosity ended when they called time on their tennis careers and now it is nothing but love and respect between the old foes.<\/p>\n

So when Sharapova called Williams and asked her to provide a speech as she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday, Serena jumped on a plane and answered the call.<\/p>\n

What happened at the ceremony in Rhode Island was one of the great tennis moments of recent years.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/span><\/p>\n

First, there were gasps of surprise as Serena strode onto the stage and delivered a moving tribute to Sharapova, with her words meaning so much more given the challenging history between the duo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m probably the last person you would expect to see tonight and a few months ago, I\u2019d have probably said the same thing,\u201d said a smiling Williams.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few months Maria texted me\u2026 and asked if I would introduce her into the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore she even finished her question, I said yes immediately, because it\u2019s Maria. I was honoured.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow let\u2019s be real. Maria and I were once the fiercest of rivals. We had our differences. To the world, we looked miles and miles apart. But the truth is, we weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted the exact same thing at the exact same time \u2014 to be the very best. In our sport, only one person can walk away with the trophy, and what\u2019s wrong with wanting to be your best? Nothing. In fact, it\u2019s what drove us. That\u2019s what made our rivalry so electric and so iconic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams went on to admit Sharapova was her fiercest rival, as she went on to reveal how their relationship thawed as they met at a party.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWith no Grand Slam matches the next day, our guards were down and little by little, we saw each other differently,\u201d said Williams, as she revealed how she broke down the barriers with Sharapova.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne year was small talk, another year was real conversation, and then one day it just clicked \u2014 this person I spent years battling across the net, we actually like each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne time a mutual friend of ours said if we met under different circumstances, we\u2019d be great friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

With each word of Williams\u2019 speech, it was hard not to be moved how these great rivals who grew to loathe each other now appreciate that they may have been good for each other.<\/p>\n

\"Maria\n

Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cFor more than a decade and a half, every time we faced each other, the atmosphere shifted,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was thick, the tension was real, the fire was real. You could feel it and you could hear it, with all of Maria\u2019s grunting. Not mine, yours. I was just copying you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are only a few players who challenged me to be the very best every single time we stepped out on the court. Maria Sharapova was one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I saw her name next to mine in the draw, I made sure I practiced harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI showed up with my A-game every time because whatever her weaknesses were in the previous game, it would be her strength next time.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe showed us all how to take excellence on the court and turn it into excellence in business, and fashion, branding and everything that she touched. She built a legacy that will last forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat started as a rivalry turned into an enormous amount of respect. And what grew from respect has turned to friendship.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight it\u2019s my honour as her former rival, her former fan and now her forever friend \u2026 to welcome Maria Sharapova into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharapova then approached the stage and hugged Williams, in a moment that meant so much to two icons of our sport.<\/p>\n

The landscape has changed for these two leaders in women\u2019s sport. Sharapova and Williams are now mothers who had a sporting war that has come to an end.<\/p>\n

Arguably, they remain the two biggest names in women\u2019s tennis long after they struck their final balls in anger and that says all you need to know about these two enduring icons of women\u2019s sport.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Maria Sharapova reveals how much money she made after Wimbledon win in a story that echoes Emma Raducanu\u2019s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Serena Williams makes shock return to tennis stage in honour of her biggest rival<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They were sworn enemies throughout their careers, but respect is now flowing between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. From the moment a 17-year-old Sharapova beat Williams to win her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2004, this often bitter Russian-American rivalry was born. Williams took it upon herself to ensure she would put her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}