Who’s watching the US Open? Yesterday was Day 1, and Maria Sharapova was given a wild card into the draw, her first WC into a slam main draw since her doping suspension. Sharapova hasn’t had a good comeback at all – she’s retired from matches and withdrawn from a few tournaments, and generally the vibe has been that Sharapova lost her edge, her power, her endurance. I wonder if the meldonium really was helping her, eh? Anyway, Sharapove played Simona Halep last night, under the lights, and Sharapova won. I feel sorry for Halep – she’s been so close to the #1 ranking all year, but she can’t quite get there.

Meanwhile, Sharapova covers the latest issue of DuJour Magazine to promote her memoir, Unstoppable, which is out in September. Some excerpts came out a few weeks back, where Sharapova recalled beating Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final, and how that, like, altered the course of history and created the Serena-Maria rivalry that lasted more than a decade. What Sharapova rarely cops to is that Serena has owned their rivalry ever since – Sharapova hasn’t beaten Serena since 2004, and Serena beat Maria 18 times in a row. Maria details in her memoir how she heard, from a secondary source, that Serena had called her a “little bitch” after Wimbledon in 2004. In this DuJour interview, Maria is once again using that Wimbledon victory as, like, her street cred or something. Some highlights:

Maria and Serena both trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy.
Since Sharapova’s training days, Serena Williams has held an almost mythological status. “[The first time] I watched her at the academy, years of my life rolled by right in front of me,” Sharapova says. Snap to nearly a decade later, Williams and Sharapova were facing off in the 2004 Wimbledon Championships — 17-year-old Sharapova’s first big slam. “Serena was the one who was expected to win the match,” she says. To everyone’s surprise, Sharapova beat Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 – everyone but Sharapova herself, that is. “I was like a silly teenager; if it was there for me to take, why wouldn’t I do everything that I can to take it? And I think from that point on, from that victory that I had against her, our rivalry began.”

Her business sense.
“In a way, the academy in Florida is very much a factory. You have the investors and the kids who produce the work,” Sharapova says. “So I think I understood the business side from a very young age. But in terms of my own success and what it would bring me… I don’t think you can really prepare for that.”

On retirement.
“I never envisioned still competing past 30 years old when I was a young girl. But there are so many years ahead of me and I envision a few more years [of playing],” she says. “Unlike when I was young, I think the mystery and not knowing what will happen is interesting. It’s okay rather than seeming a little scary.”

[From DuJour]

“I think from that point on, from that victory that I had against her, our rivalry began.” Sure. It’s a pretty lopsided rivalry, as I said. Is it really a “rivalry” if your rival has beaten you every time you’ve played her for 12 years? That being said, I think even Serena would admit – or maybe not? – that Maria helped spur her on in those years. Serena was fueled by hatred – hatred of losing, hatred of seeing Sharapova ever beat her again. Then again, you don’t see Serena still talking about that one time she beat one woman 13 years ago, like it’s her calling card to greatness.

Photos courtesy of DuJour.