Serena Williams recently spoke about her perceived 'beef' with Maria Sharapova, which came to be when the two competed on the WTA Tour.
There have been many stories about the beef between Sharapova and Serena Williams, especially at the height of their rivalry. The American was dominating tennis when the Russian player came and beat her at Wimbledon, and stunned the tennis world with her qualities.
Sharapova explicitly said once that Serena hated that she lost to her at Wimbledon. Still, it wasn't a personal remark, as it can just be that competitive nature, which obviously both have; otherwise, they wouldn't have become so great tennis players.
Williams was recently asked about that during 'The Serena Collection' series. She admitted that she didn't have a beef with Sharapova, not back then and certainly not today.
She explained that it was just the competitive nature of the sport. Both wanted to win and tried to win, so obviously, emotions ran high.
"Not anymore. I mean, was there ever beef? I guess. It was just competitive. She was winning. I was winning, you know, we both wanted to win, and I don't think it was personal. It was just, 'Do you want to win?"
The rivalry between them ultimately ended up being quite one-sided because the Russian actually won only 2 of the 22 matches they played, but the Wimbledon loss was certainly a painful one for Williams.
She played with an added edge every time against the Russian player and handed her some pretty tough losses over the years, which again shows how competitive they were.
It isn't anything new in tennis or specific to this rivalry, and according to reports, Sharapova tremendously respected Williams. They're also on very good terms right now, years after their retirements.
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