During the 2023 Roland Garros, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova expressed her admiration for fellow Russian WTA tennis player Maria Sharapova.
In the first round of the tournament, the Russian played against 18-year-old prodigy Linda Fruhvirtova, but experience prevailed over youth as Pavlyuchenkova won the match 6-2, 6-2 to book a second-round spot.
After her victory, Pavlyuchenkova was asked a question about former world no. 1 Sharapova, who recently made an appearance at an F1 Monaco Grand Prix. The Russian was quizzed about how her compatriot's game evolved on clay as Pavlyuchenkova hailed Sharapova's strength of character and her fighting spirit, referring to her as a 'special athlete'.
"Well, first of all, Maria Sharapova, she's Maria Sharapova. For me it's just like in tennis or every sport, there are some special athletes who you have, and they will never be replaced or copied or, you know. So she's one of them for me for sure. I think for me I always admired. I was impressed by her fighting spirit and character."
Sharapova's remarkable career spanned nearly two decades, from 2001 to 2020, during which she won 36 WTA singles titles, including five Grand Slams and a year-ending championship. She also clinched silver at the 2012 London Olympics.
Sharapova's initial success came at a young age. She won her first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon in 2004 at just 17 years old and that's also why she probably felt a lot of pressure and attention throughout her career. According to Pavlyuchenkova, that makes her achievements even more remarkable.
"Dealing with -- I still believe all the pressure that she had and the attention, that was amazing. Also obviously that was also inspiring seeing her because she's very tall, so that makes it more difficult I think playing on clay. Just how she was always fit most of the time when she was playing, especially Grand Slams."
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