Serena Williams’ Dominance Overshadowed by Controversial Maria Sharapova Bias That Grabs Fans’ Attention
What is Maria Sharapova doing in a Serena Williams-dominated list? Both of these tennis stars who once shared a frosty relationship in between them have now become much friendlier to each other. However, tennis fans have always loved their rivalry on the court. Recently, ESPN released yet another list, but this time it was more of the Top 10 women’s tennis players of the 21st century. We all know how ESPN’s picks always add a flavor of controversy and disagreement among the fans and this time was no exception!
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On Thursday, ESPN released a list of the Top 100 athletes of the 21st century, which stirred up a fair bit of controversy among the fans. Serena Williams was ranked in the second spot which was even higher than the ‘Big Three’ of the tennis world. So, is she the greatest player to ever the racquet sport? Well, while fans were busy finding this answer, here came another controversy surrounding Maria Sharapova’s ranking in the Serena Williams-dominated list of the Top 10 women’s tennis players of the 21st century.
According to the list, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, Williams is the greatest women’s tennis player of the 21st century. Well, there shouldn’t be many question marks in this because she has an enormous contribution to the racquet sport. Her sister, Venus Williams ranks second. Everything was good till here, but fans were a bit surprised to see the Russian tennis legend, Maria Sharapova in the third spot.
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According to their list.
1. Serena
2. Venus
3. Sharapova
4. Henin
5. Iga
6. Clijsters
7. Osaka
8. Barty
9. Kerber
10. Mauresmo
(I’d honestly have Justine over Maria of course, but pretty privilege I guess)https://t.co/NdOFk7KkLL
— sage (@iguszkaburner) July 23, 2024
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Sharapova is a five-time Grand Slam champion, and she has also remained the world number one tennis player for almost 21 weeks. Still, fans feel there are other players on the list who deserve to be placed above the 37-year-old former superstar. Here’s what they had said on social media about the list of ESPN.
Fans aren’t too pleased to see Maria Sharapova in third place on a Serena Williams-dominated list
Apart from showcasing her brilliance on the court for almost nineteen years, Sharapova is also among the few women who achieved a career Grand Slam. She has even won a silver medal in the singles event at the 2012 London Olympics. Fans hail her outstanding records in the racquet sport, but they didn’t look too impressed with this list. One of them tweeted, “Sharapova is great but in third place. Really?!“
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Sharapova is the ‘Queen of Hearts’. We often find millions of sports lovers following her every move in her daily life through her social media posts. She loves to interact with her fans and give them an update on her daily lifestyle. Be it attending red carpet events or taking care of her family, fans want to be a part of everything in their idol’s life. However, when it comes to ESPN’s recently published list, a fan wrote, “I am a huge Sharapova fan, and even I find it hard that she is in the top 5.“
via Getty
Talking more about this list, the Belgian former world number one, Justine Henin is ranked fourth. She’s followed by Iga Swiatek, Kim Clijsters, Naomi Osaka, Ash Barty, Angelique Kerber, and Amelie Mauresmo respectively. Looking at the rank of Maria Sharapova in the list of superstars of the tennis world, some fans feel, “Sharapova too high.”
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The 42-year-old Belgian former tennis player, Justin Henin has won seven major titles in her career and she has been world number one for almost 117 weeks. That’s quite more than what Sharapova has been in her career! Apart from that, Henin is an Olympic gold medal winner in the singles event. The Russian’s best record at the Games was securing the second spot. These things led some fans to conclude, “Henin over Sharapova for sure. IGA over Henin though” Iga Swiatek over Henin? We’ll leave it to you to decide.
However, ESPN’s lists have never had any shortage of entertainment in the recent past. Different people have different opinions! That’s right, but we fail to understand how all the controversies end up on Maria Sharapova so successfully time and again over the years. Another one opined, “Sharapova over Henin? Osaka over Barty? Is ESPN just trying to create shitty lists?” Share your thoughts on ESPN’s list of Top 10 women’s tennis players of the 21st century.
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Written By
Sayantan Roy
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Tennis Tales Unleashed
Sayantan Roy is a Tennis Writer at EssentiallySports, who crafts tennis tales that not only capture the game’s essence but also reflect his creative genius. As a believer in unbiased journalism, Sayantan, a fan of both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, loves to fuse the world of such tennis rivals and present balanced copies as fan reaction pieces. Engaged in sports since college, he brings that passion to life.
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