In 2004, in a stunning upset against the two-time defending champion Serena Williams, seventeen-year-old Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon, becoming an overnight sensation. Out of virtual anonymity, she launched herself onto the international stage. “Maria Mania” was born. Sharapova became a name and face recognizable worldwide. Her success would last: she went on to hold the number-one WTA ranking multiple times, to win four more Grand Slam tournaments, and to become one of the highest-grossing female athletes in the world.
And then—at perhaps the peak of her career—Sharapova came up against the toughest challenge yet: during the 2016 Australian Open, she was charged by the ITF with taking the banned substance meldonium, only recently added to the ITF’s list. The resulting suspension would keep her off the professional courts for fifteen months—a frighteningly long time for any athlete. The media suggested it might be fateful.
But Sharapova’s career has always been driven by her determination and by her dedication and hard work. Her story doesn’t begin with the 2004 Wimbledon championship, but years before, in a small Russian town, where as a five-year-old she played on drab neighborhood courts with precocious concentration. It begins when her father, convinced his daughter could be a star, risked everything to get them to Florida, that sacred land of tennis academies. It begins when the two arrived with only seven hundred dollars and knowing only a few words of English. From that, Sharapova scraped together one of the most influential sports careers in history.
Here, for the first time, is the whole story, and in her own words. Sharapova is an unforgettable saga of dedication and fortune. She brings us inside her pivotal matches and illuminates the relationships that have shaped her—with coaches, best friends, boyfriends, and Yuri, her coach, manager, father, and most dedicated fan, describing with honesty and affection their oft-scrutinized relationship. She writes frankly about the suspension. As Sharapova returns to the professional circuit, one thing is clear: the ambition to win, that drove her from the public courts of Russia to the manicured lawns of Wimbledon, has not diminished.
Sharapova’s Unstoppable is a powerful memoir, resonant in its depiction of the will to win—whatever the odds.
Review
As a reader, I was hoping this book would help me to change my mind and in many ways it does, but after reading this, I’m left with a mixture of emotions.
‘Unstoppable: My Life So Far’ is an easy read. The first page shows a couple of pictures of Sharapova as a child before beginning with a prologue where she talks about her recent doping ban. It’s a brilliant start to the book as it explains the truth of the ban and makes you wonder if it should have happened at all. The prologue is brief and there is more on the ban in the last chapter of book, with the rest of the story following in a chronological order, beginning with her life in Gomel, Belarus.
The book has a really easy to read style making it feel as if she is chatting with you while telling you about her life. Her early years before moving to the US are just fascinating to read and it gave me a sense of the strength and determination she has inside her. As the book progresses and details her life in America, I begin to have a real sense of respect for her. I never knew the life she led, the difficulties she faced early on and the conditions she and her father lived in. It all makes me respect her and I thought I would really enjoy the whole book from start to finish. But as Sharapova reveals the first information about Serena Williams, I did start to feel differently about her.
Somewhere, I was prepared to hear some real truths- about how the rivalry began. The book is advertised as explaining this ‘legendary rivalry’ but no matter how many times Sharapova brings up the issues around her and Williams, I couldn’t see any real conflicts in her story. At the very first mention of seeing the Williams sisters, she seems to have set up her own barrier against them and this became more clear when I read further.
At several points in the story, Sharapova even explains the behavior Williams showed towards her, behavior which I can only see as positive and even friendly, and yet Sharapova sees it as alien, as if it wasn’t real. In the end, her mentions of Williams began to grate on me and it really spoiled my enjoyment in reading this book.
Although people who are not into tennis may enjoy this book, there’s no explanation of how tennis games work and there’s a lot of descriptions around certain matches which may lose some people but I found it very interesting to read. I was never confused at any point during these chapters and it was good to hear how someone feels in the middle of the match, the thoughts and feelings they go through as I never really see when watching a tennis match as a spectator.
Although people who are not into tennis may enjoy this book, there’s no explanation of how tennis games work and there’s a lot of descriptions around certain matches which may lose some people but I found it very interesting to read. I was never confused at any point during these chapters and it was good to hear how someone feels in the middle of the match, the thoughts and feelings they go through as I never really see when watching a tennis match as a spectator.
In the last chapters, Sharapova details other aspects of her life. As a child she speaks of few moments that go outside of the tennis life but in the last chapters she starts to talk about relationships. This was also an interesting part of her book and it was good to see more of her life outside of tennis. The last pages detail the ban again and the struggle she went through. It was good to hear more details of this and it did make me respect her a little more.
There is swearing in the book. There isn’t much in the first chapters but there is some use of the f and s word later on. The ending is good and I enjoyed reading the book as a whole. There are a lot of details of her early life and in these chapters, I found a newfound respect for Sharapova. It will certainly change your mind about her when you read about the difficult circumstances she had in her early life.
There is swearing in the book. There isn’t much in the first chapters but there is some use of the f and s word later on. The ending is good and I enjoyed reading the book as a whole. There are a lot of details of her early life and in these chapters, I found a newfound respect for Sharapova. It will certainly change your mind about her when you read about the difficult circumstances she had in her early life.
I also found her easy to read style fun to read and I was gripped throughout some of her early life chapters. However the digs at Williams, her explanations of friendships in tennis and the overall feel of pettiness, this spoiled what could have been a really great read. It’s not that I’m a fan of Serena Williams that makes me dislike this part of the book, it would be the same no matter who was mentioned.
EVERYONE MUST READ THIS BOOK ONCE!
Written by - Priya Mathur
Edited by - Prachi Raheja
EVERYONE MUST READ THIS BOOK ONCE!
Written by - Priya Mathur
Edited by - Prachi Raheja
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