Maria Sharapova could have won at least 10 grand slam titles if she had not suffered a shoulder injury that took away “one of her biggest weapons”, Michael Joyce believes.
Sharapova retired last week aged 32, revealing her body had become a “distraction” after being troubled by injury problems for much of her career.
The former world number one was out for nine months following a first operation in 2008 and coach Joyce had to work on remodelling the Russian’s powerful serve in order to prolong her career.
Sharapova won the French Open twice following her return to take her major haul to five and complete a career Grand Slam, but could not add to that tally after a 2014 triumph at Roland Garros.
Joyce, who coached the global icon from 2004 to 2011, says it was a huge achievement just to come back from the surgery early in her career and is sure there would have been more major glory if she had not been so unfortunate with injuries.
He told Stats Perform: “What a lot of people don’t realise is her coming back from that shoulder surgery was a win itself.
“We tried to do everything to not have surgery, but it got to a point where nothing we did was helping her.
“When the doctors went in I was there with her and the doctor came after about 30 minutes and said, ‘Listen, I couldn’t really do much, she had a tear in her rotator cuff, the way her shoulder is built I could have tightened it up, but then she could maybe not ever serve again’.
“He said he just cleaned it out, but told me I am the coach and have to figure out when she comes back if there is something mechanically she is doing or whatever.
“We’d had about a year of changing her service motion and trying different things, she went through a period where she was double-faulting, so people were questioning what we were doing and why she couldn’t get the serve in.
“She had a great serve, but at the time her shoulder wasn’t strong enough to do her normal long motion. She got back to the top 10 basically without one of her biggest weapons.
“The rest of her career I think she managed it, she could still serve big but I don’t personally think it was anything like before she had the injury. I think if she hadn’t hurt her shoulder she could probably have won double-digit grand slams.
“For her to come back and win the French Open a couple of times, because clay was her worst surface when she was younger, was because the serve is not as important on clay.
“For somebody to transform their game in a way to win more grand slams on their worst surface is incredible, it shows her resilience and determination.”
Michael Joyce: Sharapova Had This Belief That She Was Always In it Until Last Point
Michael Joyce, the former coach of Maria Sharapova, says the form he knew the former World No. 1 was going to be a great player when she was in her early teens as she had a great inner competitive fire. Speaking to Stats Perform, Joyce says, “The first time I met Maria I think she was nine years old, I was on the tour at the time and when I was back home in LA I used to go and take a lesson with Robert, who was my coach growing up.
One day he asked if I’d take a hit with this young Russian girl who had come in to take a lesson, he said she’s awesome and tried so hard. She came on the court and I remember it like it was yesterday. I’d never really hit with a nine-year-old, so I was taking it easy and then her Dad, who couldn’t speak English that great at the time, was telling me I could hit harder.
Maria was diving around the court, running after the ball, I kind of developed a little bit of a relationship with her then. It turned out when she was 15, 16 I was playing the last couple of years on tour but my Mom was really sick with cancer, so I was spending a lot of time at home and making a little extra money as a hitter for Maria and I could still beat her pretty bad at the time.
By the time I was travelling with her full-time, it was not like being with a complete stranger.” Joyce continues, “Looking back, I knew she was special. Of course I didn’t know at nine, I had no idea then, but by the time she was like 15, she was already trying to play some pro events.
You could tell at 14, 15 she had this competitive drive and kind of like the eye of the tiger. I remember sometimes I’d be hitting with her and Robert would say ‘play a couple of sets’ and I’d say ‘Robert, listen, how do you want me to play? Make it close?’ He’d be like ‘no, kill her.’
I’d feel bad I’d be beating her 6-1 4-0 or something and she’d be trying so hard just to win a game. I notice that drive from her straight away, she loved to compete. I could see a lot of things I could improve on, so once I started working with her full-time, I could work on her taking the ball early, strategy, improving her forehand etc.
The one thing that sticks out with her is that when she was playing from the first tournament almost until the end, I always knew whoever she was up against would have to go through hell to beat her, as she never gave up.
She had this belief that she was always in it until the last point.”
Joyce, who helped Sharapova win 2 Grand Slams and reach the World No. 1 ranking during their time together, says, “I remember going to South America to play a couple of exhibitions when she was about 21, we went to Chile and there was probably 20,000 people there.
Then we went to Argentina and everywhere we went everybody knew her. There is a certain aura about some athletes and she definitely had that. Everywhere she went there were big crowds, whether she was practicing or playing, everyone in airports would know her, walking down the street.
That is special and doesn’t come around often. There are so many girls playing now who probably look up to Maria. They might say they don’t like her or this and that, but you think of a girl that is mid 20s or so, when she won Wimbledon [aged 17] they were young kids, so for sure they are looking up to her. They might not admit it now, but she would have been looking up to her when they were kids.”
