Maria Sharapova has labelled winning the French Open as the most 'unique moment' of her career.
Russian insists Roland Garros success is career highlight
Maria Sharapova has labelled winning the French Open as the most 'unique moment' of her career.
The 25-year-old Russian became the 10th woman in history to win all four grand slams events following a straight-sets victory over Sara Errani at Roland Garros.
Sharapova never believed the thrill of winning Wimbledon aged 17 in 2004 would be eclipsed, but insisted that the French Open title had topped that achievement.
"It's the most unique moment I've experienced in my career. I never thought I would have that," commented Sharapova.
"I thought that when I won Wimbledon at 17, that would be the most treasured moment of my career.
"But when I fell down on my knees I realised that this was extremely special, and even more so."
Road to recovery
Sharapova's success was all the more meaningful given the 10 months she spent out of the sport in 2008 and 2009 with a shoulder injury that put her career in jeopardy.
It has been a slow road back to the top for Sharapova, but her form this year is comparable with anything before her surgery and her serve is now a strength again rather than a liability.
She continued: "It's a long journey. It started from a very young age. It's not over yet. I'm not sitting here and saying I'm done, because I'm far from it.
"I have a lot more in me to achieve. I believe in my game. I think that's one of the reasons why I'm sitting here with my fourth one and winning Roland Garros, is because I always believed I could be better, I could be a better player, whether it was on clay, grass, cement, anything, I always strive to be better.
"And one per cent here, a few here, this is what I've always wanted to achieve. No matter how tough it was, no matter how many people didn't believe in me, didn't think that I could get to this point, I didn't care and I didn't listen.
"I always listened to my own voice, and it always told me that for some reason I'm meant to be better. I'm meant to succeed again. And I did."
