Google News Photo: Maria Sharapova has great reaction to photo of her very awkward service motion
by DZEVAD MESIC
Maria Sharapova had a great reaction to stumbling upon a photo of her being in the midst of a very awkward service motion, joking her "shoulder just twitched."
Early in her career, Sharapova's serve was one of her biggest weapons. But then, Sharapova sustained a serious right shoulder injury and underwent surgery in 2008 to address the issue.
When Sharapova returned to action after being out for nearly a year, she changed her service motion. In the next couple of years, Sharapova several times experimented with different service motions.
"This image just popped up on my phone/ and my shoulder just twitched," Sharapova captioned her Instagram Story.
What happened after Sharapova's shoulder surgery in 2008?
Michael Joyce, who started working with Sharapova in 2004 and guided the Russian to her first three Grand Slams before the two split in 2011, told Stats Perform in 2020 that the 2004 Wimbledon "just returning from the shoulder surgery was a win itself." Also, Joyce revealed that the doctor told him it was up to him as the coach to determine if Sharapova was doing something in her service motion that was causing her shoulder issues.
"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,'" Joyce said.
"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."
After the shoulder surgery and splitting with Joyce, Sharapova won her fourth and fifth Grand Slams at the 2012 and 2014 French Open.
In his interview from 2020, coach Joyce said Sharapova "could have won 10 Grand Slams if her biggest weapon wasn't taken away from her."