Maria Sharapova: Lessons Learned from the 2013 Tennis Season

Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova revealed the lessons she has learned from the 2013 season on her official Facebook page.

"Women's tennis is getting faster," Sharapova wrote. "And the girls are getting more athletic, so I need to push myself to become a better athlete," she added. The 26-year-old athlete thinks that the 2013 season has given her an idea about how it is significant to be fit and in good physical shape. She also stated how she took good care of her body and how she has developed into being a lot intelligent when it comes to training.

Sharapova was supposed to start her 2013 season by playing in the Brisbane International, but failed to do so due to her collarbone injury. She competed at the Australian Open, where she seeded second, but lost to Li Na in the semi-finals. She faced Serena Williams, who currently ranks first in the World Rankings, at the semi-finals of the Qatar Open, where she lost. Then she played at the Indian Wells where she managed to bag the title. She has played in 9 of most of the major tournaments all throughout the 2013 season. She backed off from playing in the 2013 U.S. Open citing her injury on her right shoulder.

She has not played since August, but we should really expect a lot from the ultimate darling of the fans of the court. Sharapova has constantly been training to get back to her old self.

On Nov 21, she appointed Sven Groeneveld as new coach, only three months after parting ways with Jimmy Connors. Groeneveld once groomed Mary Pierce and Monica Seles. She is expected to compete at the 2014 Brisbane International.

Aside from training, Sharapova has also been involved with her candy business venture, Sugarpova. She is also going to be the new correspondent of National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), who will cover the 2014 Winter Olympics to be held in her hometown Sochi, Russia.