Maria Sharapova Wants to Be Clear: She Is Retiring From Tennis, Not Quitting

Sharapova, 32, called perseverance her “greatest tool” but said it had ultimately worked against her as she tried to push through recurring injuries and revive a brilliant career.

To understand why Maria Sharapova is retiring from professional tennis at age 32, it helps to know what she can no longer endure.

“I look at photos of myself and of the motion where I’m just about to hit the ball, and I’m in the air or just as I’m making contact,” she said on Tuesday, “and I can’t even look at it because it makes me cringe. I have so much pain.”

The pain has been a near-constant companion over the last two years for Sharapova, a former No. 1 player who became one of the richest and most globally recognizable athletes of the 21st century but who found herself unable to return to the top of the game after a suspension for using a banned substance in 2016.

Since then, she has dealt with recurring tendon damage in her right shoulder and inflammation in her forearms that at times has made it excruciatingly difficult for her to even grip a racket, much less rip a forehand...