During her 15-year professional career, Sharapova won 36 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) titles and four International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles, including five Grand Slam tournaments.

The French Open remains the Russian tennis star’s favourite Grand Slam as she has won twice in 2012 and 2014 while she has also won three other Grand Slams in the Australian Open (2008), Wimbledon (2004) and US Open (2006).

To celebrate Sharapova’s illustrious career spanning more than a decade, we bring you five of her biggest achievements that have made her one of the sport’s modern-day legends.

5. First Grand Slam title

On July 3, 2004, Sharapova made her first big moment when she won the Wimbledon women’s singles title. The Russian star, who was seeded 13th at the time, defeated world No. 1 Serena Williams in straight sets, 6–1 and 6–4. On her way to the final, Sharapova also defeated American Lindsay Davenport and Japanese player Ai Sugiyama in the semifinals and quarterfinals.

4. WTA Championship

Just a few months later in November 2004, Sharapova had another great moment in her career when she won the WTA Tour Championships by defeating the same opponent she had defeated in the Wimbledon final, Williams. The victory was even more special considering the Russian star lost the first set but came back in style to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. It was her only WTA Tour Championships win before she finished runner-up in 2007 and 2012.

3. Complete the Grand Slam quartet

In June 2012, Sharapova joined the elite list of women’s tennis when she completed the Grand Slam by winning the French Open, defeating Italian Martine Sara Errani 6-3, 6-2 in the final. The victory was even more special considering the Russian had suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the Australian Open final just months earlier. To date, only nine other women besides Sharapova have won all four Grand Slams.

2. An incredible 2006

2006 was a special year for Sharapova and by the numbers, it would be fair to say that those 12 months were the peak of her career. The Russian tennis star lost just five of the 52 matches she played in that 12-month period, during which she won her only US Open title.

1. The first Russian female tennis player to be ranked number 1 in the world

In August 2005, Sharapova reached another milestone when she became the world number one. In doing so, Sharapova became the first Russian woman to do so. During her career, the 32-year-old has won the world number one ranking five times in different years and stayed at the top for 21 weeks.