US Open tennis: Maria Sharapova runs out of grunt without meldonium

Maria Sharapova feels the strain against Serena Williams at the US Open. Picture: Getty Images

Someone impersonating Maria Sharapova has just been knocked out of the US Open in the first round, barely raising a whimper.

You know the one? The tall, blonde Russian who dominated women’s tennis for a while there, winning the Australian Open, the US Open, Wimbledon and the French Open twice.

She was world No.1 on a host of occasions, pocketed almost $60 million in prizemoney and squillions more in endorsements. She even created her own brand of luxury chocolates.

She drove us mad with her loud grunting every time she hit a ball, but mesmerised us with the quality of her tennis. Her powerful serve, her missile-like forehands and backhands from the baseline, the swinging volley made her one of the few players able to keep pace with US powerhouse Serena Williams.

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That’s the Maria Sharapova we’re talking about. It was someone completely different who meekly surrendered to Williams 6-1 6-1 this morning. It was another player all together who was blasted off the court 6-4 6-1 by Australia’s own Ash Barty at the Cincinnati Masters a couple of weeks back.

Looks like Sharapova, sounds like Sharapova — the same old grunt — but certainly doesn’t play like Sharapova.

The impersonator is now ranked 87 in the world and hasn’t made a grand slam final since 2015.

Serena Williams waves to the crowd after beating Sharapova. Picture: Getty Images

In fact it has all been going south since Sharapova tested positive to the banned substance meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.

Sharapova, 32, claimed she had begun taking meldonium before it was banned to ward off a recurring viral illness and was unaware it had been put on the banned list.

But an independent tribunal ruled she was using it to enhance her performance and she should have been aware it was banned.

She served a 15-month ban before returning to the circuit in April 2017. The meldonium-free Sharapova has not been anywhere near the player she was.

Her power has faded, she has struggled with injury, her ranking has teetered on the fringes of the top 100.

Sharapova losing to Williams is nothing especially unusual — the American now leads their head-to-head series 20-2 — but it is normally a bit more of a contest. This is Sharapova’s worst loss to Williams since she went down 6-0 6-1 in the final at the London Olympics.

Such a feeble performance against a player who is five years her senior but still looking as dominant as ever, should probably be a message to Sharapova.

The game is up, Maria — if that’s who you really are. Probably time to give it away. If nothing else, it would be one less grunter on the circuit.