Maria Sharapova is often regarded as one of the greatest women’s tennis players ever. While she won 36 titles across her illustrious career, the Miami Open was among the most prestigious tournaments Sharapova failed to win. Losing in the finals on five different occasions at Miami has resulted in the Russian missing out on $1.5 million USD in prize money.
Despite her prowess, Maria Sharapova never won the Miami Open. Losing out on the opportunity to win the WTA 1000 tournament five times, the former World No.1 has the most losses in the finals than anybody in WTA history.
Maria made her first run to the final in 2005 where she was dominated by Belgium’s Kim Clijsters 6-3, 7-5. While Kim received a prize money of $400,000, Sharapova was only awarded $210,000. In the immediate year, Sharapova made yet another final appearance. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get her hands on the trophy, suffering a 6-4, 6-3 loss to fellow countryman Svetlana Kuznetsova. On this occasion, Kuznetsova received $533,350 and Maria got $266,675.
(Prize money figures from tennis.quickfound.net)
After a four-drought, Sharapova made three consecutive finals appearances – 2011, 2012, and 2013 – and lost all the encounters. The Russian lost to Victoria Azarenka in the 2011 final, Agnieszka Radwańska in the 2012 final, and Serena Williams in the 2013 final. While the winners received a total of $2,136,000, Sharapova only accumulated $1,080,000.
Overall, Sharapova earned $1,531,875 from his five runner-up finishes in Miami. However, the winners cumulatively got $3,069,350 for these five finals, almost double what Sharapova received. Hence, she missed out on $1,537,475 because of losing five finals.
List of the winner’s prize money and the money she missed out on:
2005
Prize money for winner – $400,000
Prize money Sharapova received – $210,000
Missed out on – $190,000
2006
Prize money for winner – $533,350
Prize money Sharapova received – $266,675
Missed out on – $266,675
2011
Prize money for winner – $700,000
Prize money Sharapova received – $350,000
Missed out on – $350,000
2012
Prize money for winner – $712,000
Prize money Sharapova received – $352,000
Missed out on – $360,000
2013
Prize money for winner – $724,000
Prize money Sharapova received – $353,200
Missed out on – $370,800
Maria Sharapova has gathered $38,777,962 in prize money throughout her career and is worth $220 million. Having missed out on the additional $1.5 million wouldn’t have hurt her as much as not winning the Miami Open has.
