A biting wind conjured a wall of red brick dust during Maria Sharapova’s semifinal match, prompting a few fans to reflexively cover their eyes. Unwavering, the second seed squinted through the salmon-colored swirl, her eyes firmly fixed on the ball like someone seeing a long-awaited destination finally come into focus.
Sharapova swept Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova—who beat the Russian for the title at the All England Club—6-3, 6-3, in a resounding win that helped her regain the world No. 1 ranking nearly four years to the day after she last occupied the top spot. It also set her up for a shot at history.
Sharapova has survived some career storms—right shoulder surgery sidelined her for nine months from 2008 to 2009, ravaging her once imposing serve and causing her ranking to plummet to No. 126. She’s rallied, but has suffered humbling thrashings in Grand Slam finals to Serena Williams, Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka. But through it all, Sharapova has never lost sight of her major dreams. When she steps onto Court Philippe Chatrier to face Sara Errani for the first time in tomorrow's French Open final, she'll be playing for more than her first Roland Garros title—she'll be playing for career-defining legacy.
Winning her first Roland Garros crown would complete the career Grand Slam and put Sharapova in rare air as one of only 10 women in history to consummate the milestone. She would also become the first Russian to master all four majors, and the first woman since Serena won the 2003 Australian Open to achieve the feat—a challenge that has eluded several elite champions, including Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, and Monica Seles. It would be an unprecedented crowning achievement to a committed comeback: Sharapova stands one victory away from becoming the first woman to master a major after undergoing surgery to her serving shoulder.
The flip side is an ignominious distinction: Should Sharapova, contesting her third final in her last four majors, fall to first-time finalist Errani, she would become the first woman to lose three major finals in a row since Dinara Safina dropped her third straight at the 2009 French Open.
When you consider the state of Sharapova's game just a few years ago, her renaissance on red clay—a surface once so foreign-feeling that she famously compared her movement on dirt to "a cow on ice"—is remarkable. She's 5-0 in her last five clay-court finals, four of her last five titles have come on dirt, and she's crafted a 17-1 clay-court record in 2012. It's a reminder that things happen in a hurry in tennis.
A haze of uncertainty thickened when the 2006 U.S. Open champion contested 11 consecutive majors without reaching a final, but while Sharapova's power is her most obvious asset, her staying power may be her biggest strength.
"It's been a long road back, a long process," Sharapova said after sweeping Kvitova. "It's a lot of days of frustration and uncertainty, not knowing if you'll ever get there, not knowing how much you want it, not knowing whether there will be another moment like that for you again."
Indeed, even Sharapova's most ardent supporters may have felt the moment—and the game passing her by—when then top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki ran the Russian ragged in a 6-3, 6-4 fourth-round win at the 2010 U.S. Open. The loss exposed Sharapova's shortcomings: She lacked the athleticism and court coverage of the tour’s elite, her second serve offered little margin for error and often caved under pressure, and her power-based baseline game featured little variety—a big problem when her fast, flat shots were not falling.
Working with coach Thomas Hogstedt, Sharapova has not radically redefined her game to create career revival; rather she's shrewdly refined her power-based game. Prone to playing grip-and-rip tennis in recent years, Sharapova showed her adaption skills in the semifinal against Kvitova. We saw her hit a rare slice forehand, kick in her first serve on crucial points, and even loft a lob winner over the 6-foot Czech. She's not channeling spin doctor and 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, but Sharapova’s adjustments and shot selection showed the strides she’s made on clay.
The highest-paid female athlete in the world is a fashionista more prone to flipping through the page of Vogue than Sports Illustrated in her down-time, but beneath the glamour she brings the grit that makes her a champion. Pounding her clenched left fist against her thigh from her predatory return position and oozing intensity as visibly as the sweat streaming from her forehead, Sharapova's love of the good fight remains as vital now as it was when she claimed her first major eight years ago. Her shrieking that pierces the silence of major finals like a siren during a sermon, her pre-point posture of turning her back to the court, and a game long-built on bludgeoning the ball can be grating to some, but it doesn't diminish her power of perseverance.
The firing squad of photographers eternally surrounding Sharapova is a visual reminder of her competitive and aesthetic appeal. The beauty of Sharapova the competitor is she really doesn't care if you like her or not—she's too busy focusing on her job to worry about it—but her committed comeback and the poise she's shown under pressure demand you respect her.
The crushed red brick that once served as a sink hole for Sharapova can be a springboard of achievement as a master of all surfaces.
Richard Pagliaro is a senior editor for TENNIS.com.