Maria Sharapova: The comeback in numbers

A year ago Maria Sharapova made a highly-anticipated return to the sport – so how has she fared?

All eyes in the tennis world were on Stuttgart on April 26, 2017 when the former world number one and five-time Grand Slam champion lined up against Italian veteran Roberta Vinci in the first round.

There were many questions being asked of Sharapova: did she deserve a wildcard after serving her doping suspension? What would her level be after a 15-month absence? What would her return mean to a women’s game in transition?

RELATED: Sharapova splits from coach Groeneveld

Sharapova charged into the Stuttgart semifinals, navigating past a string of difficult opponents on court and inquisitive journalists off court. Some questions were answered, others were not.

Twelve months on, we crunched the numbers from Sharapova’s past year:

31 MATCHES played and a 21-10 win-loss record since returning from suspension.

41 IN THE WORLD after returning unranked.

12 TOURNAMENTS contested in the past 12 months.

9 WILDCARDS among those 12 tournament entries.

7 WITHDRAWALS due to injury (including Wimbledon qualifying).

1 TITLE claimed as Sharapova ended a 17-month title drought in Tianjin in October.

3 SEMIFINALS reached.

3 FIRST-ROUND defeats.

16 MATCHES for an unranked Sharapova to return to the world’s top 100.

5 WINS in a row was her longest winning streak.

3 LOSSES was her longest losing streak.

13 THREE-SETTERS played, with seven victories.

14 WINS from 21 matches against higher-ranked opponents.

0 SETS lost to players ranked outside the top 100.

1 TOP-10 opponent – Simona Halep is the only top 10-ranked opponent faced in the past year. Sharapova won their US Open first round match in three quality sets, before Halep won in straight sets a few weeks later in Beijing.

1 MAJOR CHAMPION played – Angelique Kerber is the only fellow Grand Slam singles champion Sharapova has faced. Kerber lost four games in an Australian Open third-round meeting.

3 TOP-20 wins – Sharapova has a 3-4 record against top 20-ranked opponents since her return. She defeated Halep and Anastasija Sevastova, twice.

9 TOP-50 wins – Her win-loss record is 9-8 against top 50-ranked opponents (including two wins each against Sevastova and Ekaterina Makarova). Scalps have been Halep, Sevastova, Makarova, Tatjana Maria, Shuai Peng, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Roberta Vinci.

1 MATCH in which Sharapova made more than 65% of her first serves.