Also See: Refreshed Maria seeks to maintain form
By her 17th birthday she was the proud winner of three Grand Slam titles. Showing great craft for her age, she won those three titles in one year, 1997, and also made it to the French Open final.
But maturity on court, polished by her mother Melanie, did not guarantee maturity off it. She rebelled against her mom, cried during matches, served underarm to Steffi Graf in the 1999 French Open final, threw racquets on court and called Amelie Mauresmo 'half a man'.
Her game rarely suffered, but by the turn of the century she was having trouble against the likes of Serena and Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport. In the end, though she claimed to have opted out due to a persistent ankle injury, it was the Williams might that blew her off court.
She first announced retirement in 2002 but couldn't stay away from the game too long.
She made a successful comeback, making it to the top 10 of the women's tour in 2006 but the success was restrained. Last year, in a sensational revelation, she said she was quitting the game after testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon.