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Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova

Net Worth

$200,000,000

Born in (City)

Nyagan

Born in (Country)

Russia

Date of Birth

19th December, 1987

Date of Death

-

Mother

Yelena

Father

Yuri Sharapov

About

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova is a Russian former professional tennis player. Although she played under the banner of Russia with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), she has lived in and been a United States permanent resident since 1994. Sharapova competed on the WTA tour from 2001 to 2020 and had been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the WTA on five separate occasions, for a total of 21 weeks. She is one of ten women, and the only Russian, to hold the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist, having won a silver medal in women’s singles at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Sharapova achieved a rare level of longevity in tennis, with several tennis pundits and former players calling Sharapova one of tennis’s best competitors. She became the world No. 1 for the first time on 22 August 2005, at the age of 18.

Early Life

Maria Sharapova was born on 19 April 1987, in Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Her parents, Yuri Sharapov and Yelena, are from Gomel, Byelorussian SSR. Concerned about the regional effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, they left their homeland shortly before Maria was born. In 1989, when Sharapova was three, the family moved to Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. She hit her first tennis ball when she was 4 years old. Her father, Yuri, befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to win two Grand Slam singles titles and become Russia's first world No. 1 ranked tennis player. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racquet in 1991 when she was four, whereupon she began practicing regularly with her father at a local park. Maria took her first tennis lessons with veteran Russian coach Yuri Yutkin, who was instantly impressed when he saw her play, noting her "exceptional hand-eye coordination". In 1993, at the age of six, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navratilova, who recommended professional training with Nick Bollettieri at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, who had previously trained players such as Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, and Anna Kournikova. With money tight, Yuri Sharapov borrowed the sum that would enable him and his daughter, neither of whom could speak English, to travel to the United States, which they finally did in 1994. Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years. Initially, she trained with Rick Macci. In 1995, however, she was signed by IMG, who agreed to pay the annual tuition fee of $35,000 for Sharapova to stay at the Academy, allowing her to finally enroll at the age of 9.

Road to Success

“The one thing I remember the most when I first saw her was the focus in practice, like every ball was like the finals of Wimbledon,” said Max Eisenbud, who became her agent. Sharapova became a global star in 2004 by winning Wimbledon at age 17, upsetting top-seeded Serena Williams in a hard-hitting final. Sharapova won five Grand Slam singles titles in all, including the United States Open in 2006, the Australian Open in 2008 and the French Open in 2012 and 2014, despite clay being her least-favored surface. She won 36 tour singles titles in total, an Olympic silver medal in singles in 2012 and the Fed Cup title with Russia in 2008. She was ranked No. 1 for the first time in August 2005 and spent 21 weeks in the top spot. But she arguably made a more indelible mark off court. She was the world’s highest-earning female athlete for 11 consecutive years, according to Forbes. She earned the majority of her income in endorsements from companies like Nike and Evian, started her own candy company and reportedly earned close to $30 million in 2015. She had a fluid, world-class two-handed backhand and a deep understanding of how to construct a baseline point. She also had one of the most fearsome serves in the game before her shoulder problems. Above all, she had a point-to-point intensity similar to the men’s star Rafael Nadal. Forbes, she has been named highest-paid female athlete in the world for 11 consecutive years and earned US$285 million (including prize money) since she turned pro in 2001. In 2018, she launched a new programme to mentor women entrepreneurs.

Challenges

Sharapova had to deal with pain and injuries with led to surgeries. The pain has been a near-constant companion over the last two years for Sharapova, a former No. 1 player who became one of the richest and most globally recognizable athletes of the 21st century but who found herself unable to return to the top of the game after a suspension for using a banned substance in 2016. She met resistance, though, as some tournament officials chose not to offer her invitations to play and some players expressed discontent when she was granted wild cards, arguing that it was unfair for anyone returning from a ban to receive such a boost. Since then, she has dealt with recurring tendon damage in her right shoulder and inflammation in her forearms that at times has made it excruciatingly difficult for her to even grip a racket, much less rip a forehand. She recently ruled out having another shoulder operation, but pushing through the pain just led to more pain. Her comeback lasted two seasons and finished with a first-round defeat to 19th-seeded Donna Vekic at the Australian Open on Jan. 20. At the end, Sharapova said she just felt an overwhelming “heaviness.”

Failures

In March 2016, Sharapova revealed she had failed a drug test at the 2016 Australian Open. She had tested positive for meldonium, a substance that had been banned (effective January 1, 2016) by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). On 8 June 2016, she was suspended from playing tennis for two years by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). On 4 October 2016, the suspension was reduced to 15 months, starting from the date of the failed test, as the Court of Arbitration for Sports found that she had committed "no significant fault" and that she had taken the substance "based on a doctor’s recommendation.

Achievements

As on 2015, Maria Sharapova is ranked No.3 by the Women’s Tennis Association.|ESPY Best Female Tennis Player|She has to her credit 5 Grand Slam Titles – One at Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open and two at French Open along with 35 singles titles.

Quotes

  • When you look good, you feel good. Confidence with what you're wearing is very important. If you feel good, you will always perform your best without worrying about anything.
  • If you're able to help some people and make them smile and make them realize that life is good, then that's worth so much more than buying a pair of shoes.
  • I'm not the next anyone, I'm the first Maria Sharapova.
  • When I need to push myself, I think of all those nicely polished trophies waiting to be lifted up by the winner - and how that winner might be me.