| Playername | Maria Sharapova |
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| Nickname | Masha(diminutive) |
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| Caption | Maria Sharapova, Winner of the 2006 Acura Classic |
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| Country | |
|---|
| Residence | Bradenton, Florida, USA |
|---|
| Birth date | April 19, 1987 |
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| Birth place | Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
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| Height | |
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| Australianopenresult | W (2008) |
|---|
| Frenchopenresult | SF (2007, 2011) |
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| Wimbledonresult | W (2004) |
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| Usopenresult | W (2006) |
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| Othertournaments | Yes |
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| Wtachampionshipsresult | W (2004) |
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| Doublesrecord | 23–17 |
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| Doublestitles | 3 WTA |
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| Highestdoublesranking | 41 (June 14, 2004) |
|---|
| Australianopendoublesresult | 2R (2003, 2004) |
|---|
| Usopendoublesresult | 2R (2003) |
|---|
| Updated | January 10, 2011 |
|---|
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (
Russian Мария Юрьевна Шарапова, ; born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and a former
World No. 1. Sharapova has won 23
WTA singles titles, including 3
Grand Slam singles titles at the
2004 Wimbledon,
2006 US Open and
2008 Australian Open. She has also won the year-end invitational
WTA Tour Championships in 2004.
The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her World No. 1 in singles on 4 separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on Aug 22, 2005 and last regained this ranking for the fourth time on May 19, 2008. She is currently ranked World No. 6.
Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 when, at age 17, she upset two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title. She entered the top ten of the WTA Rankings with this win. Despite not winning a major in 2005, Sharapova briefly held the number one ranking, and reached three Grand Slam semifinals, losing to the eventual champion each time. She won her second major at the 2006 US Open defeating then-World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals and World No. 2 Justine Henin in the final. Sharapova's 2007 season was plagued with a chronic shoulder injury, and saw her ranking fall out of the top 5 for the first time in two years. She ultimately won her third Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Henin in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanović in the final. After reclaiming the number one ranking in May 2008, Sharapova's shoulder problems re-surfaced, ultimately requiring surgery in October and forcing her out of the game for nearly ten months. Sharapova returned in May 2009 and was ranked No. 126 in the world due to her extensive lay-off. Since her comeback, Sharapova has won 4 singles titles (bringing her career total to 23) and improved her ranking to within the top 10.
Sharapova's public profile extends beyond tennis, as she has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She has featured in many advertisements including those for Nike, Prince and Canon and is the face of several fashion houses, most notably Cole Haan. Sharapova was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo! in both 2005 and 2008. Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Project Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme.
Early life
Sharapova was born in 1987 to Yury and Yelena, ethnic
Belarusians, in the town of
Nyagan' in
Siberia, Russia. Her parents moved from
Gomel, Belarus after the
Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 affected the region. When Sharapova was two, the family moved to
Sochi where her father befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son
Yevgeny would go on to win two Grand Slam singles titles and became Russia's first ever World No. 1 tennis player. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racket at the age of four, where upon she began practicing regularly with her father in a local park. She took her first tennis lessons with veteran Russian coach Yuri Yutkin, who was instantly impressed when he first saw her play, noting her "exceptional hand-eye co-ordination."
At the age of seven, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navrátilová, who recommended professional training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, which had previously trained players such as Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova. She was then given a special award, the Rising Star Award, which is awarded only to players of exceptional promise. She made her professional debut in 2001, and played her first WTA tournament at the Pacific Life Open in 2002, winning a match before losing to Monica Seles. Due to restrictions on how many professional events she could play, Sharapova went to hone her game in junior tournaments, where she reached the finals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2002. She was the youngest girl ever to reach the final of the Australian Open junior championship at 14 years and 9 months.
From 2003, Sharapova played a full season, and made a rapid climb into the top 50 by the end of the year. She made her debuts at both the Australian Open and the French Open, but failed to win a match in either. It wasn't until the grass season that she began to fulfill her promise, beating a top 20 player for the first time and reaching her first ever semifinal at the WTA level. Then, as a wildcard at Wimbledon, she defeated 11th seed Jelena Dokić to reach the fourth round, where she lost in three sets to Svetlana Kuznetsova. The highlight of the remainder of her spring hardcourt season was a run to the semifinals at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup, where she ultimately lost to Vera Zvonareva. with other writers commenting on her arrival as a serious challenger to the Williams' dominance at Wimbledon. She entered the top ten in the rankings for the first time as a result of the win. However, on court, she was struggling to achieve results, winning just three of six matches in her preparations for the US Open. At the US Open itself, she reached the third round before being eliminated by Mary Pierce. In order to regain confidence, Sharapova played and won consecutive titles in Asia in the fall, the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships and the Japan Open Tennis Championships.
In October, Sharapova defeated Venus Williams en route to making the final of a Tier I event for the first time at the Zurich Open, losing in the final to Alicia Molik. She then made her debut at the year-ending WTA Tour Championships. There, she won two of her three round-robin matches (including a win over US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova) in order to advance to the semifinals, where she defeated Myskina. In the final, she defeated Serena Williams 4–6, 6–2, 6–4, after trailing 4–0 in the final set. In February, Sharapova won back-to-back tournaments, the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the Qatar Total Open, The following fortnight, she defeated former World No. 1 players Justine Henin and Venus Williams to reach the final at the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open, where she lost to Kim Clijsters. Sharapova then reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the second consecutive year, before losing to eventual champion Henin. Her reign lasted only one week, however, as Davenport reclaimed the top ranking after winning the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament. also losing a rematch several weeks later at the Dubai Tennis Championships, having defeated former World No. 1 Martina Hingis and World No. 3 Lindsay Davenport in earlier rounds of the tournament. By reaching the final, Sharapova recaptured the World No. 1 ranking. her earliest exit at a Grand Slam singles tournament since the 2004 US Open where she lost in the same round. but was not considered a favorite. Nevertheless, she defeated former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the second round, and then World No. 1 Henin in the quarterfinals, ending the latter's 32-match winning streak. She proceeded to the finals by defeating Jelena Janković in the semifinals, where she defeated Ana Ivanović to win her third Grand Slam title, having not dropped a set all tournament.
After the Australian Open, Sharapova extended her winning streak to 18 matches. against Israel The following week, at the Family Circle Cup, she lost in the quarterfinals to Serena Williams, her fourth consecutive loss to the American.
In May, Sharapova regained the World No. 1 ranking because of Henin's sudden retirement from professional tennis and request to the WTA that her own ranking be removed immediately. As the top-seeded player at the French Open of being knocked out by Evgeniya Rodina in the first round, before eventually winning. As a result of losing to Dinara Safina in the fourth round, she was forced to relinquish her No. 1 ranking. Her dip in form continued at Wimbledon, where she lost in the second round to World No. 154 Alla Kudryavtseva.
Sharapova withdrew from the Rogers Cup tournament in August due to a shoulder injury. A MRI scan then revealed that she had been suffering from a rotator cuff tear since April, forcing her out of all tournaments for the rest of the season, including the Beijing Olympics, the US Open and the WTA Tour Championships. In spite of that, she still managed to finish the year ranked World No. 9. In October, after a failed attempt to rehabilitate the shoulder, Sharapova had surgery to repair the tear.
2009: Fall from top 10 and comeback from injury
, her best Grand Slam performance of 2009.]]
Sharapova did not attempt to defend her
Australian Open title as she continued to recover from surgery. She returned to the sport in March, in the doubles tournament at the
BNP Paribas Open, but she and partner
Elena Vesnina lost in the first round. After this, Sharapova withdrew from further singles tournaments, resulting in her standing in the world rankings being severely affected. She dropped out of the top 100 for the first time in six years in May, the nadir being World No. 126.
Playing her first singles tournament in nearly ten months, Sharapova made the quarterfinals of the clay-court Warsaw Open in May, being beaten by Alona Bondarenko. The following week, in the first Grand Slam appearance since her surgery, she reached the quarterfinals of the French Open before her run was ended by Dominika Cibulková.
During the summer grass court season playing in Birmingham, losing in the semifinals. Sharapova then played at the 2009 Wimbledon Championships as the 24th seed. She was upset in the second round by Gisela Dulko in 3 sets.
Sharapova enjoyed considerable success in the summer months, reaching the quarterfinals at the Bank of the West Classic, the semifinals at the LA Women's Tennis Championships, and finishing runner-up at the Rogers Cup to Elena Dementieva. Nevertheless, she was dealt her second straight early exit at the final Grand Slam of the year, losing to Melanie Oudin at the US Open, while committing 60 unforced errors and a personal record of 21 double faults.
The final stretch of the season brought Sharapova her first title of the year in Tokyo, after opponent Jelena Janković retired after being down 2-5 to Sharapova in the final. By virtue of that result, she was the recipient of a bye at the China Open, but failed to use it to her advantage, losing to Peng Shuai in the third round. She ultimately finished the season at No. 14, having improved from No. 126 when she started her return.
2010: Inconsistency
Sharapova began her 2010 season with an exhibition match in Hua Hin, Thailand against
Venus Williams and won 6–4, 6–3. Sharapova then played another exhibition, the team event
Hong Kong Tennis Classic where she represented and was Captain of Team Russia. She won her first singles match against
Zheng Jie 6–7(5), 6–4, 6–2 and then teamed up with
Yevgeny Kafelnikov to win the doubles match 6–4, 7–5 against
Ayumi Morita and
Paradorn Srichaphan of Team Asia Pacific. Sharapova then defeated World No. 4
Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–3 in the final against Team Europe.
After playing two exhibition tournaments in Asia, Sharapova officially began her season at the Australian Open, where she was upset in her first round match that lasted more than 3 hours, losing 6–7(4), 6–3, 4–6 to Maria Kirilenko who reached the quarterfinals of the tournament. The loss meant that for the first time since 2003, Sharapova had lost her opening match at a Grand Slam event.
Immediately bouncing back, she competed in the Cellular South Cup. She defeated Shenay Perry 6–0, 6–2; Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–1, 6–1; 8th seed Elena Baltacha 6–2, 7–5 and 5th seed Petra Kvitová 6–4, 6–3 to reach the final where she beat Sofia Arvidsson 6–2, 6–1 to win her 21st career WTA title and first of the year.
At the BNP Paribas Open, Sharapova came back from 4–6, 2–5 down to defeat Vera Dushevina 4–6, 7–5, 6–2 in the second round, but then lost in the third round 3–6, 6–2, 3–6 to Zheng Jie, aggravating a bruised bone on her right elbow in the process, which resulted in her eventual withdrawal from the Sony Ericsson Open, and the Family Circle Cup.
Returning at the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, Sharapova lost in the first round 4–6, 3–6 to Lucie Šafářová. She continued her French Open preparation at the Internationaux de Strasbourg as a wildcard. Sharapova defeated Regina Kulikova 6–3, 3–6, 6–1; qualifier Dia Evtimova 6–3, 6–0; Julia Görges 7–6(2), 6–1 and 5th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues 4–6, 6–2, 6–2 to advance to the final where she beat Kristina Barrois 7–5, 6–1. This was her first title on red clay and 22nd overall title.
At the French Open, Sharapova won 6–3, 6–2 against qualifier Ksenia Pervak and 6–3, 6–3 against Kirsten Flipkens in the first two rounds. Her brief clay season culminated with a third round loss to four-time champion Justine Henin, losing 2–6, 6–3, 3–6 though she led 2–0, 40–0 in the last set. It was her seventh loss to the Belgian in ten career meetings.
Sharapova began her preparations for Wimbledon at the AEGON Classic. She defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6–0, 6–3 in the second round after getting a bye in the first round and Alla Kudryavtseva 6–3, 6–1 in the third round, avenging her loss at the 2008 Wimbledon. Sharapova then beat two qualifiers, Sesil Karatantcheva 6–2, 6–4 in the quarterfinal and Alison Riske 6–2, 4–6, 6–1 in the semifinal to advance to the final for the fourth time since 2007 where she lost to Li Na 5–7, 1–6.
As the 16th seed at Wimbledon, Sharapova made it to the second round after crushing lucky loser Anastasia Pivovarova 6–1, 6–0 in the first round. She then beat Ioana Raluca Olaru 6–1, 6–4 and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 7–5, 6–3 in the next two rounds before losing to world No. 1 and eventual champion Serena Williams 7–6(9), 6–4, despite having three set points in the opening set. The match was seen as another encouraging performance for Sharapova, with some stating their belief that she was approaching the form that would see her contending for Grand Slams once more, and Sharapova herself stating she feels that she is "in a much better spot than I was last year."
Sharapova started the US Open Series campaign at Stanford. She beat Zheng Jie 6–4, 7–5 in the first round, avenging her loss at the beginning of the year. She then defeated Olga Govortsova 6–3, 6–3, 2nd seed Elena Dementieva 6–4, 2–6, 6–3 in nearly 3 hours to get to the semifinals where she beat Agnieszka Radwanska 1–6, 6–2, 6–2 in more than 2 and a half hours to advance to the finals. Sharapova then lost to World No. 18 Victoria Azarenka 4–6, 1–6 due to exhaustion.
Her next tournament was at Cincinnati where she was seeded 10th. Sharapova defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4, 1–6, 6–2, avenging her loss at the BNP Paribas Open 2 years ago. She then crushed Andrea Petkovic 6–3, 6–1; 7th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6–2, 6–3 and 16th seed Marion Bartoli 6–1, 6–4 in the next three rounds. In the semifinals, she beat young Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6–4, 3–6, 6–2 to make it to the finals again. This time she lost to Kim Clijsters 6-2, 6-7(4), 2-6. Sharapova held 3 match points while leading 5–3 on Clijsters's serve late in the second set, but could not convert them. Then play was interrupted by rain with Sharapova leading 6–2, 5–3, 40–40. After the rain delay, Clijsters dominated play.
At the 2010 U.S. Open, Sharapova was the 14th seed. She defeated Jarmila Groth 4-6 6-3 6-1 in the first round and then defeated Iveta Benesova 6-1 6-2 in the second round and then double bageled American qualifier Beatrice Capra in the third round. In the fourth round, she ran into top seed Caroline Wozniacki and lost 6-3 6-4.
Her last two tournaments of the season ended in disappointment. She played in the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she was upset in the first round by 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm, losing 5–7, 6–3, 3–6. Her last tournament of the year was the China Open, she beat Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the 1st round 6–4, 7–6(5), but she was once again be upset, this time in the 2nd round to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina, losing 6–7(3), 2–6. Days later she announced the end of her 2010 season. She ended the year at number 18 in the world.
2011: Coach-change and return to the top 10
It was announced that Sharapova would bring in Thomas Hogstedt as a coach for the 2011 season, joining
Michael Joyce. On December 5, Maria played an exhibition match against World No. 2
Vera Zvonareva in Monterrey, Mexico. She went on to win that match 6–1, 7–5.
Sharapova would quickly confirm that her first tournament of the year would be at the 2011 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, held from January 4 to 9. She also announced that she would be leading the Russia Fed Cup team against France in February in their first-round tie.
In her first ever official Australian Open warm-up tournament at the 2011 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, she was seeded 1st. Sharapova beat Alberta Brianti 6–2, 6–3 and Renata Voráčová 6–3 7–5, before being defeated by the Hungarian veteran and eventual champion Gréta Arn, 2–6, 5–7. After the ASB Classic Sharapova decided to take a hiatus from Joyce's coaching, despite having worked together for a number of years including during her successful years where she became a multiple grand slam champion.
Sharapova participated in the first grand slam of the season at the Australian Open, where she was the 14th seeded player. She made it into the second round after beating former doubles partner, Tamarine Tanasugarn 6–1, 6–3. Sharapova then defeated Virginie Razzano in round two 7–6(3), 6–3. In the third round she faced Julia Görges. After a minor delay due to an under-court air bubble which prevented the ball from bouncing at a certain spot on the court, Sharapova advanced to the fourth round by winning 4–6, 6–4, 6–4. In the fourth round, she displayed her on-going inconsistency, hitting many unforced errors and double faults, and was upset by Andrea Petkovic 2–6, 3–6.
Sharapova's next appearance would be at the 2011 Fed Cup tie against France, which she lost to Virginie Razzano 3-6, 4-6 in another match of inconsistency.
Sharapova then withdrew from the 2011 Open GDF Suez in Paris because of viral illness. She also had to pull out of premier 5 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships and 2011 Qatar Ladies Open due to an ear infection.
Sharapova returned to the tour in March by taking part in the first premier mandatory tournament of the year, the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, where she was seeded 16th. After a first round bye she defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues, 7–5, 6–7(3), 6–1 to set up a clash with 20th seed Aravane Rezai, who she defeated 6–2, 6–2. She then faced fellow compatriot and former World No. 1 Dinara Safina who she dispatched in under an hour with a scoreline of 6–2, 6–0. Her last victory in the tournament was over Shuai Peng 6–2, 5–7, 6–3 in the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals. She then lost to World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 1–6, 2–6 due to hitting a myriad of unforced errors. With this result, Sharapova returns to the top 10 for the first time since February, 2009.
Sharapova's next tournament would be at the second premier mandatory tournament, the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Miami. As she was the 16th seed, she received a bye to the second round where she dismissed Petra Martic 6–3, 6–2 in a little over an hour. In the third round, she won convincingly against Sabine Lisicki 6–2, 6–0 in a 58 minute match where she won 10 consecutive games to advance to the fourth round. She defeated World No. 4 Samantha Stosur, 6–4, 6–1 and improving her lopsided head-to-head to 7–0. This victory marks her first top five win since defeating Ana Ivanović in the 2008 Australian Open final. In the quarterfinals, she defeated 26th seed Alexandra Dulgheru in an epic match that lasted 3 hours and 28 minutes, which is the longest match of her career, and though twisted her left ankle while serving at 5–5 in the third set, she finally prevailed 3–6, 7–6(6), 7–6(5). In the semifinals, she defeated Andrea Petkovic 3–6, 6–0, 6–2, avenging her loss at the 2011 Australian Open. In the final, her shaky and error-prone form due to exhaustion led her to a one-sided loss to Victoria Azarenka, 1–6, 4–6, despite a late comeback in the second set. By reaching the semifinals, she guaranteed her return to the top 10 for the first time since February 1, 2009.
Because of Sharapova's refusal of her wildcard offer to the 2011 Family Circle Cup, her clay season was scheduled to begin at the third premier mandatory tournament at the 2011 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she is seeded 8th. On her opening clay match for the year against Arantxa Rus, she struggled to find her form in the first set but eventually regrouped in the second and third set to take the match 2–6, 6–2, 6–3. She then defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6–3, 3–6, 6–1 in the second round, but lost to Dominika Cibulkova 5–7, 4–6 in the third round.
Sharapova's next tournament was the 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she was seeded seventh. She received a bye into the second round, where she cruised past Ekaterina Makarova 6–1, 6–1 in 54 minutes. Her form continued into the third round against 10th seed Shahar Peer, where she won 9 straight games in a row and winning 6–2, 6–2. This is also her first match that she didn't hit any double faults since her fourth round with Elena Dementieva in the 2008 Australian Open. This convincing victory has fans claiming that Sharapova's level of play was as high as during her peak years between 2004–2008. Sharapova then passed through Victoria Azarenka due to a retirement, winning 4–6, 3–0, ret. However, Sharapova began taking control of the match before Azarenka's injury. Sharapova hit 21 winners and 23 unforced errors while Azarenka hit 19 unforced errors but with only 8 winners. She then hit 36 winners to defeat World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 7–5, 6–3 in the semifinals, marking her first win over a reigning World No. 1 since defeating Justine Henin at the 2008 Australian Open. She defeated World No. 7 Samantha Stosur 6–2 6–4 to take home the title, marking her biggest clay-court victory to date. With this, Sharapova overtakes Stosur as the World No. 7, her highest position since November, 2008.
Sharapova's next tournament would be at the second grand slam of the year, the 2011 Roland Garros where she was seeded 7th. In the first round, Sharapova defeated Mirjana Lučić 6–3, 6–0 in 56 minutes by winning 10 consecutive games. She played 17-year-old French wild-card Caroline Garcia in the second round. After going down 3–6, 1–4, Sharapova won the last 11 games to defeat Garcia 3–6, 6–4, 6–0. She then defeated Yung-Jan Chan 6–2, 6–3 in the third round to set up a clash with 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska, whom she defeated 7–6(4), 7–5 after saving 5 set points in the second set. Sharapova then avenged her Australian Open loss earlier this year to 15th seed Andrea Petkovic by defeating her 6–0, 6–3, marking her first grand slam semi-finals since her comeback from the career-threatening shoulder injury. She then struggled to play in the strong winds, making a myriad of unforced errors and double faults on her way to a loss to 6th seed and eventual champion Li Na 4–6, 5–7 in the semi-finals, subsequently ending her clay season with a win-loss of 12–2. This marks her most successful clay season to date. In addition, due to the semi-final appearance at Roland Garros, Sharapova moved up to World No. 6 for her highest position since November, 2008.
Sharapova comitted to the 2011 AEGON Classic in Birmingham, UK to open up her grass season campaign, where she would have been seeded 1st. However, after her loss at the 2011 Roland Garros, she withdrew from the AEGON Classic, citing illness.
Sharapova's next tournament would be at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships as the 5th seed. She is set to face compatriot Anna Chakvetadze in the first round.
Fed Cup participation
Fed Cup team against
Israel in 2008.]]
Sharapova has lived in the United States since moving there at the age of seven, but retains her Russian citizenship, and is therefore eligible to play in the
Fed Cup for Russia. However, the behavior of Sharapova's father during her matches on the WTA Tour, combined with a perceived lack of commitment by her to the Fed Cup, has made her selection for the
Russian Fed Cup team cause controversy in the past.
After Sharapova had beaten fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina at the 2004 WTA Tour Championships, Myskina criticized Sharapova's father, saying: "He was just yelling and screaming instructions to her and I thought he just might jump right on the court at one point in the match." At the Fed Cup semi-finals two weeks later Myskina stated she would stop playing for Russia if Sharapova joined the Russian team the following season: "If she joins our team next season you won't see me there for sure. His behaviour is totally incorrect, simply rude. I don't want to be around people like him." Larisa Neiland, assistant to Russia Fed Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev, added: "Her father's behaviour (at the WTA Tour Championships) was simply outrageous. I just don't see how he could work with the rest of us." However Tarpishchev himself played down the problem, insisting: "I feel that things will calm down soon and we'll have Myskina, Sharapova, Kuznetsova and everyone else playing for Russia."
At the end of 2005, Sharapova stated she was now keen to make her Fed Cup debut and was set to play against Belgium in April 2006, but withdrew.
Sharapova later withdrew from ties against Spain in April 2007 and against the United States in July 2007 because of injuries. The latter withdrawal led to Russia's captain saying she would be "ineligible for selection" for the Fed Cup final in September. However, Sharapova attended the final, cheering from the sidelines and acting as a "hitting partner" in practices, resulting in some of her Russian teammates implying that she was attending only to enable her to play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (rules state that players must have "shown commitment" to Fed Cup in order to play). Svetlana Kuznetsova said, "She said she wanted to be our practice partner but if you can't play how then can you practice?"
Sharapova finally made her Fed Cup debut in February 2008, in Russia's quarterfinal tie against Israel. For the semifinals, she was given permission to skip the tie, with Tarpishchev announcing that she will be on the team for the final. However, the date of the final coincided with the lay-off from her shoulder injury, and thus she did not play.
Sharapova will lead the Russians against France in February, in their first-round tie. Additionally, she is one of the few players on the WTA who uses the reverse forehand a lot. Instead of using a traditional volley or overhead smash, she often prefers to hit a powerful "swinging" volley when approaching the net or attacking lobs. Sharapova is thought to have good speed around the court, especially considering her height. Despite her powerful game, Sharapova's greatest asset is considered to be her mental toughness and competitive spirit, with Nick Bollettieri stating that she is "tough as nails". At the 2010 French Open, Hall-of-famer Martina Navratilova said of Sharapova, "with her, it's not over until she's shaking hands." Sharapova is known for on-court "grunting", which reached a recorded 101 decibels during a match at Wimbledon in 2005. During her second round match in Birmingham in 2003, Sharapova was asked to tone down the level of her grunt after opponent Nathalie Dechy complained to the umpire, with Sharapova's response saying that her grunting was "a natural instinct." Monica Seles suggested that grunting is involuntary and a part of tennis. When questioned by the media about her grunting, Sharapova urged the media to "just watch the match." Her defensive game has been worked on by her new coach, and this has reflected in her results, making consecutive semi-finals at premier mandatory events on the tour.
Serve
Towards the beginning of her career, Sharapova's first and second serves were regarded as powerful, The shoulder injury not only resulted in her inconsistent first serves, but also her hitting high amounts of double faults. Two-time US Open singles champion
Tracy Austin believes that Sharapova often loses confidence in the rest of her game when she experiences problems with her serve and consequently produces more unforced errors and generally plays more tentatively, while tennis writer Joel Drucker remarked that her serve was the "catalyst for her entire game", and that her struggles with it left her "unmasked."
Since her coach change in 2011, she has been much more consistent with her serves, reducing the amount of double faults she would produce in addition to consistently serving 70–80% of first serves in. She improved her serve by working on the placement of her serve. This is evident in her matches between the 2011 BNP Paribas Open to present.
Surfaces
Because she predicates her game on power, Sharapova's preferred surfaces are the fast-playing hard and grass courts, as evident through her 21 victories on hard court and grass court. This is most notable when she won the
2004 Wimbledon and
2008 Australian Open crowns, where she had her career breakthrough and played her peak tennis level, respectively.
Sharapova, however, is not as well-suited to the slower clay courts as she is on hard and grass courts. Sharapova has admitted that she is not as comfortable with her movement on clay compared with other court surfaces and once described herself as like a "cow on ice" after a match on clay, due to her inability to slide. Despite this, she has shown improvement on this surface with respect to experience, as evident with her first WTA red clay title at the 2010 Internationaux de Strasbourg, 7 years since playing on the WTA circuit. Less than a year later, she won her biggest red clay title at the Tier I 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia.
Ground strokes and net-play
Sharapova is also known for her phenomenally accurate and powerful groundstrokes. She has a powerful forehand which tends to set up points and create successful winners. Sharapova occasionally utilizes a reverse follow-through on her forehand, similar to that of
Lindsay Davenport and
Rafael Nadal, which allows her to hit the ball later than normal and add top-spin, while it can also lead to timing issues resulting in errors. The backhand, although not as dominant in setting points up, is her more reliable shot with many tennis analysts considering this to be her best asset, and one of tennis' great shots. Her net play is good when on the attack, often she will choose to drive the volley instead of slice volleys, but this is not seen as a strength—this seems to be continually worked on.
Outside tennis
, an area affected by the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.]]
Sharapova has lived in the United States since moving there at the age of seven. She has a home in
Manhattan Beach, California. Sharapova lists fashion, movies, music and reading the
Sherlock Holmes and
Pippi Longstocking series as among her off-court interests, Sharapova has a Pomeranian named Dolce, which means "sweet" in Italian.
At the 2004 US Open, Sharapova, along with several other Russian female tennis players, wore a black ribbon in observance of the tragedy after the Beslan school hostage crisis, which took place only days before. In 2005, she donated around US$50,000 to those affected by the crisis. though it didn't happen as she had to travel back to the US because of shoulder injury. She fulfilled the trip in late June – early July 2010. With Haynes, Kirilenko, Vaidišová, Stubbs, Governor Bush and Capriati, Sharapova participated in an exhibition in Tampa in December 2004, raising money for the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund.
Sharapova helped to promote the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
In July 2008, Sharapova sent a message on DVD to the memorial service of Emily Bailes, who had performed the coin toss ahead of the 2004 Wimbledon final that Sharapova had gone on to win.
Sharapova has often implied that she desires an early retirement. Following the retirement of 25-year-old Justine Henin, Sharapova said, "If I was 25 and I'd won so many Grand Slams, I'd quit too." In an interview after the 2008 Australian Open, she balked at the idea of playing for another ten years, saying that she hoped to have a "nice husband and a few kids" by then.
Sharapova is engaged to Slovenian born professional basketball player Sasha Vujačić, who plays for the New Jersey Nets. The two have been dating since 2009.
Sharapova is a stamp collector and has a "huge collection" compiled since she was a child.
Endorsements
Diamond lineup of digital cameras.]]
Sharapova's tennis success and appearance have enabled her to secure commercial endorsements that greatly exceed the value of her tournament winnings. In April 2005,
People named her one of the 50 most beautiful celebrities in the world. In 2006,
Maxim ranked Sharapova the hottest athlete in the world for the fourth consecutive year. She posed in a six-page bikini photoshoot spread in the 2006
Valentine's Day issue of the
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, alongside 25 supermodels.
In a poll run by Britain's FHM magazine, she was voted the seventh most eligible bachelorette, based on both "wealth and looks."
Sharapova used the Prince Triple Threat Hornet for part of 2003 and then used several different Prince racquets until the US Open. She gave the racquet she used in the 2004 Wimbledon final to Regis Philbin when taping Live with Regis and Kelly. Sharapova began using the Prince Shark OS at that tournament and had a major part in the production of the Shark racquet. She then switched to the Prince O3 White racquet in January 2006. Because of Sharapova's various shoulder injuries, she switched to the Prince O3 Speedport Black in July 2008.
In January 2011 it was announced that Sharapova would endorse Head racquets and use the Head YOUTEK Radical Midplus.
Sharapova signed a sponsorship deal in January 2007 with Gatorade and Tropicana.
In June 2007, Forbes magazine listed her as the highest-paid female athlete in the world, with annual earnings of over US $26 million, the majority of which was from endorsements and sponsorships. In a later interview, she said, "You know, one of the greatest things about being an athlete and, you know, making money is realizing that you can help, you know, help the world, and especially children, who I absolutely love working with."
In 2007 Sharapova was featured in a number of Canon USA's commercials for the PowerShot.
Sharapova has also been depicted in many tennis-related video games, along with such players as Daniela Hantuchová, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova. Some of the titles include the Top Spin series, Virtua Tennis series, and Grand Slam Tennis.
Upon hearing that Sports Illustrated had named her in 2006 as the world's best-paid female athlete, Sharapova said, apparently only a little tongue-in-cheek, "It's never enough. Bring on the money. There's no limit to how much you can make."
In January 2010 it was announced that Sharapova had renewed her contract with Nike, signing an 8 year deal for $70 million. This is the most lucrative deal ever for a sportswoman, dwarfing the previous record, which was Venus Williams' $43 million deal with Reebok.
Wealth
In July 2008, as a result of her success both on and off court, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete, earning US $26 million.
In January 2010, she signed an eight-year Nike contract, worth $70 million.
In August 2010, Maria Sharapova was once again named the world's highest-paid female athlete by Forbes, earning $24.5 million.
Career statistics and awards
;2003
Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Newcomer of the Year
;2004
WTA Player of the Year
WTA Most Improved Player of the Year
References
External links
Official Website
Maria Sharapova (Facebook)
Category:Australian Open (tennis) champions
Category:People from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug
Category:People from Manatee County, Florida
Category:Russian expatriates in the United States
Category:Russian female models
Category:Russian female tennis players
Category:United States Open champions (tennis)
Category:Wimbledon champions
Category:World No. 1 tennis players
Category:1987 births
Category:Living people
![[HL] Serena Williams v. Maria Sharapova 2005 Australian Open [SF]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110825103716im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/afrzmPxXUEA/0.jpg "[HL] Serena Williams v. Maria Sharapova 2005 Australian Open [SF]")
