Name	Maria Sharapova
Nickname	Masha(diminutive)
Country
Residence	Bradenton, Florida, United States
Birth date	April 19, 1987
Birth place	Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	April 19, 2001
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	$18,841,677
Singlesrecord	434–108
Singlestitles	25 WTA, 4 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (August 30, 2005)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 2 (April 23, 2012)
Australianopenresult	W (2008)
Frenchopenresult	SF (2007, 2011)
Wimbledonresult	W (2004)
Usopenresult	W (2006)
Othertournaments	Yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	W (2004)
Doublesrecord	23–17
Doublestitles	3 WTA
Highestdoublesranking	41 (January 30, 2012)
Australianopendoublesresult	2R (2003, 2004)
Usopendoublesresult	2R (2003)
Updated	April 23, 2012 }}

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , , ; born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and former world no. 1. A United States resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 25 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open. She has also won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in 2004. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked Sharapova world no. 1 in singles on four separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005, and last regained the ranking for the fourth time on May 19, 2008. As of April 30, 2012, Sharapova is ranked world no. 2. She has been in six Grand Slam finals with the final record 3–3.

Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 at age 17, when she defeated 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 10 of the WTA Rankings with the win. Despite not winning a major in 2005, Sharapova briefly held the no. 1 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 won her third Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Henin in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanović in the final. After reclaiming the no. 1 ranking in May 2008, Sharapova's shoulder problems re-surfaced, requiring surgery in October and forcing her out of the game for 10 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 six singles titles (bringing her career total to 25) and improved her ranking to no. 2 in the world.

Sharapova has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in ''''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue''. She has been featured in many advertisements, including 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 2005 and 2008. Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by ''Time''.

Early life

Maria Sharapova's parents, Yuri and Elena, are from Gomel, Belarus. Concerned about the regional effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, they left their homeland shortly before Sharapova was born. When Sharapova was two, the family moved to Sochi. There her father befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to win two Grand Slam singles titles and became Russia's first no. 1 world-ranked tennis player. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racket at the age of four, whereupon she began practicing regularly with her father at a local park. She 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."

At the age of seven, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navratilova, 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. With money tight, Yuri was forced to borrow the sum that would allow him and his daughter, neither of whom could speak English, to travel to United States, which they finally did in 1994. Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years. Arriving in Florida with savings of US$700, Sharapova's father took various low-paying jobs, including dish-washing, to fund her lessons until she was old enough to be admitted to the academy. In 1995, 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.

Tennis career

2001–03

Sharapova first gained attention on the tennis scene in November 2000, when she won the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in the girls' 16 division at the age of just 13. 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 on her birthday on the 19 April, 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 was not until the grass season that she began to fulfill her promise, beating a top-20 player for the first time and reaching her first 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.

By the end of September, Sharapova had already captured her first WTA title at a smaller event, the Japan Open Tennis Championships, before winning her second in her final tournament of the season, the Bell Challenge. To cap off her first full season as a professional, she was awarded the WTA Newcomer of the Year honor.

2004

Sharapova was defeated in the third round of the Australian Open by seventh seed Anastasia Myskina. The highlight of the remainder of her spring hard-court season was a run to the semifinals at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup, where she ultimately lost to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva.

During the spring clay-court season, Sharapova entered the top 20 on the WTA world rankings as a result of reaching the third round of the Qatar Telecom German Open and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, both of which were Tier I events. At the latter event, she defeated a player ranked in the top 10 for the first time with a straight-sets win over world no. 10 and 2004 French Open finalist Elena Dementieva. Later that clay-court season, she went on to make the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the French Open, losing there to Paola Suárez.

Sharapova won the third title of her career at the Wimbledon warm-up DFS Classic, defeating Tatiana Golovin in the final. Seeded 13th and aged 17 at Wimbledon, she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal by defeating Ai Sugiyama. There, she came back from a 6–2, 3–1 deficit to defeat fifth seed and former champion Lindsay Davenport. In the final, Sharapova upset top seed and defending champion Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam singles title, and become the third youngest woman to win the Wimbledon title, behind only Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis. Sharapova also became the second Russian woman (after Anastasia Myskina had won the year's previous major at Roland Garros) to win a Grand Slam singles title. The victory was hailed by the media as "the most stunning upset in memory", with other writers commenting on her arrival as a serious challenger to the Williams' dominance at Wimbledon. She entered the top 10 in the rankings for the first time as a result of the win.

Following her Wimbledon win, attention and interest in Sharapova in the media greatly increased, a rise in popularity dubbed as "Maria Mania." 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.

2005

Sharapova started the year at the Australian Open, where she defeated fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the second Grand Slam semifinal of her career. Sharapova held match points in the third set of her semifinal match, before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams. In February, Sharapova won back-to-back tournaments, the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the Qatar Total Open, allowing her to reach the top 3 in the world rankings for the first time.

In the semifinals of the Tier I Pacific Life Open, Sharapova was defeated by Lindsay Davenport, 0–6, 0–6, the first time she had failed to win a game in a match. 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 made the semifinals of a clay-court tournament for the first time at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she lost to Patty Schnyder. Sharapova would have become world no. 1 for the first time had she won the tournament. Sharapova then reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the second consecutive year, before losing to eventual champion Henin. On grass, Sharapova won her third title of the year when she successfully defended her title at the DFS Classic, defeating Jelena Janković in the final. As the defending champion at Wimbledon, Sharapova reached the semifinals without dropping a set and losing a service game just once, extending her winning streak on grass to 24 matches. However, she was then beaten by eventual champion Venus Williams.

A back injury sustained by world no. 1 Davenport at Wimbledon prevented her from playing tournaments during the summer hard-court season, which meant she could not earn new ranking points to replace those that were expiring from the previous year. Sharapova, although also injured for much of this time, had far fewer points to defend, and so she became the first Russian woman to hold the world no. 1 ranking on August 22, 2005. Her reign lasted only one week, however, as Davenport reclaimed the top ranking after winning the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament.

As the top seed at the US Open, Sharapova lost in the semifinals to Kim Clijsters, meaning she had lost to the eventual champion in every Grand Slam of the season. However, she once again leapfrogged Davenport to take the world no. 1 ranking on September 12, 2005. She retained it for six weeks, but after playing few tournaments while injured, she again relinquished the ranking to Davenport. To conclude the year, Sharapova failed to defend her title at the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Los Angeles, defeating Davenport in one of her round-robin matches, but ultimately losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Amélie Mauresmo.

2006

Sharapova started 2006 by losing in the semifinals of the Australian Open in three sets to Henin, 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. Sharapova claimed her first title in nine months at the Tier I tournament in Indian Wells, defeating Hingis in the semifinals and Elena Dementieva in the final. The following fortnight, she reached the final in Miami before losing to Kuznetsova.

Missing the entire clay-court season with injury, Sharapova returned for the French Open. There, after saving match points in defeating Mashona Washington in the first round, she was eliminated by Dinara Safina in the fourth round.

On grass, Sharapova was unsuccessful in her attempt to win in Birmingham for the third consecutive year, losing in the semifinals to Jamea Jackson. Despite that, she was among the title favorites at Wimbledon, where the eventual champion Mauresmo ended up beating her in the semifinals.

Sharapova claimed her second title of the year at the Tier I Acura Classic, defeating Clijsters for the first time in the final. As the third seed at the US Open, Sharapova defeated top seed Mauresmo for the first time in the semifinals, and then followed up by beating second seed Justine Henin in order to win her second Grand Slam singles title.

That autumn, Sharapova won titles in back-to-back weeks at the Zurich Open and the Generali Ladies Linz. By winning all three of her round-robin matches at the WTA Tour Championships, she extended her win streak to 19 matches, before it was snapped in the semifinals by eventual champion Henin. Sharapova would have finished the season as world no. 1 had she won the event. As it was, she finished ranked world no. 2, her best year-end finish yet.

2007

Sharapova was the top seed at the Australian Open due to top-ranked Justine Henin's withdrawal. After being two points away from defeat in the first round against Camille Pin, rallying for a 6–3, 4–6, 9–7 victory, she went on to reach the final of the tournament for the first time, but was routed there by Serena Williams, 1–6, 2–6, ranked world no. 81 at the time. After reaching the final, Sharapova recaptured the world no. 1 ranking. She held it for seven weeks, surrendering it back to Henin after failing to defend her title at the Pacific Life Open, instead losing in the fourth round to Vera Zvonareva after struggling with a hamstring injury. The following fortnight, she defeated Venus Williams in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open, before suffering another defeat, 1–6, 1–6, to Serena Williams.

A shoulder injury forced Sharapova to miss most of the clay-court season for the second consecutive year, resulting in her only tune-up for the French Open being the Istanbul Cup, where she lost in the semifinals to Aravane Rezaï. Despite her lack of preparation, she reached the semifinals of the French Open for the first time in her career (having saved match points against Patty Schnyder in the fourth round), before losing to Ana Ivanović.

On grass, Sharapova was runner-up to Jelena Janković at the DFS Classic. Following that, she experienced her earliest Wimbledon loss since 2003 by losing in the fourth round to eventual champion Venus Williams.

Sharapova clinched the US Open Series by defending her title at the Acura Classic, her only championship of the year, and reaching the semifinals in Los Angeles. In her US Open title defense, Sharapova was upset in her third round match to 30th seed Agnieszka Radwańska, making it her earliest exit at a Grand Slam singles tournament since the 2004 US Open, where she lost in the same round.

Following the US Open loss, Sharapova did not play again until the Kremlin Cup in October, where she lost her opening match to Victoria Azarenka. Shortly after this, she fell out of the top 5 in the world rankings for the first time since 2004. She qualified for the eight-woman year-end Sony Ericsson Championships due to a withdrawal by Venus Williams before the start of the tournament. Despite having not previously won a match in two months, Sharapova topped her round-robin group at the tournament, after winning all three of her matches, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanović, and Daniela Hantuchová. She then defeated Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinals. In the final, she lost to world no. 1 Henin in a match that lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes. Sharapova reached the top five again to end the year.

2008

Sharapova was seeded fifth at the Australian Open, 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. This run encompassed two wins in singles rubbers when making her debut for Russia in the Fed Cup against Israel and victory at the Tier I Qatar Total Open. Her winning streak was ended in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open by Kuznetsova. In April, Sharapova won the Bausch & Lomb Championships, having survived her longest-ever match, at 3 hours and 26 minutes long, in the third round against Anabel Medina Garrigues. 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 Sharapova was within two points of being knocked out by Evgeniya Rodina in the first round, before eventually winning. As a result of losing to eventual finalist Dinara Safina in the fourth round, she relinquished her no. 1 ranking. Her dip in form continued at Wimbledon, where she lost in the second round to world no. 154 Alla Kudryavtseva. This was her earliest loss ever at Wimbledon, and at any Grand Slam in almost five years.

Sharapova withdrew from the Rogers Cup tournament in August due to a shoulder injury. An MRI scan 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 finished the year ranked world no. 9. In October, after a failed attempt to rehabilitate the shoulder, Sharapova had surgery to repair the tear.

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, losing to finalist 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, Sharapova played 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 three 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. At the 2009 US Open, Sharapova was seeded 29th. She entered her way into the third round defeating Tsvetana Pironkova and Christina McHale all in straight sets. She was stunned in the third round by American teenager Melanie Oudin 3–6, 6–4, 7–5. It was the first time in Sharapova's career that she lost to a teenager at a Grand Slam event. The devastating loss made Sharapova's ranking go down to no. 32.

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 capitalize on it, losing to Peng Shuai in the third round. She ultimately finished the season at world no. 14, having improved from no. 126 when she starting her comeback from injury.

2010

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 against Maria Kirilenko. The loss meant that for the first time since 2003, Sharapova had lost her opening match at a Grand Slam event. She then rebounded by winning a smaller American event, the Cellular South Cup, her 21st career WTA title and first of the year.

At the BNP Paribas Open, Sharapova lost in the third round 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 to Lucie Šafářová. She continued her French Open preparation at the Internationaux de Strasbourg as a wildcard, advancing to the final, where she beat Kristina Barrois. This was her first title on red clay and 22nd overall title. At the French Open, Sharapova's brief clay season culminated with a third-round loss to four-time champion Justine Henin.

Sharapova began her preparations for Wimbledon at the AEGON Classic. She advanced to the final for the fourth time, where she lost to Li Na. As the 16th seed at Wimbledon, Sharapova lost in the fourth round to world no. 1 and eventual champion Serena Williams, 6–7, 4–6, 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 that stating she felt that she was "in a much better spot than I was last year."

During the US Open Series, Sharapova made two straight finals, losing to Victoria Azarenka at the Bank of the West Classic, and to Kim Clijsters at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open. In the latter match, Sharapova held three match points while leading 5–3 on Clijsters's serve late in the second set, but could not convert them.

At the U.S. Open, Sharapova was the 14th seed. She made it to the fourth round, where she played top seed and 2009 finalist Caroline Wozniacki and lost, 3–6, 4–6.

Sharapova's 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 former world no. 4 Kimiko Date-Krumm.  Her last tournament of the year was the China Open, where she lost in the second round to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina.  Days later, she announced the end of her 2010 season.  She ended the year at number 18 in the world.

2011

It was announced that Sharapova would bring in Thomas Hogstedt as a coach for the 2011 season, joining Michael Joyce. On December 5, Sharapova played an exhibition match against world no. 2 Vera Zvonareva in Monterrey, Mexico. She won the match 6–1, 7–5. It was also announced that Maria would start endorsing the Head YOUTEK IG Instinct Racquet range. This ended her career long use of Prince racquets.

In Sharapova's first ever official Australian Open warm-up tournament at the 2011 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, she was seeded 1st. She lost to the Hungarian veteran and eventual champion Gréta Arn 2–6, 5–7 in the quarterfinals. 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 seed, but lost to Andrea Petkovic, 2–6, 3–6 in the fourth round.

Sharapova's next appearance was at the 2011 Fed Cup tie against France, which she lost to Virginie Razzano, 3–6, 4–6. She then withdrew from the 2011 Open GDF Suez in Paris because of viral illness. She also had to pull out of the 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 2011 BNP Paribas Open, where she was seeded 16th. She defeated former world No. 1 Dinara Safina, 6–2, 6–0, in the fourth round en route to the final, where she lost to world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, 1–6, 2–6. With this result, Sharapova returned to the top 10 for the first time since February 2009.

At the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Sharapova upset fourth seed Samantha Stosur in the fourth round. She then defeated 26th seed Alexandra Dulgheru 3–6, 7–6⁶, 7–6⁵ in the quarterfinals in a match that lasted 3 hours and 28 minutes, the longest match of her career. In the semifinals, Sharapova took her Australian Open reprisal on Germany's Andrea Petkovic by defeating her 3–6, 6–0, 6–2. In the final, she was defeated by Victoria Azarenka, 1–6, 4–6, despite a late comeback in the second set.

During the clay-court season, Sharapova participated in 2011 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she lost to Dominika Cibulková 5–7, 4–6, in the third round and the 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she was seeded seventh. She defeated top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals and sixth seed Samantha Stosur, 6–2, 6–4, in the final to take home the title, marking her biggest clay-court victory to date.

At the 2011 French Open, Sharapova was seeded seventh. She defeated French wildcard Caroline Garcia in the second round, despite trailing 3–6, 1–4, before winning the last 11 games of the match. In the quarterfinals, she defeated 15th seed Andrea Petkovic, 6–0, 6–3, marking her first Grand Slam semifinal since her comeback from the career-threatening shoulder injury. She then lost to sixth seed and eventual champion Li Na, 4–6, 5–7, in the semifinals, ending her clay season with a win-loss record of 12–2. This marks her most successful clay season to date.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Sharapova had not dropped a set entering the final, before losing to eighth seed Petra Kvitová in straight sets, 3–6, 4–6. This marked her first final in over three years at a Grand Slam event.

Sharapova started her summer hard court season at the 2011 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, USA. In a highly anticipated match, Sharapova lost to the eventual champion Serena Williams 1–6, 3–6, in the quarterfinals. In her next event at 2011 Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, Sharapova lost to Galina Voskoboeva in the third round, marking her 100th career loss.

Sharapova then contested at the 2011 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio. As the fourth seed, she received a bye into the second round. On the way to her fourth final of the year, she beat Anastasia Rodionova, 6–1, 6–3, 14th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–2, 6–3, 10th seed Samantha Stosur, 6–3, 6–2, and 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva 2–6, 6–3, 6–3. In the final, she defeated fellow former world no. 1 Jelena Jankovic, 4–6, 7–6, 6–3, in 2 hours and 49 minutes, making it the longest WTA tour final of the year. She subsequently moved up to world no. 4, her highest ranking since August 2008 and the highest since her comeback from her shoulder injury.

Sharapova entered the US Open in fine form, where she was seeded third. She beat British up-and-comer Heather Watson, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3, and Anastasiya Yakimova, 6–1, 6–1, to reach the third round. She was then upset by Flavia Pennetta, 3–6, 6–3, 4–6. However, because of the fall of Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva in the rankings, Sharapova climbed to world no. 2.

Sharapova's next tournament was the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan. As second seed, she received a bye into the second round, where she beat Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6–2, 7–5. She then beat 13th seed Julia Goerges 7–6, 7–6, before retiring against Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinal, 3–4, after slipping on the baseline, suffering an ankle injury. This also forced her to withdraw from the 2011 China Open the following week. Sharapova then flew to Istanbul to prepare for the 2011 WTA Tour Championships, her first time qualifying since 2007. During the WTA Tour Championships, Sharapova withdrew during the round-robin stage after defeats against Samantha Stosur, 1–6, 5–7, and Li Na, 6–7, 4–6, due to the ankle injury she had suffered in Tokyo.

Sharapova ended the year as number 4 in the world, her first top-10 finish since 2008 and first top-5 finish since 2007.

2012

Sharapova withdrew from the 2012 Brisbane International because of her ongoing ankle injury. Her first tournament of the season was the 2012 Australian Open, where she was seeded fourth. Sharapova advanced to the fourth round conceding just five games, defeating Gisela Dulko, Jamie Hampton and the 30th seed Angelique Kerber en route. In the fourth round, Sharapova defeated the fourteenth seed, Sabine Lisicki in three sets, 3–6, 6–2, 6–3 to reach her first hardcourt Grand Slam quarterfinal in 4 years. She then defeated compatriot, Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets, 6–2, 6–3 to reach the semifinals. There she defeated the world no. 2 Petra Kvitová, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 to reach her third Australian Open final, and her sixth grand slam singles final overall. She lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final 3–6, 0–6. As a result her ranking improved to world no. 3.

In February, Sharapova aided Russia to a 3–2 victory over Spain during the 2012 Fed Cup quarterfinal with a 6–2, 6–1 win over Silvia Soler-Espinosa. She then played in Paris, where she lost in the quarterfinal to eventual champion Angelique Kerber 4–6, 4–6. As a result her ranking improved to World No. 2. At Indian Wells, Sharapova faced Gisela Dulko in the first round and won 6–2, 6–0. Sharapova defeated Simona Halep and Roberta Vinci en route to reaching the quarterfinals. After battling for over 3 hours, she defeated compatriot Maria Kirilenko 3–6 7–5 6–2, to set up a semifinal meeting with Ana Ivanovic. Sharapova won the first set 6–4 and advanced to the final after Ivanovic retired due to a hip injury. In the final she played world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka in a rematch of the Australian Open final, but lost again 2–6, 3–6.

Sharapova's next tournament was the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was seeded 2nd. She received a bye to the second round where she faced Shahar Peer and won in three sets 4–6, 6–3, 6–3. Her next opponent was Sloane Stephens. Sharapova won in straight sets 6–4, 6–2. In the fourth round she won in straight sets, 6–4, 7–6 against countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova and advanced to the quarterfinals where she faced Li Na, whom she beat 6–3, 6–0. Her semifinal opponent was fellow former world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. After an inconsistent first set, Sharapova won the match 4–6, 6–2, 6–4. In the final, Maria lost in straight sets to 5th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 7–5, 6–4. This was her third loss of the year in finals out of four tournaments played so far. Sharapova's next tournament was the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where she was seeded second. She had a bye in the first round, and advanced to the third round after Alize Cornet retired in the second set. In the quarterfinal, she defeated No. 5 Samantha Stosur 6–7⁵, 7–6⁵, 7–5 after saving a match point in the second set, and advanced to the final with a 6–4, 7–6³ win over No. 3 Petra Kvitova. She won her first title of the year in Stuttgart after defeating world number one Victoria Azarenka 6–1, 6–4. In doing so, Sharapova defeated three current Grand Slam title holders to win the tournament. It was also her first win against Azarenka in five finals, and the third of such this season.

Fed Cup participation

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. She 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. She won both her singles rubbers, against Tzipora Obziler and Shahar Pe'er, helping Russia to a 4–1 victory. 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.

In the 2011 first round tie, Maria played Virginie Razzano of France and lost. Maria was supposed to play Alize Cornet, but Sharapova was suffering from a viral illness. So teammate, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova played instead of Sharapova where she would go to help Russia come back from their 0–2 deficit by beating Alize Cornet 3–6 6–3 6–2 and secure the win for Russia against France 3–2.

Playing style

Sharapova is an aggressive baseliner, with power, depth, and angles on her forehand and backhand. 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. At the beginning of 2008, some observers noted that Sharapova had developed her game, showing improved movement and footwork and the addition of a drop shot and sliced backhand to her repertoire of shots. 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". Hall-of-famer John McEnroe said of Sharapova, "she's one of the best competitors in the history of the sport." 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

Early in her career Sharapova's first and second serves were regarded as powerful, and she was believed to possess one of the best deliveries on the Tour. Since the beginning of 2007, however, problems with her shoulder have reduced the effectiveness of her serve. The shoulder injury not only resulted in her inconsistent first serves, but also her hitting high numbers 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."

In her return from layoff in 2008 to 2009, she used an abbreviated motion, which was somewhat less powerful, and though producing aces also gave a very high number of double faults. After her early loss at the 2009 US Open, Sharapova returned to a more elongated motion, similar to her pre-surgery serve. She has since been able to produce speeds greater than before, including a 121 mph serve hit at the Birmingham tournament in 2010 – the fastest serve of her career.

However since her shoulder operation Sharapova has been unable to control her serve. This has led to numerous faults, as she can't feel how much power she is generating. The new action led to an elbow injury, but under Thomas Hogstedt it has improved but can still be erratic.

Surfaces

Because she predicates her game on power, Sharapova's preferred surfaces are the fast-playing hard and grass courts, as evident through her 24 victories on hard court and grass court. This is most notable when she won the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 U.S. Open 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.

Personal life

Sharapova has lived in the United States since moving there at the age of seven. She has a residence in Manhattan Beach, California and in Netanya, Israel. Sharapova is engaged to Slovenian professional basketball player Sasha Vujačić, who plays for the Anadolu Efes S.K. in Istanbul, Turkey. The two have been dating since 2009. In 2011, Sharapova was named in Forbes Celebrity 100. This lists her as one of the top 100 most powerful celebrities of the year. Sharapova has made varying remarks on how long she intends to maintain her tennis career. Following the retirement of 25-year-old Justine Henin in 2008, 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. However in an interview before her 2012 Australian Open semifinal, Sharapova changed her stance, claiming she intended to continue playing tennis for as long as she enjoyed playing the game. Sharapova stated "I'm sure when I was 17 years old and someone said, you'll be playing for another eight years, it would be like, you're not going to see me at a press conference at 25 years old. But years go on. I missed a year in my career—I didn't play that year. I've said this, just before the tournament, a few weeks before, I woke up and I was just so happy to be going back on the court. I felt so fresh, full of energy, just with a really good perspective. Times change, obviously. I see myself playing this sport for many more years because it's something that gives me the most pleasure in my life. I think it helps when you know you're good at something, and you can always improve it. It obviously helps with the encouragement."

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. On February 14, 2007, Sharapova was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and donated US$210,000 to UNDP Chernobyl-recovery projects. She stated at the time that she was planning to travel back to the area after Wimbledon in 2008, 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. Sharapova has helped to promote the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. In addition, with Angela Haynes, Maria Kirilenko, Nicole Vaidišová, Rennae Stubbs, Governor Jeb Bush and Jennifer Capriati, Sharapova participated in an exhibition in Tampa in December 2004, raising money for the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund. 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.

Endorsements

Sharapova's tennis success and appearance have enabled her to secure commercial endorsements that greatly exceed the value of her tournament winnings. 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 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."

Immediately after her win at the 2004 Wimbledon Championship, mobile phone company Motorola signed Sharapova to endorse their mobile phone line. Additionally, she appeared in commercials for Land Rover and Canon, as well as approved of namesake items by watch brand Tag Heuer and jeweller Tiffany. Tiffany also provides Sharapova with earrings from the "Tiffany for Maria Sharapova" collection at the four major events, that are also retailed globally. She also starred in an award winning campaign for the sports clothing brand Nike, "Pretty", in the summer of 2006. She signed a sponsorship deal in January 2007 with Gatorade and Tropicana. 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. Some of the titles include the ''Top Spin series'', ''Virtua Tennis'' series, and ''Grand Slam Tennis'' series. During the layoff due to her shoulder surgery, sensing the fleeting nature of a professional athlete's career, Sharapova decided to focus on developing her name as a brand, beginning with meeting with her sponsors more extensively to further her brand. 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.

Following in the footsteps of tennis players who started clothing lines such as Fred Perry and René Lacoste, Sharapova launched her own tennis apparel line, the "Nike Maria Sharapova Collection", in 2010. The collection includes dresses that she designed for all the major tournaments, in collaboration with Nike and Cole Haan. She had previously found that the outfits given to her by Nike did not suit her frame and were worn by too many other players. She comes up with design ideas and sketches in a process that begins 18 months before the event and receives royalties from the sale of the collection, of which the corresponding dresses are coordinated to be available simultaneously with the corresponding major tournament. The collection is worn by other WTA players, including Sofia Arvidsson, Kai-Chen Chang, Andrea Hlavackova, Madison Keys, Anastasia Pivovarova as well as junior players such as Indy De Vroome. Sharapova had earlier collaborated with Nike on the "little black dress" that she wore for her night matches at the 2006 US Open. The dress featured a round crystal studded collar and was inspired by Audrey Hepburn The dress was well publicized and received but was not mass produced. Additionally, she designs shoes and handbags for Cole Haan, for which her signature ballerina flats are one of the biggest sellers of the entire brand.

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. She switched to the Prince O3 Speedport Black in July 2008. After being with Prince for ten years, Sharapova began endorsing Head racquets in 2011 and uses the Head YOUTEK IG Instinct.

Career statistics and awards

Grand Slam Finals

Singles: 6 (3–3)

{|class="sortable wikitable" !Outcome !Year !width=200|Championship !Surface !width=200|Opponent !width=125|Score |-bgcolor=#CCFFCC |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2004||Wimbledon||Grass|| Serena Williams||6–1, 6–4 |-bgcolor=#ccccff |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2006||US Open||Hard|| Justine Henin||6–4, 6–4 |-bgcolor=#ffffcc |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2007||Australian Open||Hard|| Serena Williams||1–6, 2–6 |-bgcolor=#ffffcc |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2008||Australian Open||Hard|| Ana Ivanović||7–5, 6–3 |-bgcolor=#CCFFCC |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2011||Wimbledon||Grass|| Petra Kvitová||3–6, 4–6 |-bgcolor=#ffffcc |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2012||Australian Open||Hard|| Victoria Azarenka||3–6, 0–6 |}

Single's timeline

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center !Tournament!!2001!!2002!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!SR!!W–L!!Win % |- |colspan=16 align=left|'''Grand Slam Tournaments |- |align=left|Australian Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=thistle|F |bgcolor=lime|'''W |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=thistle|F |1 / 8 |34–8 |81% |- |align=left|French Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF | |0 / 9 |30–9 |77% |- |align=left|Wimbledon |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=thistle|F | |1 / 9 |34–8 |81% |- |align=left|US Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R | |1 / 8 |24–7 |77% |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !0–0 !0–0 !4–4 !15–3 !19–4 !20–3 !16–4 !11–2 !7–3 !8–4 !16–4 !6–1 !3 / 34 !122–32 !79% |- |}

Awards

;2003 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Newcomer of the Year ;2004 WTA Player of the Year WTA Most Improved Player of the Year ;2005 ESPY Best Female Tennis Player

Named the country's best female player for the year by Russia's tennis federation

Master of Sports of Russia

Prix de Citron Roland Garros ;2006

Named the country's best female player for the year by Russia's tennis federation

Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year ;2007 ESPY Best Female Tennis Player ESPY Best International Female Athlete

ESPN Hottest Female Athlete

;2008

Named the January 2008 female Athlete of the Month by the United States Sports Academy for her performance at the Australian Open

ESPY Best Female Tennis Player ;2010 WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player WTA Humanitarian Of The Year WTA Most Fashionable Player (On Court) WTA Most Fashionable Player (Off Court) WTA Most Dramatic Expression (2010)

References

External links

{{navboxes|title=Maria Sharapova in the Grand Slam Tournaments |list1= }} {{navboxes|title=Maria Sharapova career statistics |list1= }}

Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:Australian Open champions Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Russia Category:Expatriate sportspeople in the United States Category:People from Bradenton, Florida Category:People from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Category:Russian expatriates in the United States Category:Russian female models Category:Russian female tennis players Category:Russian people of Belarusian descent Category:US Open (tennis) champions Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players

af:Maria Sharapova ar:ماريا شارابوفا an:Mariya Xarápova az:Mariya Şarapova bn:মারিয়া শারাপোভা zh-min-nan:Maria Sharapova be:Марыя Юр'еўна Шарапава bg:Мария Шарапова bs:Marija Šarapova ca:Maria Xaràpova cv:Мария Шарапова cs:Maria Šarapovová cy:Maria Sharapova da:Marija Sjarapova de:Marija Jurjewna Scharapowa et:Marija Šarapova el:Μαρία Σαράποβα es:María Sharápova eo:Marija Ŝarapova eu:Maria Xarapova fa:ماریا شاراپووا fr:Maria Sharapova gv:Maria Sharapova ko:마리아 샤라포바 hy:Մարիա Շարապովա hi:मारिया शरापोवा hr:Marija Šarapova id:Maria Sharapova it:Marija Šarapova he:מריה שראפובה jv:Maria Sharapova ka:მარია შარაპოვა la:Maria Šarapova lv:Marija Šarapova lt:Marija Šarapova hu:Marija Jurjevna Sarapova mk:Марија Шарапова mr:मारिया शारापोव्हा arz:ماريا شارابوفا ms:Maria Sharapova my:မာရီယာ ရှာရာပိုဗာ nl:Maria Sjarapova ne:मारिया सारापोभा ja:マリア・シャラポワ no:Marija Sjarapova pnb:ماریا شاراپووا pl:Maria Szarapowa pt:Maria Sharapova ro:Maria Șarapova rm:Maria Jurjewna Scharapowa ru:Шарапова, Мария Юрьевна simple:Maria Sharapova sk:Marija Jurievna Šarapovová sl:Marija Šarapova sr:Марија Шарапова sh:Marija Šarapova fi:Marija Šarapova sv:Marija Sjarapova tl:Maria Sharapova ta:மரியா ஷரபோவா th:มาเรีย ชาราโปวา tr:Mariya Şarapova uk:Шарапова Марія Юріївна vi:Maria Yuryevna Sharapova wuu:玛丽亚·莎拉波娃 zh:玛丽亚·莎拉波娃

Name	Maria Sharapova
Nickname	Masha(diminutive)
Country
Residence	Bradenton, Florida, United States
Birth date	April 19, 1987
Birth place	Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	April 19, 2001
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	$18,841,677
Singlesrecord	434–108
Singlestitles	25 WTA, 4 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (August 30, 2005)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 2 (April 23, 2012)
Australianopenresult	W (2008)
Frenchopenresult	SF (2007, 2011)
Wimbledonresult	W (2004)
Usopenresult	W (2006)
Othertournaments	Yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	W (2004)
Doublesrecord	23–17
Doublestitles	3 WTA
Highestdoublesranking	41 (January 30, 2012)
Australianopendoublesresult	2R (2003, 2004)
Usopendoublesresult	2R (2003)
Updated	April 23, 2012 }}

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , , ; born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player and former world no. 1. A United States resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 25 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open. She has also won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in 2004. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked Sharapova world no. 1 in singles on four separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005, and last regained the ranking for the fourth time on May 19, 2008. As of April 30, 2012, Sharapova is ranked world no. 2. She has been in six Grand Slam finals with the final record 3–3.

Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 at age 17, when she defeated 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 10 of the WTA Rankings with the win. Despite not winning a major in 2005, Sharapova briefly held the no. 1 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 won her third Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Henin in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanović in the final. After reclaiming the no. 1 ranking in May 2008, Sharapova's shoulder problems re-surfaced, requiring surgery in October and forcing her out of the game for 10 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 six singles titles (bringing her career total to 25) and improved her ranking to no. 2 in the world.

Sharapova has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in ''''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue''. She has been featured in many advertisements, including 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 2005 and 2008. Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by ''Time''.

Early life

Maria Sharapova's parents, Yuri and Elena, are from Gomel, Belarus. Concerned about the regional effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, they left their homeland shortly before Sharapova was born. When Sharapova was two, the family moved to Sochi. There her father befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to win two Grand Slam singles titles and became Russia's first no. 1 world-ranked tennis player. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racket at the age of four, whereupon she began practicing regularly with her father at a local park. She 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."

At the age of seven, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navratilova, 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. With money tight, Yuri was forced to borrow the sum that would allow him and his daughter, neither of whom could speak English, to travel to United States, which they finally did in 1994. Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years. Arriving in Florida with savings of US$700, Sharapova's father took various low-paying jobs, including dish-washing, to fund her lessons until she was old enough to be admitted to the academy. In 1995, 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.

Tennis career

2001–03

Sharapova first gained attention on the tennis scene in November 2000, when she won the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in the girls' 16 division at the age of just 13. 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 on her birthday on the 19 April, 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 was not until the grass season that she began to fulfill her promise, beating a top-20 player for the first time and reaching her first 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.

By the end of September, Sharapova had already captured her first WTA title at a smaller event, the Japan Open Tennis Championships, before winning her second in her final tournament of the season, the Bell Challenge. To cap off her first full season as a professional, she was awarded the WTA Newcomer of the Year honor.

2004

Sharapova was defeated in the third round of the Australian Open by seventh seed Anastasia Myskina. The highlight of the remainder of her spring hard-court season was a run to the semifinals at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup, where she ultimately lost to eventual champion Vera Zvonareva.

During the spring clay-court season, Sharapova entered the top 20 on the WTA world rankings as a result of reaching the third round of the Qatar Telecom German Open and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, both of which were Tier I events. At the latter event, she defeated a player ranked in the top 10 for the first time with a straight-sets win over world no. 10 and 2004 French Open finalist Elena Dementieva. Later that clay-court season, she went on to make the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the French Open, losing there to Paola Suárez.

Sharapova won the third title of her career at the Wimbledon warm-up DFS Classic, defeating Tatiana Golovin in the final. Seeded 13th and aged 17 at Wimbledon, she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal by defeating Ai Sugiyama. There, she came back from a 6–2, 3–1 deficit to defeat fifth seed and former champion Lindsay Davenport. In the final, Sharapova upset top seed and defending champion Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam singles title, and become the third youngest woman to win the Wimbledon title, behind only Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis. Sharapova also became the second Russian woman (after Anastasia Myskina had won the year's previous major at Roland Garros) to win a Grand Slam singles title. The victory was hailed by the media as "the most stunning upset in memory", with other writers commenting on her arrival as a serious challenger to the Williams' dominance at Wimbledon. She entered the top 10 in the rankings for the first time as a result of the win.

Following her Wimbledon win, attention and interest in Sharapova in the media greatly increased, a rise in popularity dubbed as "Maria Mania." 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.

2005

Sharapova started the year at the Australian Open, where she defeated fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the second Grand Slam semifinal of her career. Sharapova held match points in the third set of her semifinal match, before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams. In February, Sharapova won back-to-back tournaments, the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the Qatar Total Open, allowing her to reach the top 3 in the world rankings for the first time.

In the semifinals of the Tier I Pacific Life Open, Sharapova was defeated by Lindsay Davenport, 0–6, 0–6, the first time she had failed to win a game in a match. 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 made the semifinals of a clay-court tournament for the first time at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she lost to Patty Schnyder. Sharapova would have become world no. 1 for the first time had she won the tournament. Sharapova then reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the second consecutive year, before losing to eventual champion Henin. On grass, Sharapova won her third title of the year when she successfully defended her title at the DFS Classic, defeating Jelena Janković in the final. As the defending champion at Wimbledon, Sharapova reached the semifinals without dropping a set and losing a service game just once, extending her winning streak on grass to 24 matches. However, she was then beaten by eventual champion Venus Williams.

A back injury sustained by world no. 1 Davenport at Wimbledon prevented her from playing tournaments during the summer hard-court season, which meant she could not earn new ranking points to replace those that were expiring from the previous year. Sharapova, although also injured for much of this time, had far fewer points to defend, and so she became the first Russian woman to hold the world no. 1 ranking on August 22, 2005. Her reign lasted only one week, however, as Davenport reclaimed the top ranking after winning the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament.

As the top seed at the US Open, Sharapova lost in the semifinals to Kim Clijsters, meaning she had lost to the eventual champion in every Grand Slam of the season. However, she once again leapfrogged Davenport to take the world no. 1 ranking on September 12, 2005. She retained it for six weeks, but after playing few tournaments while injured, she again relinquished the ranking to Davenport. To conclude the year, Sharapova failed to defend her title at the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Los Angeles, defeating Davenport in one of her round-robin matches, but ultimately losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Amélie Mauresmo.

2006

Sharapova started 2006 by losing in the semifinals of the Australian Open in three sets to Henin, 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. Sharapova claimed her first title in nine months at the Tier I tournament in Indian Wells, defeating Hingis in the semifinals and Elena Dementieva in the final. The following fortnight, she reached the final in Miami before losing to Kuznetsova.

Missing the entire clay-court season with injury, Sharapova returned for the French Open. There, after saving match points in defeating Mashona Washington in the first round, she was eliminated by Dinara Safina in the fourth round.

On grass, Sharapova was unsuccessful in her attempt to win in Birmingham for the third consecutive year, losing in the semifinals to Jamea Jackson. Despite that, she was among the title favorites at Wimbledon, where the eventual champion Mauresmo ended up beating her in the semifinals.

Sharapova claimed her second title of the year at the Tier I Acura Classic, defeating Clijsters for the first time in the final. As the third seed at the US Open, Sharapova defeated top seed Mauresmo for the first time in the semifinals, and then followed up by beating second seed Justine Henin in order to win her second Grand Slam singles title.

That autumn, Sharapova won titles in back-to-back weeks at the Zurich Open and the Generali Ladies Linz. By winning all three of her round-robin matches at the WTA Tour Championships, she extended her win streak to 19 matches, before it was snapped in the semifinals by eventual champion Henin. Sharapova would have finished the season as world no. 1 had she won the event. As it was, she finished ranked world no. 2, her best year-end finish yet.

2007

Sharapova was the top seed at the Australian Open due to top-ranked Justine Henin's withdrawal. After being two points away from defeat in the first round against Camille Pin, rallying for a 6–3, 4–6, 9–7 victory, she went on to reach the final of the tournament for the first time, but was routed there by Serena Williams, 1–6, 2–6, ranked world no. 81 at the time. After reaching the final, Sharapova recaptured the world no. 1 ranking. She held it for seven weeks, surrendering it back to Henin after failing to defend her title at the Pacific Life Open, instead losing in the fourth round to Vera Zvonareva after struggling with a hamstring injury. The following fortnight, she defeated Venus Williams in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open, before suffering another defeat, 1–6, 1–6, to Serena Williams.

A shoulder injury forced Sharapova to miss most of the clay-court season for the second consecutive year, resulting in her only tune-up for the French Open being the Istanbul Cup, where she lost in the semifinals to Aravane Rezaï. Despite her lack of preparation, she reached the semifinals of the French Open for the first time in her career (having saved match points against Patty Schnyder in the fourth round), before losing to Ana Ivanović.

On grass, Sharapova was runner-up to Jelena Janković at the DFS Classic. Following that, she experienced her earliest Wimbledon loss since 2003 by losing in the fourth round to eventual champion Venus Williams.

Sharapova clinched the US Open Series by defending her title at the Acura Classic, her only championship of the year, and reaching the semifinals in Los Angeles. In her US Open title defense, Sharapova was upset in her third round match to 30th seed Agnieszka Radwańska, making it her earliest exit at a Grand Slam singles tournament since the 2004 US Open, where she lost in the same round.

Following the US Open loss, Sharapova did not play again until the Kremlin Cup in October, where she lost her opening match to Victoria Azarenka. Shortly after this, she fell out of the top 5 in the world rankings for the first time since 2004. She qualified for the eight-woman year-end Sony Ericsson Championships due to a withdrawal by Venus Williams before the start of the tournament. Despite having not previously won a match in two months, Sharapova topped her round-robin group at the tournament, after winning all three of her matches, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanović, and Daniela Hantuchová. She then defeated Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinals. In the final, she lost to world no. 1 Henin in a match that lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes. Sharapova reached the top five again to end the year.

2008

Sharapova was seeded fifth at the Australian Open, 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. This run encompassed two wins in singles rubbers when making her debut for Russia in the Fed Cup against Israel and victory at the Tier I Qatar Total Open. Her winning streak was ended in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open by Kuznetsova. In April, Sharapova won the Bausch & Lomb Championships, having survived her longest-ever match, at 3 hours and 26 minutes long, in the third round against Anabel Medina Garrigues. 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 Sharapova was within two points of being knocked out by Evgeniya Rodina in the first round, before eventually winning. As a result of losing to eventual finalist Dinara Safina in the fourth round, she relinquished her no. 1 ranking. Her dip in form continued at Wimbledon, where she lost in the second round to world no. 154 Alla Kudryavtseva. This was her earliest loss ever at Wimbledon, and at any Grand Slam in almost five years.

Sharapova withdrew from the Rogers Cup tournament in August due to a shoulder injury. An MRI scan 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 finished the year ranked world no. 9. In October, after a failed attempt to rehabilitate the shoulder, Sharapova had surgery to repair the tear.

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, losing to finalist 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, Sharapova played 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 three 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. At the 2009 US Open, Sharapova was seeded 29th. She entered her way into the third round defeating Tsvetana Pironkova and Christina McHale all in straight sets. She was stunned in the third round by American teenager Melanie Oudin 3–6, 6–4, 7–5. It was the first time in Sharapova's career that she lost to a teenager at a Grand Slam event. The devastating loss made Sharapova's ranking go down to no. 32.

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 capitalize on it, losing to Peng Shuai in the third round. She ultimately finished the season at world no. 14, having improved from no. 126 when she starting her comeback from injury.

2010

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 against Maria Kirilenko. The loss meant that for the first time since 2003, Sharapova had lost her opening match at a Grand Slam event. She then rebounded by winning a smaller American event, the Cellular South Cup, her 21st career WTA title and first of the year.

At the BNP Paribas Open, Sharapova lost in the third round 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 to Lucie Šafářová. She continued her French Open preparation at the Internationaux de Strasbourg as a wildcard, advancing to the final, where she beat Kristina Barrois. This was her first title on red clay and 22nd overall title. At the French Open, Sharapova's brief clay season culminated with a third-round loss to four-time champion Justine Henin.

Sharapova began her preparations for Wimbledon at the AEGON Classic. She advanced to the final for the fourth time, where she lost to Li Na. As the 16th seed at Wimbledon, Sharapova lost in the fourth round to world no. 1 and eventual champion Serena Williams, 6–7, 4–6, 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 that stating she felt that she was "in a much better spot than I was last year."

During the US Open Series, Sharapova made two straight finals, losing to Victoria Azarenka at the Bank of the West Classic, and to Kim Clijsters at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open. In the latter match, Sharapova held three match points while leading 5–3 on Clijsters's serve late in the second set, but could not convert them.

At the U.S. Open, Sharapova was the 14th seed. She made it to the fourth round, where she played top seed and 2009 finalist Caroline Wozniacki and lost, 3–6, 4–6.

Sharapova's 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 former world no. 4 Kimiko Date-Krumm.  Her last tournament of the year was the China Open, where she lost in the second round to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina.  Days later, she announced the end of her 2010 season.  She ended the year at number 18 in the world.

2011

It was announced that Sharapova would bring in Thomas Hogstedt as a coach for the 2011 season, joining Michael Joyce. On December 5, Sharapova played an exhibition match against world no. 2 Vera Zvonareva in Monterrey, Mexico. She won the match 6–1, 7–5. It was also announced that Maria would start endorsing the Head YOUTEK IG Instinct Racquet range. This ended her career long use of Prince racquets.

In Sharapova's first ever official Australian Open warm-up tournament at the 2011 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, she was seeded 1st. She lost to the Hungarian veteran and eventual champion Gréta Arn 2–6, 5–7 in the quarterfinals. 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 seed, but lost to Andrea Petkovic, 2–6, 3–6 in the fourth round.

Sharapova's next appearance was at the 2011 Fed Cup tie against France, which she lost to Virginie Razzano, 3–6, 4–6. She then withdrew from the 2011 Open GDF Suez in Paris because of viral illness. She also had to pull out of the 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 2011 BNP Paribas Open, where she was seeded 16th. She defeated former world No. 1 Dinara Safina, 6–2, 6–0, in the fourth round en route to the final, where she lost to world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, 1–6, 2–6. With this result, Sharapova returned to the top 10 for the first time since February 2009.

At the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Sharapova upset fourth seed Samantha Stosur in the fourth round. She then defeated 26th seed Alexandra Dulgheru 3–6, 7–6⁶, 7–6⁵ in the quarterfinals in a match that lasted 3 hours and 28 minutes, the longest match of her career. In the semifinals, Sharapova took her Australian Open reprisal on Germany's Andrea Petkovic by defeating her 3–6, 6–0, 6–2. In the final, she was defeated by Victoria Azarenka, 1–6, 4–6, despite a late comeback in the second set.

During the clay-court season, Sharapova participated in 2011 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where she lost to Dominika Cibulková 5–7, 4–6, in the third round and the 2011 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, where she was seeded seventh. She defeated top seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals and sixth seed Samantha Stosur, 6–2, 6–4, in the final to take home the title, marking her biggest clay-court victory to date.

At the 2011 French Open, Sharapova was seeded seventh. She defeated French wildcard Caroline Garcia in the second round, despite trailing 3–6, 1–4, before winning the last 11 games of the match. In the quarterfinals, she defeated 15th seed Andrea Petkovic, 6–0, 6–3, marking her first Grand Slam semifinal since her comeback from the career-threatening shoulder injury. She then lost to sixth seed and eventual champion Li Na, 4–6, 5–7, in the semifinals, ending her clay season with a win-loss record of 12–2. This marks her most successful clay season to date.

At the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, Sharapova had not dropped a set entering the final, before losing to eighth seed Petra Kvitová in straight sets, 3–6, 4–6. This marked her first final in over three years at a Grand Slam event.

Sharapova started her summer hard court season at the 2011 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, USA. In a highly anticipated match, Sharapova lost to the eventual champion Serena Williams 1–6, 3–6, in the quarterfinals. In her next event at 2011 Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, Sharapova lost to Galina Voskoboeva in the third round, marking her 100th career loss.

Sharapova then contested at the 2011 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio. As the fourth seed, she received a bye into the second round. On the way to her fourth final of the year, she beat Anastasia Rodionova, 6–1, 6–3, 14th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–2, 6–3, 10th seed Samantha Stosur, 6–3, 6–2, and 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva 2–6, 6–3, 6–3. In the final, she defeated fellow former world no. 1 Jelena Jankovic, 4–6, 7–6, 6–3, in 2 hours and 49 minutes, making it the longest WTA tour final of the year. She subsequently moved up to world no. 4, her highest ranking since August 2008 and the highest since her comeback from her shoulder injury.

Sharapova entered the US Open in fine form, where she was seeded third. She beat British up-and-comer Heather Watson, 3–6, 7–5, 6–3, and Anastasiya Yakimova, 6–1, 6–1, to reach the third round. She was then upset by Flavia Pennetta, 3–6, 6–3, 4–6. However, because of the fall of Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva in the rankings, Sharapova climbed to world no. 2.

Sharapova's next tournament was the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Japan. As second seed, she received a bye into the second round, where she beat Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6–2, 7–5. She then beat 13th seed Julia Goerges 7–6, 7–6, before retiring against Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinal, 3–4, after slipping on the baseline, suffering an ankle injury. This also forced her to withdraw from the 2011 China Open the following week. Sharapova then flew to Istanbul to prepare for the 2011 WTA Tour Championships, her first time qualifying since 2007. During the WTA Tour Championships, Sharapova withdrew during the round-robin stage after defeats against Samantha Stosur, 1–6, 5–7, and Li Na, 6–7, 4–6, due to the ankle injury she had suffered in Tokyo.

Sharapova ended the year as number 4 in the world, her first top-10 finish since 2008 and first top-5 finish since 2007.

2012

Sharapova withdrew from the 2012 Brisbane International because of her ongoing ankle injury. Her first tournament of the season was the 2012 Australian Open, where she was seeded fourth. Sharapova advanced to the fourth round conceding just five games, defeating Gisela Dulko, Jamie Hampton and the 30th seed Angelique Kerber en route. In the fourth round, Sharapova defeated the fourteenth seed, Sabine Lisicki in three sets, 3–6, 6–2, 6–3 to reach her first hardcourt Grand Slam quarterfinal in 4 years. She then defeated compatriot, Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets, 6–2, 6–3 to reach the semifinals. There she defeated the world no. 2 Petra Kvitová, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 to reach her third Australian Open final, and her sixth grand slam singles final overall. She lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final 3–6, 0–6. As a result her ranking improved to world no. 3.

In February, Sharapova aided Russia to a 3–2 victory over Spain during the 2012 Fed Cup quarterfinal with a 6–2, 6–1 win over Silvia Soler-Espinosa. She then played in Paris, where she lost in the quarterfinal to eventual champion Angelique Kerber 4–6, 4–6. As a result her ranking improved to World No. 2. At Indian Wells, Sharapova faced Gisela Dulko in the first round and won 6–2, 6–0. Sharapova defeated Simona Halep and Roberta Vinci en route to reaching the quarterfinals. After battling for over 3 hours, she defeated compatriot Maria Kirilenko 3–6 7–5 6–2, to set up a semifinal meeting with Ana Ivanovic. Sharapova won the first set 6–4 and advanced to the final after Ivanovic retired due to a hip injury. In the final she played world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka in a rematch of the Australian Open final, but lost again 2–6, 3–6.

Sharapova's next tournament was the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was seeded 2nd. She received a bye to the second round where she faced Shahar Peer and won in three sets 4–6, 6–3, 6–3. Her next opponent was Sloane Stephens. Sharapova won in straight sets 6–4, 6–2. In the fourth round she won in straight sets, 6–4, 7–6 against countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova and advanced to the quarterfinals where she faced Li Na, whom she beat 6–3, 6–0. Her semifinal opponent was fellow former world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. After an inconsistent first set, Sharapova won the match 4–6, 6–2, 6–4. In the final, Maria lost in straight sets to 5th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 7–5, 6–4. This was her third loss of the year in finals out of four tournaments played so far. Sharapova's next tournament was the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, where she was seeded second. She had a bye in the first round, and advanced to the third round after Alize Cornet retired in the second set. In the quarterfinal, she defeated No. 5 Samantha Stosur 6–7⁵, 7–6⁵, 7–5 after saving a match point in the second set, and advanced to the final with a 6–4, 7–6³ win over No. 3 Petra Kvitova. She won her first title of the year in Stuttgart after defeating world number one Victoria Azarenka 6–1, 6–4. In doing so, Sharapova defeated three current Grand Slam title holders to win the tournament. It was also her first win against Azarenka in five finals, and the third of such this season.

Fed Cup participation

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. She 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. She won both her singles rubbers, against Tzipora Obziler and Shahar Pe'er, helping Russia to a 4–1 victory. 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.

In the 2011 first round tie, Maria played Virginie Razzano of France and lost. Maria was supposed to play Alize Cornet, but Sharapova was suffering from a viral illness. So teammate, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova played instead of Sharapova where she would go to help Russia come back from their 0–2 deficit by beating Alize Cornet 3–6 6–3 6–2 and secure the win for Russia against France 3–2.

Playing style

Sharapova is an aggressive baseliner, with power, depth, and angles on her forehand and backhand. 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. At the beginning of 2008, some observers noted that Sharapova had developed her game, showing improved movement and footwork and the addition of a drop shot and sliced backhand to her repertoire of shots. 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". Hall-of-famer John McEnroe said of Sharapova, "she's one of the best competitors in the history of the sport." 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

Early in her career Sharapova's first and second serves were regarded as powerful, and she was believed to possess one of the best deliveries on the Tour. Since the beginning of 2007, however, problems with her shoulder have reduced the effectiveness of her serve. The shoulder injury not only resulted in her inconsistent first serves, but also her hitting high numbers 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."

In her return from layoff in 2008 to 2009, she used an abbreviated motion, which was somewhat less powerful, and though producing aces also gave a very high number of double faults. After her early loss at the 2009 US Open, Sharapova returned to a more elongated motion, similar to her pre-surgery serve. She has since been able to produce speeds greater than before, including a 121 mph serve hit at the Birmingham tournament in 2010 – the fastest serve of her career.

However since her shoulder operation Sharapova has been unable to control her serve. This has led to numerous faults, as she can't feel how much power she is generating. The new action led to an elbow injury, but under Thomas Hogstedt it has improved but can still be erratic.

Surfaces

Because she predicates her game on power, Sharapova's preferred surfaces are the fast-playing hard and grass courts, as evident through her 24 victories on hard court and grass court. This is most notable when she won the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 U.S. Open 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.

Personal life

Sharapova has lived in the United States since moving there at the age of seven. She has a residence in Manhattan Beach, California and in Netanya, Israel. Sharapova is engaged to Slovenian professional basketball player Sasha Vujačić, who plays for the Anadolu Efes S.K. in Istanbul, Turkey. The two have been dating since 2009. In 2011, Sharapova was named in Forbes Celebrity 100. This lists her as one of the top 100 most powerful celebrities of the year. Sharapova has made varying remarks on how long she intends to maintain her tennis career. Following the retirement of 25-year-old Justine Henin in 2008, 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. However in an interview before her 2012 Australian Open semifinal, Sharapova changed her stance, claiming she intended to continue playing tennis for as long as she enjoyed playing the game. Sharapova stated "I'm sure when I was 17 years old and someone said, you'll be playing for another eight years, it would be like, you're not going to see me at a press conference at 25 years old. But years go on. I missed a year in my career—I didn't play that year. I've said this, just before the tournament, a few weeks before, I woke up and I was just so happy to be going back on the court. I felt so fresh, full of energy, just with a really good perspective. Times change, obviously. I see myself playing this sport for many more years because it's something that gives me the most pleasure in my life. I think it helps when you know you're good at something, and you can always improve it. It obviously helps with the encouragement."

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. On February 14, 2007, Sharapova was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and donated US$210,000 to UNDP Chernobyl-recovery projects. She stated at the time that she was planning to travel back to the area after Wimbledon in 2008, 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. Sharapova has helped to promote the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. In addition, with Angela Haynes, Maria Kirilenko, Nicole Vaidišová, Rennae Stubbs, Governor Jeb Bush and Jennifer Capriati, Sharapova participated in an exhibition in Tampa in December 2004, raising money for the Florida Hurricane Relief Fund. 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.

Endorsements

Sharapova's tennis success and appearance have enabled her to secure commercial endorsements that greatly exceed the value of her tournament winnings. 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 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."

Immediately after her win at the 2004 Wimbledon Championship, mobile phone company Motorola signed Sharapova to endorse their mobile phone line. Additionally, she appeared in commercials for Land Rover and Canon, as well as approved of namesake items by watch brand Tag Heuer and jeweller Tiffany. Tiffany also provides Sharapova with earrings from the "Tiffany for Maria Sharapova" collection at the four major events, that are also retailed globally. She also starred in an award winning campaign for the sports clothing brand Nike, "Pretty", in the summer of 2006. She signed a sponsorship deal in January 2007 with Gatorade and Tropicana. 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. Some of the titles include the ''Top Spin series'', ''Virtua Tennis'' series, and ''Grand Slam Tennis'' series. During the layoff due to her shoulder surgery, sensing the fleeting nature of a professional athlete's career, Sharapova decided to focus on developing her name as a brand, beginning with meeting with her sponsors more extensively to further her brand. 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.

Following in the footsteps of tennis players who started clothing lines such as Fred Perry and René Lacoste, Sharapova launched her own tennis apparel line, the "Nike Maria Sharapova Collection", in 2010. The collection includes dresses that she designed for all the major tournaments, in collaboration with Nike and Cole Haan. She had previously found that the outfits given to her by Nike did not suit her frame and were worn by too many other players. She comes up with design ideas and sketches in a process that begins 18 months before the event and receives royalties from the sale of the collection, of which the corresponding dresses are coordinated to be available simultaneously with the corresponding major tournament. The collection is worn by other WTA players, including Sofia Arvidsson, Kai-Chen Chang, Andrea Hlavackova, Madison Keys, Anastasia Pivovarova as well as junior players such as Indy De Vroome. Sharapova had earlier collaborated with Nike on the "little black dress" that she wore for her night matches at the 2006 US Open. The dress featured a round crystal studded collar and was inspired by Audrey Hepburn The dress was well publicized and received but was not mass produced. Additionally, she designs shoes and handbags for Cole Haan, for which her signature ballerina flats are one of the biggest sellers of the entire brand.

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. She switched to the Prince O3 Speedport Black in July 2008. After being with Prince for ten years, Sharapova began endorsing Head racquets in 2011 and uses the Head YOUTEK IG Instinct.

Career statistics and awards

Grand Slam Finals

Singles: 6 (3–3)

{|class="sortable wikitable" !Outcome !Year !width=200|Championship !Surface !width=200|Opponent !width=125|Score |-bgcolor=#CCFFCC |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2004||Wimbledon||Grass|| Serena Williams||6–1, 6–4 |-bgcolor=#ccccff |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2006||US Open||Hard|| Justine Henin||6–4, 6–4 |-bgcolor=#ffffcc |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2007||Australian Open||Hard|| Serena Williams||1–6, 2–6 |-bgcolor=#ffffcc |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2008||Australian Open||Hard|| Ana Ivanović||7–5, 6–3 |-bgcolor=#CCFFCC |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2011||Wimbledon||Grass|| Petra Kvitová||3–6, 4–6 |-bgcolor=#ffffcc |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2012||Australian Open||Hard|| Victoria Azarenka||3–6, 0–6 |}

Single's timeline

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center !Tournament!!2001!!2002!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!SR!!W–L!!Win % |- |colspan=16 align=left|'''Grand Slam Tournaments |- |align=left|Australian Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=thistle|F |bgcolor=lime|'''W |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=thistle|F |1 / 8 |34–8 |81% |- |align=left|French Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF | |0 / 9 |30–9 |77% |- |align=left|Wimbledon |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=thistle|F | |1 / 9 |34–8 |81% |- |align=left|US Open |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R | |1 / 8 |24–7 |77% |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !0–0 !0–0 !4–4 !15–3 !19–4 !20–3 !16–4 !11–2 !7–3 !8–4 !16–4 !6–1 !3 / 34 !122–32 !79% |- |}

Awards

;2003 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Newcomer of the Year ;2004 WTA Player of the Year WTA Most Improved Player of the Year ;2005 ESPY Best Female Tennis Player

Named the country's best female player for the year by Russia's tennis federation

Master of Sports of Russia

Prix de Citron Roland Garros ;2006

Named the country's best female player for the year by Russia's tennis federation

Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year ;2007 ESPY Best Female Tennis Player ESPY Best International Female Athlete

ESPN Hottest Female Athlete

;2008

Named the January 2008 female Athlete of the Month by the United States Sports Academy for her performance at the Australian Open

ESPY Best Female Tennis Player ;2010 WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player WTA Humanitarian Of The Year WTA Most Fashionable Player (On Court) WTA Most Fashionable Player (Off Court) WTA Most Dramatic Expression (2010)

References

External links

{{navboxes|title=Maria Sharapova in the Grand Slam Tournaments |list1= }} {{navboxes|title=Maria Sharapova career statistics |list1= }}

Category:1987 births Category:Living people Category:Australian Open champions Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Russia Category:Expatriate sportspeople in the United States Category:People from Bradenton, Florida Category:People from Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Category:Russian expatriates in the United States Category:Russian female models Category:Russian female tennis players Category:Russian people of Belarusian descent Category:US Open (tennis) champions Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players

af:Maria Sharapova ar:ماريا شارابوفا an:Mariya Xarápova az:Mariya Şarapova bn:মারিয়া শারাপোভা zh-min-nan:Maria Sharapova be:Марыя Юр'еўна Шарапава bg:Мария Шарапова bs:Marija Šarapova ca:Maria Xaràpova cv:Мария Шарапова cs:Maria Šarapovová cy:Maria Sharapova da:Marija Sjarapova de:Marija Jurjewna Scharapowa et:Marija Šarapova el:Μαρία Σαράποβα es:María Sharápova eo:Marija Ŝarapova eu:Maria Xarapova fa:ماریا شاراپووا fr:Maria Sharapova gv:Maria Sharapova ko:마리아 샤라포바 hy:Մարիա Շարապովա hi:मारिया शरापोवा hr:Marija Šarapova id:Maria Sharapova it:Marija Šarapova he:מריה שראפובה jv:Maria Sharapova ka:მარია შარაპოვა la:Maria Šarapova lv:Marija Šarapova lt:Marija Šarapova hu:Marija Jurjevna Sarapova mk:Марија Шарапова mr:मारिया शारापोव्हा arz:ماريا شارابوفا ms:Maria Sharapova my:မာရီယာ ရှာရာပိုဗာ nl:Maria Sjarapova ne:मारिया सारापोभा ja:マリア・シャラポワ no:Marija Sjarapova pnb:ماریا شاراپووا pl:Maria Szarapowa pt:Maria Sharapova ro:Maria Șarapova rm:Maria Jurjewna Scharapowa ru:Шарапова, Мария Юрьевна simple:Maria Sharapova sk:Marija Jurievna Šarapovová sl:Marija Šarapova sr:Марија Шарапова sh:Marija Šarapova fi:Marija Šarapova sv:Marija Sjarapova tl:Maria Sharapova ta:மரியா ஷரபோவா th:มาเรีย ชาราโปวา tr:Mariya Şarapova uk:Шарапова Марія Юріївна vi:Maria Yuryevna Sharapova wuu:玛丽亚·莎拉波娃 zh:玛丽亚·莎拉波娃

Name	Novak DjokovicНовак ЂоковићNovak Đoković
Nickname	''Nole''''The Djoker''
Country	(2003–2006) (2006–present)
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Birth date	May 22, 1987
Birth place	Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	2003
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	$36,501,649 4th All-time leader in earnings
Singlesrecord	418–114 (78.57%)
Singlestitles	30
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (4 July 2011)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 1 (30 April 2012)
Australianopenresult	W (2008, 2011, 2012)
Frenchopenresult	SF (2007, 2008, 2011)
Wimbledonresult	W (2011)
Usopenresult	W (2011)
Othertournaments	Yes
Masterscupresult	W (2008)
Olympicsresult	20px Bronze Medal (2008)
Doublesrecord	31–44 (41.33%)
Doublestitles	1
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	1R (2006, 2007)
Frenchopendoublesresult	1R (2006)
Wimbledondoublesresult	2R (2006)
Usopendoublesresult	1R (2006)
Highestdoublesranking	No. 114 (30 November 2009)
Currentdoublesranking	No. 542 (30 April 2012)
Updated	13:03, 30 April 2012 (UTC) }}

}}

Novak Djokovic (; ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player who has been ranked World No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) since 4 July 2011. He has won five Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008, 2011 and 2012 Australian Open, the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2011 US Open. By winning three Majors in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player in the open era to win three Majors in a calendar year.

He is the first male player representing Serbia to win a Major singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events, separately and consecutively. Amongst other titles, he won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and was on the team which won the 2010 Davis Cup. He also won the bronze medal in singles at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He has won 11 Masters 1000 series titles placing him joint fourth on the all time list. Djokovic is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Early and personal life

Djokovic was born 22 May 1987, in Belgrade, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to father Srđan (Срђан) and mother Dijana (Дијана). His two younger brothers, Marko and Đorđe (Ђорђе), are also tennis players with professional aspirations. Residing in Monte Carlo, Monaco, Djokovic has been coached since 2006 by a former Slovak tennis player Marián Vajda. Similar to fellow pro Roger Federer, Djokovic is a self-described fan of languages, speaking four himself: his native Serbian, English, German, and Italian. Since the end of 2005, Djokovic has been dating Jelena Ristić (Јелена Ристић).

He started playing tennis at the age of four. In the summer 1993, the six-year-old was spotted by Yugoslav tennis legend Jelena Genčić at Serbian Mount Kopaonik where Djokovic's parents ran a fast-food parlour. Upon seeing the dedicated and talented youngster in action, she stated: "This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monica Seles." Genčić worked with young Djokovic over the following six years before realizing that, due to his rapid development, going abroad in search of increased level of competition was the best option for his future. To that end, she contacted Nikola Pilić, and in September 1999, the 12-year-old moved to the Pilić tennis academy in Oberschleißheim, Germany, spending four years there. At age 14, he began his international career, winning European championships in singles, doubles, and team competition.

Djokovic is known for his often humorous off-court impersonations of his fellow players, many of whom are his friends. This became evident to the tennis world after his 2007 US Open quarterfinal win over Carlos Moyà, where he entertained the audience with impersonations of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova. He also did an impression of John McEnroe after his final preliminary game at the 2009 US Open, before playing a brief game with McEnroe, much to the delight of the audience. It is because of this jovial personality that he earned the nickname "Djoker", a portmanteau of his surname and the word ''joker''. Novak Djokovic is a member of the "Champions for Peace" club, a group of famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.

Djokovic is a Serbian Orthodox Christian. On 28 April 2011, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia awarded Djokovic the Order of St. Sava I class, the highest decoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church, because he demonstrated love for the church, and because he provided assistance to the Serbian people, churches and monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Kosovo and Metohija.

He is a keen fan of Serbian football club Red Star Belgrade, Italian Serie A side A.C. Milan and Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. Djokovic is good friends with fellow Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanović, whom he has known since the two were children growing up in Serbia.

Tennis career

Early career

As a member of the FR Yugoslavia national team, he reached the finals of the 2001 Junior Davis Cup for players under 14, in which he lost his match in singles.

At the beginning of his professional career, Djokovic mainly played in Futures and Challenger tournaments, winning three of each type from 2003 to 2005. His first tour-level tournament was Umag in 2004, where he lost to Filippo Volandri in the round of 32. He made his first Grand Slam tournament appearance by qualifying for the 2005 Australian Open, where he was defeated by Marat Safin in the first round.

2006

Djokovic briefly considered plans to move from Serbia to play for Britain. He reached the top-40 world ranking due to a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open, and reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Three weeks after Wimbledon, he won his maiden ATP title at the Dutch Open in Amersfoort without losing a set, defeating Nicolás Massú in the final. Djokovic won his second career title at the Open de Moselle in Metz, and moved into the top 20 for the first time in his career.

2007

Djokovic began the year by defeating Australian Chris Guccione in the final of the ATP Adelaide, before losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets. His performances at the Masters Series events in Indian Wells, California, and Key Biscayne, Florida, where he was the runner-up and champion respectively, pushed him into the world's top 10. Djokovic lost the Indian Wells final to Rafael Nadal, but defeated Nadal in Key Biscayne in the quarterfinals before defeating Guillermo Cañas for the title in the finals.

Right after his first master series title, he went back home to contribute to his country's attempt to get into the World Group of the Davis Cup competition. Serbia faced off the Republic of Georgia, and Djokovic won a point by defeating Georgia's George Chanturia. This was a tournament where he prepared for the later clay court season. Djokovic played in the Masters Series Monte Carlo Open, where he was defeated by David Ferrer in the third round, and in the Estoril Open, where he defeated Richard Gasquet in the final. Djokovic then reached the quarterfinals of both the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome and the Masters Series Hamburg, but lost to Nadal and Carlos Moyà respectively. At the French Open, Djokovic reached his first Major semifinal, losing to eventual champion Nadal.

During Wimbledon, Djokovic won a five-hour quarterfinal against Marcos Baghdatis. In his semifinal match against Rafael Nadal, he was forced to retire with elbow problems in the 3rd set after winning the first and losing the 2nd set.

Djokovic went on to win the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Montreal. He defeated world no. 3 Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, world no. 2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, and world no. 1 Federer in the final. This was the first time a player had defeated the top three ranked players in one tournament since Boris Becker in 1994. Djokovic was also only the second player, after Tomáš Berdych, to have defeated both Federer and Nadal since they became the top two players in the world. After this tournament, Björn Borg stated that Djokovic "is definitely a contender to win a Grand Slam (tournament)." However, the following week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Djokovic lost in the second round to Moyà in straight sets. Djokovic nevertheless reached the final of the US Open. Djokovic had five set points in the first set and two in the second set, but lost them all before losing the final to top-seeded Federer in straight sets. During the 2007 tournament, Djokovic emerged as a fan favorite with his on-court impressions of other players including Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, and Maria Sharapova.

Djokovic won his fifth title of the year at the BA-CA TennisTrophy in Vienna, defeating Stanislas Wawrinka in the final. His next tournament was the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid, where he lost to David Nalbandian in the semifinals. Djokovic, assured of finishing the year as world no. 3, qualified for the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup, but did not advance beyond the round robin matches.

He received the Golden Badge award for the best athlete in Serbia, and the Olympic Committee of Serbia declared him the best athlete.

2008

Djokovic started the year by playing the Hopman Cup with fellow Serbian world no. 3 Jelena Janković. While he won all his round-robin matches, the team lost 1–2 in the final to the second-seeded American team consisting of Serena Williams and Mardy Fish.

At the Australian Open, Djokovic reached his second consecutive Major final without dropping a set, including a victory over two-time defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals. By reaching the semifinals, Djokovic became the youngest player to have reached the semifinals in all four Majors. In the final, Djokovic defeated unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets to earn Serbia's first Grand Slam singles title. This marked the first time since the 2005 Australian Open that a Grand Slam singles title was not won by Federer or Nadal.

Djokovic's next tournament was the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, where he lost in the semifinals to Andy Roddick.

At the Masters Series Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Djokovic won his ninth career singles title, defeating American Mardy Fish in the three-set final.

Djokovic won his tenth career singles title and fourth Master Series singles crown at the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome. The following week at the Hamburg Masters, Djokovic lost to Nadal in the semifinals. At the French Open, Djokovic was the third-seeded player behind Federer and Nadal. Djokovic lost to Nadal in the semifinals in straight sets.

On grass, Djokovic once again played Nadal, this time in the Artois Championships final in Queen's Club, London, losing in two sets. At Wimbledon, Djokovic was the third-seeded player; however, he lost in the second round to Marat Safin. This ended a streak of five consecutive Majors where he had reached at least the semifinals.

Djokovic then failed to defend his 2007 singles title at the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Toronto. He was eliminated in the quarterfinals by eighth-seeded Andy Murray. The following week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Djokovic advanced to the final, beating Nadal. In the final, he again lost to Murray in straight sets.

His next tournament was the Beijing Olympics, his first Olympics. He and Nenad Zimonjić, seeded second in men's doubles, were eliminated in the first round by the Czech pairing of Martin Damm and Pavel Vízner. Seeded third in singles, Djokovic lost in the semifinals to Nadal. Djokovic then defeated James Blake, the loser of the other semifinal, in the bronze medal match.

After the Olympics, Djokovic entered the US Open as the third seed. He defeated Roddick in the quarterfinals. To a smattering of boos in a post-match interview, Djokovic criticized Roddick for accusing him of making excessive use of the trainer during matches. His run at the US Open ended in the semifinals when he lost to Federer in four sets, in a rematch of the 2007 US Open final.

Djokovic played four tournaments after the US Open. In a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final, he lost in the final of the Thailand Open to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets. In November, Djokovic was the second seed at the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. In his first round-robin match, he defeated Argentine Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets. He then beat Nikolay Davydenko in three sets, before losing his final round robin match against Tsonga. Djokovic qualified for the semifinals, where he defeated Gilles Simon. In the final, Djokovic defeated Davydenko again to win his first Tennis Masters Cup title.

2009

Djokovic started the year at the Brisbane International in Brisbane, Australia, where he was upset by Ernests Gulbis in the first round. At the Medibank International in Sydney, he lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the semifinals.

As defending champion at the Australian Open, Djokovic retired from his quarterfinal match with former world no. 1 Andy Roddick.

After losing in the semifinals of the Open 13 tournament in Marseille to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Djokovic won the singles title at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating David Ferrer to claim his twelfth career title. The following week, Djokovic was the defending champion at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, but lost to Roddick in the quarterfinals. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, another ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Djokovic beat Federer in the semifinals, before losing to Andy Murray in the final. Djokovic reached the final of the next ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on clay, losing to Rafael Nadal in the final. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, another ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Djokovic was the defending champion, but again lost in the final.

Djokovic was the top seed at his hometown tournament, the Serbia Open in Belgrade. He defeated first-time finalist Łukasz Kubot to win his second title of the year. As third seed at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Djokovic advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set. There, he faced Nadal and lost despite holding three match points. The match, at 4 hours and 3 minutes, was the longest three-set singles match on the ATP World Tour in the Open Era. At the French Open, he lost in the third round to German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Djokovic began his grass court season at the Gerry Weber Open where, after the withdrawal of Federer, he competed as the top seed. He advanced to the final, where he lost to German Tommy Haas. Djokovic also lost to Haas in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

During the US Open Series, Djokovic made the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, before losing to Andy Roddick. At the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Djokovic defeated world no. 3 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. He lost in the final to world no. 1 Roger Federer. At the 2009 US Open, Djokovic made the semifinals, having dropped only two sets, defeating Ivan Ljubičić, 15th seed Radek Štěpánek and 10th seed Fernando Verdasco. He then lost to Roger Federer.

At the China Open in Beijing, he defeated Victor Hănescu, Viktor Troicki, Fernando Verdasco, and Robin Söderling en route to the final, where he defeated Marin Čilić in straight sets to win his third title of the year. At the inaugural Shanghai ATP Masters 1000, Djokovic lost in the semifinals to Nikolay Davydenko.

At the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Djokovic defeated Jan Hernych to make it to the quarterfinals. He then recovered from a deficit to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. He won the semifinals against Radek Štěpánek. In the final, he defeated home favourite and three-time defending champion Roger Federer to win his fourth title of the year.

At the last Masters 1000 event of the year at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, Djokovic won his first Masters 1000 title of the year. He defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. In the final, Djokovic prevailed over Gaël Monfils.

Coming into the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London as the defending champion, Djokovic defeated Nikolay Davydenko in his first round-robin match. In his second match, he lost to Robin Söderling. Despite victory over Rafael Nadal in his third round-robin match, Djokovic failed to make the semifinals.

Djokovic ended the year as the world no. 3 for the third consecutive year. Djokovic played 97 matches throughout the year, the most of any player on the ATP World Tour, with a 78–19 win-loss record. In addition to leading the ATP World Tour in match wins, he reached a career best 10 finals, winning 5 titles.

2010

Djokovic started his year by playing in the Kooyong Classic, an exhibition event. In his first match, he defeated Tommy Haas, but lost to Fernando Verdasco in his second.

At the Australian Open, Djokovic was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets. Despite the loss, Djokovic attained a career-high ranking of world no. 2.

He reached the semifinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, losing to Mikhail Youzhny. At the Dubai Tennis Championships in the U.A.E., Djokovic reached the final, defeating Mikhail Youzhny to win his first title of the year.

He then took part in Serbia's Davis Cup tie against the USA on clay in Belgrade. He helped Serbia reach their first quarterfinal in the Davis Cup 3–2 victory, defeating Sam Querrey and John Isner.

At the Indian Wells Masters, he lost in the fourth round to Ivan Ljubičić. At the Miami Masters, he lost in his opening match to Olivier Rochus. Djokovic then announced that he had ceased working with Todd Martin as his coach.

In his first clay-court tournament of the year at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, top-seeded Djokovic reached the semifinals with wins over Stanislas Wawrinka and David Nalbandian. There, he lost to Fernando Verdasco. Djokovic again lost to Verdasco at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, this time in the quarterfinals.

As the defending champion at his hometown event, the Serbia Open in Belgrade, he withdrew in the quarterfinals while trailing Filip Krajinović.

Djokovic entered the 2010 French Open seeded third. He defeated Evgeny Korolev, Kei Nishikori, Victor Hănescu, and Robby Ginepri en route to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Jürgen Melzer in five sets.

Djokovic entered the 2010 Wimbledon Championships as third seed, defeating Olivier Rochus, Taylor Dent, Albert Montañés, Lleyton Hewitt, and Yen-Hsun Lu en route to the semifinals, which he lost to Tomáš Berdych in straight sets.

Djokovic then competed at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where he lost to Roger Federer in the semifinals. Djokovic also competed in doubles with Rafael Nadal in a one-time, high-profile partnership. That hadn't happened since 1976, when Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe as world no.1 and no.2 paired together as a doubles team. They lost in the first round to Canadians Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil. Djokovic lost in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati to Andy Roddick.

As the third seed at the US Open, Djokovic came very close to losing in his opening round against Viktor Troicki in extreme heat. He then defeated Philipp Petzschner, James Blake and Mardy Fish, and number 17 seed Gaël Monfils, all in straight sets to reach the US Open semifinals for the fourth consecutive year. In the semifinals, Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in five sets after saving 2 match points with forehand winners while serving to stay in the match at 4–5 in the 5th set. It was Djokovic's first victory over Federer at the US Open in four attempts, and his first victory over Federer in a Major since the 2008 Australian Open. Djokovic lost to Nadal in the final, a match that saw Nadal complete his career Grand Slam.

After helping Serbia defeat the Czech Republic 3–2 to make it to the Davis Cup final, Djokovic competed at the China Open as the top seed and defending champion. He won the title for the second successive year, after defeating Maoxin Gong, Mardy Fish (walkover), Gilles Simon, and John Isner en route to the final. Djokovic then defeated David Ferrer in the final.

At the Shanghai Masters, Djokovic made a semifinal appearance, losing to Roger Federer.

Djokovic played his final tournament of the year at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic was placed in Group A along with Rafael Nadal, Tomáš Berdych, and Andy Roddick. Djokovic won his first round-robin match against Berdych. He next lost to Nadal. He defeated Roddick in his final round-robin match and advanced to the semifinals. He lost to Roger Federer in two sets.

Djokovic went on to win his two singles rubbers in Serbia's Davis Cup finals victory over France. This started a long unbeaten run that went on into 2011. Djokovic finished the year ranked world no. 3, his fourth successive finish at this position.

He was awarded the title "Serbian Sportsman of the year" by the Olympic Committee of Serbia and "Serbian Athlete of the year" by DSL Sport.

2011

Djokovic won ten tournaments in 2011, including Grand Slam tournament victories at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Djokovic also captured a record-breaking five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles, and set a new record for the most prize money won in a single season on the ATP World Tour (12.0 million dollars). His level dropped at season's end beginning with a back injury and ended with a poor showing at the ATP World Tour Finals. Djokovic finished the season with a 70–6 record and No. 1 in the world. Pete Sampras declared Djokovic's season as the best he has ever seen in his lifetime, calling it "one of the best achievements in all of sports." Boris Becker called Djokovic's season "one of the very best years in tennis of all time," adding that it "may not be the best statistically, but he’s beaten Federer, he’s beaten Nadal, he’s beaten everybody that came around to challenge him in the biggest tournaments in the world." Rafael Nadal, who lost to Djokovic in six finals on three different surfaces, described Djokovic's performances as "probably the highest level of tennis that I ever saw." Djokovic was named 2011 ITF World Champion.

2012

Djokovic began his season winning at the 2012 Australian Open. He won his first four rounds against Paolo Lorenzi, Santiago Giraldo, Nicolas Mahut and Lleyton Hewitt respectively. In the quarter-finals he defeated David Ferrer in three sets. In the semifinal, Djokovic beat Andy Murray in five sets (7–5 in the fifth set) after 4 hours and 50 minutes, coming back from a two-sets-to-one deficit and fending off break points at 5-all in the fifth set . In the final, Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in five sets, coming from a break down in the final set to win 7–5. At 5 hours and 53 minutes, the match was the longest final in Open Era Grand Slam history, as well as the longest match in Australian Open history, surpassing the 5 hour and 14 minute 2009 semifinal between Nadal and Fernando Verdasco.

Djokovic was beaten by John Isner in the semifinals at Indian Wells. He successfully defended his title in Miami.

In Monte Carlo, he challenged Rafael Nadal on what is very much his home turf, but he was unable to prevent Nadal from earning his record-breaking eighth consecutive title there, succumbing in the final, 3-6, 1-6.

Davis Cup

In 2006, Djokovic got the decisive win on 9 April, against Great Britain by defeating Greg Rusedski in four sets in the fourth match, giving his team an unsurmountable 3–1 lead in their best-of-five series, thus keeping Serbia and Montenegro in the Group One Euro/African Zone of Davis Cup. Following this match-up, a lot of media buzz appeared about Djokovic's camp negotiating with the Lawn Tennis Association about changing his international loyalty by joining British tennis ranks. Nineteen-year-old Djokovic, who was no.63 on the ATP list at the time, mostly dismissed the story at first by saying that the talks were not serious, describing them as "the British being very kind to us after the Davis Cup". However, more than three years later, in October 2009, Djokovic confirmed that the talks between his family and the LTA throughout April and May 2006, were indeed serious:

}}

By winning all three of his matches, Djokovic played a key role in the 2007 play-off win over Australia, promoting the Serbia Davis Cup team to World Group in 2008. In Serbia's tie against Russia in early 2008, in Moscow, Djokovic was sidelined due to influenza and was forced to miss his first singles match. He returned to win his doubles match, teaming with Nenad Zimonjić, before being forced to retire during his singles match with Nikolay Davydenko. Djokovic also had a big role in promoting Serbia to the 2009 World Group. On 6–8 March 2010, he played the key role in bringing Serbia to World Group quarterfinals for the first time in its independent history, winning both singles matches in the home tie against United States (against Sam Querrey and John Isner). Later, Serbia progressed to the Davis Cup final, following the victories over Croatia (4–1) and Czech Republic (3–2). Serbia came from 1–2 down to defeat France in the final tie 3–2 in Belgrade to win the nation's first Davis Cup Championship. In the final, Djokovic scored two singles points for Serbia, defeating Gilles Simon and Gaël Monfils. He was the backbone of the Serbian squad, going 7–0 in singles rubbers to lead the nation to the title, although the honour of winning the deciding rubber in the final went to compatriot Viktor Troicki.

In the semi finals of the 2011 Davis Cup Djokovic played a crucial rubber match for Serbia against Juan Martin Del Potro playing for Argentina, which he lost 6–7, 0–3 having to retire after reaggravating a back injury sustained during the US Open tournament, which secured Argentina's place in the final defeating Serbia 3–2. This marked Djokovic's third loss of his 2011 season, and his second retirement.

Rivalries

Djokovic vs. Nadal

Djokovic and Nadal have met 31 times (the sixth-most head-to-head meetings in the Open Era) with Nadal having a 17–14 advantage. Nadal leads on grass 2–1 and clay 10–2, but Djokovic leads on hard courts 11–5. This rivalry is listed as the third greatest rivalry in the last decade by ATPworldtour.com and is considered by many to be the emerging rivalry. Djokovic is the first player to have at least ten match wins against Nadal and the only person to defeat Nadal seven times consecutively. The two share the record for the longest Australian Open and Grand Slam final match ever played (5 hours and 53 minutes), which was the 2012 Australian Open final, as well as the record for the longest match played in a best-of-three sets (4 hours and 3 minutes) which was the 2009 Mutua Madrid Open semifinal. In the 2011 Wimbledon final, Djokovic won in four sets, which was his first victory over Nadal in a Major. By doing so, he became the only person other than Federer to defeat Nadal in a Grand Slam tournament final. Djokovic also defeated Nadal in the 2011 US Open Final to capture his third major title of the year and fourth overall. By beating Nadal, Djokovic became the second player to defeat Nadal in more than one Grand Slam final (the other being Federer), and the only player to beat Nadal in a Slam final on a surface other than grass. In 2012, Djokovic defeated Nadal in the Australian Open final which made Nadal the first player to lose in three consecutive Grand Slam finals.

At the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in April, Nadal finally beat Djokovic for the first time since November 2010. They had met in seven finals from January 2011 to January 2012, all of which Djokovic won. In the final at Monte Carlo, an in-form Nadal defeated Novak, 6-3, 6-1.

Djokovic vs. Federer

Djokovic and Federer have met 24 times, with Federer leading 14–10. Federer leads on all surfaces, although they have never met on grass. Djokovic is the only player other than Nadal who has defeated Federer in consecutive Grand Slam tournament matches. Federer ended Djokovic's 41-match winning start to the 2011 season at the 2011 French Open semi-finals which many consider to be a classic match. Djokovic played Federer in his first Major final at the 2007 US Open and lost in three sets. Djokovic has the second-most wins against Federer (after Nadal). The two have met twice in Australian Open (in 2008 and 2011) both of which Djokovic won in straight sets. The two have met five years in a row at the US Open with Federer triumphant in their first three encounters while their last two meetings (in 2010 and 2011) were five-set matches in which Djokovic saved two match points before going on to win.

Djokovic vs. Murray

Djokovic and Murray have met 13 times with Djokovic leading 8–5. Djokovic leads 2–0 on clay, and 6–5 on hard courts. The two went to training camp together, and Murray won the first match they ever played as teenagers. The pair have met 5 times in finals, with Murray leading 3–2, however, their most important final was the 2011 Australian Open final, in which Djokovic won in straight sets. The other four finals were all ATP Masters 1000 finals, with Murray winning the first three in straight sets. But Djokovic defeated Murray in the most recent final in straight sets. They also played a nearly five-hour long semifinal match in the 2012 Australian Open, which Djokovic won 7-5 in the fifth set after Murray led 2 sets to 1.

Playing style and equipment

Djokovic is an all-court player with emphasis on aggressive baseline play. His groundstrokes from both wings are consistent, deep, and penetrating. His backhand is widely regarded as the best in today's game. His best weapon is his backhand down the line, with great pace and precision. He is also known as one of the greatest movers on the court with superior agility, court coverage and defensive ability. After great technical difficulties during the 2009 season, his serve is one of his major weapons again, winning him many free points; his first serve is typically hit flat, while he prefers to slice and kick his second serves wide. Occasionally, Djokovic employs a well-disguised backhand underspin drop shot and sliced backhand. His drop shots still tend to be a drawback when hit under pressure and without proper preparation.

Djokovic commented on the modern style of play, including his own, in interview with Jim Courier after his semifinal win against Andy Murray in the 2012 Australian Open tournament:

Entering the pro circuit, Djokovic used Wilson rackets, continuing so until the end of 2008. At that time, he switched to Head rackets, using a custom paint job of the Head YouTek Speed Pro racquet. Starting with 2011 Australian Open, he began using Head's YouTek IG Speed MP 18/20. Djokovic uses a hybrid of Head Natural Gut in the mains and Luxilon Alu Power in the crosses.

After his 2011 victory in Montreal, tennis coach Nick Bollettieri stated that Djokovic is the most "complete" player of all time. He has the backhand, forehand, serve, second serve, movement, mentality, and can play equally well on any surface. In assessing his 2011 season, Jimmy Connors said that Djokovic gives his opponents problems by playing "a little bit old-school, taking the ball earlier, catching the ball on the rise, (and) driving the ball flat." Connors adds that a lot of the topspin that Djokovic's opponents drive at him comes right into his zone, thus his ability to turn defense into offense well.

Coaching and personal team

From fall 2005 until June 2006, Djokovic was coached by Riccardo Piatti who divided his time between the 18-year-old and Ivan Ljubičić. Player and coach reportedly parted ways over the latter's refusal to work full time with Djokovic.

Since June 2006, Djokovic has been coached by Slovakian former professional tennis player Marián Vajda. They met for the first time during that year's French Open, after which Vajda got hired to be the 19-year-old's coach. On occasion Djokovic employed additional coaches on part-time basis: in 2007, during the spring hardcourt season, he worked with Australian doubles ace Mark Woodforde with specific emphasis on volleys and net play while from August 2009 until April 2010 American Todd Martin joined the coaching team, a period marked by his ill-fated attempt to change Djokovic's serve motion.

In July 2010, before the Davis Cup clash away at Croatia, Djokovic made another addition to his team – nutritionist Igor Četojević who additionally focuses on Chinese medicine and does acupuncture. He discovered the tennis player suffers from Celiac Disease and cannot eat gluten, purging it from his diet. It appeared to have worked as Djokovic began feeling stronger, quicker, and much more fit. After Djokovic's Wimbledon win in July 2011, Četojević left the team.

Sponsorships and business ventures

Djokovic endorses Serbian telecommunications company Telekom Srbija and German nutritional supplement brand FitLine.

Since turning professional in 2003, Djokovic wore Adidas clothing and footwear. At the end of 2009, Djokovic signed a 10-year deal with the Italian clothing company Sergio Tacchini after Adidas refused to extend his clothing contract (choosing instead to sign Andy Murray). Since Sergio Tacchini doesn't make shoes, he continued with Adidas as his choice of footwear. From 2011, Djokovic began to wear custom Red and Blue Adidas Barricade 6.0's shoes, referring to the colours of the Serbian national flag.

Djokovic did television commercial spots and print ads for supermarket chain Idea, the Serbian arm of Croatian supermarket retailer Konzum.

In August 2011, Djokovic became the brand ambassador of Swiss watch manufacturer Audemars Piguet. Less than a month later, Djokovic signed a sponsorship deal with German car company Mercedes-Benz. In March 2012, Djokovic was announced by Bombardier Aerospace as its latest Learjet brand ambassador, thus joining the likes of actor and pilot John Travolta, architect Frank Gehry, maestro Valery Gergiev, and classical pianist Lang Lang.

The business end of Djokovic's career was initially handled by Israeli managers Amit Naor and Allon Khakshouri. In June 2008, he signed with CAA Sports.

Investments

In 2005, as Djokovic moved up the tennis rankings, his family founded a legal entity in Serbia named Family Sport. Registered as a limited liability company, its initial focus was the restaurant business. The company's day-to-day operations are mostly handled by Novak's father Srdjan and uncle Goran expanded its activities into real estate, sports/entertainment event organization, and sports apparel distribution.

The company opened theme cafés named Novak Café, as well as Novak Café & Restaurant in the Belgrade's municipality of Novi Beograd.

In February 2008, the company reached an agreement with local authorities in the city of Kragujevac about jointly entering into a real estate development deal that was to include 4 hectares of city-owned land at Veliki Park being developed into a tennis center with 14 courts. But by 2010 the company pulled out of these plans.

In March 2008, Family Sport won a municipal authority-organized tender in Novi Beograd by submitting an €11 million bid for the 3.8 hectares of land located in Ivan Ribar neighbourhood; with the ambitious plan to build a big tennis center there. As of fall 2011, construction is yet to commence.

In 2009, the company managed to buy an ATP tournament known as the Dutch Open and bring it to Serbia where it became – Serbia Open. With the help of Belgrade city authorities, the tournament's inaugural edition was held during May 2009 at the city-owned 'Milan Gale Muškatirović' courts, located at an attractive spot in Dorćol neighbourhood.

On Monday, 4 July 2011, one day after Djokovic won Wimbledon, Family Sport organized the homecoming reception in front of the National Assembly building with more than 80,000 people gathering to greet him.

Career statistics

From the 2010 Davis Cup finals to the 2011 French Open, Djokovic had a 43-match win streak, placing him behind Guillermo Vilas (46 matches in 1977) and Ivan Lendl (44 matches in 1981/1982).

He won 41 straight matches from the start of 2011 until the French Open semi-finals, second only to John McEnroe's record (he started 42–0 in 1984).

Novak Djokovic is one of only four players (besides David Nalbandian, Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal) to beat Roger Federer three times in one calendar year, and one of only two players (Juan Martin Del Potro being the other) to beat both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in a Grand Slam in consecutive matches. He is the only player who can claim to have beaten both Federer and Nadal in the same tournament on 4 different occasions (Montreal 2007, Indian Wells 2011, US Open 2011,). He is also the youngest player in the Open Era to defeat the top three players in succession and he achieved this when he defeated world number three Andy Roddick, world number two Nadal, and World number one Federer in the 2007 Rogers Cup. He is one of only two players to have defeated Federer at the semifinal stage or later on more than one occasion in Grand Slam tournaments, and also at consecutive tournaments (the other being Nadal).

His five Masters titles in 2011 are a season record.

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

''To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2012 Australian Open.''

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center;font-size:98% |- !Tournament!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!width=50|SR!!width=50|W–L!!width=50|Win % |- | colspan="14" style="text-align:left;"|'''Grand Slam Tournaments |- | style="background:#efefef;" text-align:left|Australian Open |A |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|1R | style="background:#afeeee;"|1R | style="background:#afeeee;"|4R |bgcolor=lime|'''W | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=lime|'''W | style="background:#efefef;"|3 / 8 | style="background:#efefef;"|32–5 | style="background:#efefef;"|86.49 |- | style="background:#efefef; text-align:left;"|French Open |A |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|2R | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:#afeeee;"|3R | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF | style="background:yellow;"|SF |bgcolor=| | style="background:#efefef;"|0 / 7 | style="background:#efefef;"|25–7 | style="background:#efefef;"|78.12 |- | style="background:#efefef; text-align:left;"|Wimbledon |A |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|3R | style="background:#afeeee;"|4R | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:#afeeee;"|2R | style="background:#ffebcd;"|QF | style="background:yellow;"|SF |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=| | style="background:#efefef;"|1 / 7 | style="background:#efefef;"|27–6 | style="background:#efefef;"|81.81 |- | style="background:#efefef; text-align:left;"|US Open |A |A | style="background:#afeeee;"|3R | style="background:#afeeee;"|3R | style="background:thistle;"|F | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:yellow;"|SF | style="background:thistle;"|F |bgcolor=lime|'''W |bgcolor=| | style="background:#efefef;"|1 / 7 | style="background:#efefef;"|33–6 | style="background:#efefef;"|84.62 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !0–0 !0–0 !5–4 !9–4 !19–4 !18–3 !15–4 !19–4 !25–1 !7–0 !5 / 29 !117–24 !82.98 |}

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runner-ups)

{|class="sortable wikitable" |- !width=80|Outcome !width=50|Year !width=200|Championship !width=75|Surface !width=200|Opponent in the final !width=200|Score in the final |- style="background:#ccf;" |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2007||US Open||Hard|| Roger Federer||6–7^(4–7), 6–7^(2–7), 4–6 |- style="background:#ffc;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2008||Australian Open||Hard|| Jo-Wilfried Tsonga||4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–6(7–2) |- style="background:#ccf;" |bgcolor=FFA07A|Runner-up||2010||US Open (2)||Hard|| Rafael Nadal||4–6, 7–5, 4–6, 2–6 |- style="background:#ffc;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2011||Australian Open (2)||Hard|| Andy Murray||6–4, 6–2, 6–3 |- style="background:#cfc;" | style="background:#98fb98;"|Winner||2011 || Wimbledon || Grass || Rafael Nadal || 6–4, 6–1, 1–6, 6–3 |- style="background:#ccf;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2011||US Open ||Hard|| Rafael Nadal||6–2, 6–4, 6–7^(3–7), 6–1 |- style="background:#ffc;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2012||Australian Open (3)||Hard|| Rafael Nadal||5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7^(5–7), 7–5 |}

Awards and honours

List of awards

Best Male Tennis Player in Serbia and Montenegro (1): 2005 Best Male Tennis Player in Serbia (6): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 DSL Sport Golden Badge (3): 2007, 2010, 2011 Best Sportsman by OCS (3): 2007, 2010, 2011 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year (1): 2011 GQ ACE of the Year (1): 2011 AIPS Athletes of the Year (1): 2011 Golden Bagel Award (1): 2011 ATP Most Improved Player of the Year (2): 2006, 2007 ATP Player of the Year (1): 2011 ITF World Champion (1): 2011 Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year (1): 2012

Orders and special awards

Order of St. Sava

Order of the Karađorđe's Star

Vermillion Medal for Physical Education and Sports (by Albert II, Prince of Monaco)

;Order of Saint Sava On 28 April 2011, in Belgrade, Patriarch Irinej of Serbia awarded Djokovic the Order of St. Sava I class, the highest decoration of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The order was given to him because he demonstrated love for the church, and because he provided assistance to the Serbian people, churches and monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija.

Records

These records were attained in the Open Era of tennis and in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series since 1990.

Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.

Records in ''italics'' are currently active streaks.

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Time span !Selected Grand Slam tournament records !Players matched |- |2007 French Open — 2008 Australian Open||Youngest player to have reached the semi-finals of all four Majors (20 years, 250 days old)||'''Stands alone |- |2012 Australian Open||Longest Grand Slam final match||Rafael Nadal |}

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Grand Slam tournaments !Time Span !Records at each Grand Slam tournament !Players matched |- |Australian Open||2011–2012||''2 consecutive titles||Ken Rosewall Guillermo Vilas Johan Kriek Mats Wilander Stefan Edberg Ivan Lendl Jim Courier Andre Agassi Roger Federer |}

{|class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" |- !Time span !Other selected records !Players matched |- |2011||Winner of the hard court treble (Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami)||Pete Sampras Roger Federer |- |2011||Player to qualify earliest for the ATP World Tour Finals – 18 weeks, 6 days||'''Stands alone |- |2011||5 Masters 1000 titles in 1 season||'''Stands alone |- |2011||3 consecutive Masters 1000 titles ||Rafael Nadal |- |2011||31 consecutive Masters 1000 match victories||'''Stands alone |- |2011||6 Masters 1000 finals in 1 season ||Roger Federer |- |2009||Longest best-of-three sets men's singles match ever played (4 hours, 3 minutes)||Rafael Nadal |- |2007||Youngest player to defeat the top 3 players in succession||'''Stands alone |- |2007||Youngest Miami Masters male champion (19 years, 316 days old)||'''Stands alone |- |2007, 2012 |Won 2 Miami Masters titles without losing a set||'''Stands alone |- |2007–2009||91 consecutive weeks at World number 3||'''Stands alone |- |2011||5 match winning streak in finals vs. a current World No. 1 in any season (Rafael Nadal)||'''Stands alone |- |2011||Most prize money in one season ($12,619,803) ||'''Stands alone |- |2007–2010||4 years ended at World number 3 ||Jimmy Connors |}

In popular culture

In 2009, and 2010, Djokovic won an Oscar Of Popularity for the most popular male athlete in Serbia.

He was a special guest in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade. He threw a big tennis ball into the crowd, announcing the start of the voting. Together with the presenter of the show Željko Joksimović, Djokovic sang a song about Belgrade.

Djokovic is also featured in the music video for the song "Hello" by Martin Solveig and Dragonette. The video, filmed at Stade Roland Garros, shows Solveig facing off against Bob Sinclar, another DJ, in a tennis match. When the referee calls a crucial ball "Out", Djokovic enters the arena and convinces the referee otherwise.

In 2010, the Serbian blues-rock band Zona B recorded the song "The Joker", dedicating it to Djokovic.

On 25 June 2011, its seventieth Congress in Chicago, all the members unanimously awarded Djokovic the Order of Serbian National Defense in America I class, the highest decoration of the SND. The order was given to him because of his merits in the international sport scene and his contributions to the reputation of Serbs and Serbia around the world.

Owing to his extroverted personality, fluency in several languages, and willingness to go along with comedic concepts, Djokovic became a fixture on entertainment-based TV talk shows around the globe immediately upon achieving a measure of prominence via results on the tennis court. After winning the Australian Open, his first major, in early 2008, Djokovic appeared on American late-night programme ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''. Throughout spring 2009, during ATP Master Series tournaments in Madrid and Rome, respectively, the Serb was a guest on Pablo Motos' show ''El Hormiguero'' followed by an appearance on the ''Fiorello Show'' hosted by Italian comedian Rosario Fiorello. Djokovic's television appearances particularly intensified during his amazing run of form throughout 2011: after winning Wimbledon and reaching number one spot on the ATP list, he again appeared on Leno's ''Tonight Show'' as well as on Conan O'Brien's show on TBS. Djokovic's dramatic win at the US Open was followed by another television blitz including spots on ''Live with Regis and Kelly'', CBS' ''The Early Show'', NBC's ''Today'' as well as a walk-on appearance on ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''. In mid-November 2011, he made a triumphant return to Rai 1's ''Fiorello Show''. In late November during the ATP World Tour Finals in London he was a guest on Sir David Frost's interview programme ''Frost Over the World'' on Al Jazeera English.

He was voted the 19th most influential man on AskMen.com's Top 49 Most Influential Men of 2011. On invitation from film producer Avi Lerner, Djokovic became part of the high-budget Hollywood movie production ''The Expendables 2'' in a cameo playing himself, which he shot on 29 November 2011 in a warehouse in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. He appeared on the cover of Italian ''GQ'''s March 2012 issue.

He was a guest on the CBS show 60 minutes.

See also

ATP World Tour Awards

ATP World Tour records

List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players

List of Grand Slam men's singles champions

List of non-Grand Slam tennis statistics and records

List of open era tennis records

Tennis performance timeline comparison (men)

References

Further reading

External links

Official site

Novak Djokovic at Flickr

Novak Djokovic at Qwinki

Novak Djokovic at Tumblr

{{navboxes|title=Novak Djokovic in Grand Slam Tournaments |list1= }} {{navboxes|title=Novak Djokovic's Achievements |list1= }} Category:1987 births Category:Australian Open champions Category:Living people Category:Hopman Cup competitors Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Serbia Category:Olympic medalists in tennis Category:Olympic tennis players of Serbia Category:People from Belgrade Category:People from Monte Carlo Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Sava Category:Recipients of the Order of the Star of Karageorge Category:Serbia and Montenegro male tennis players Category:Serbian expatriates in Monaco Category:Serbian male tennis players Category:Serbian Orthodox Christians Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Wimbledon champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players

af:Novak Đoković ar:نوفاك دوكوفيتش az:Novak Cokoviç zh-min-nan:Novak Đoković be:Новак Джокавіч be-x-old:Новак Джокавіч bg:Новак Джокович bs:Novak Đoković ca:Novak Đoković cs:Novak Djoković da:Novak Djokovic de:Novak Đoković et:Novak Đoković el:Νόβακ Τζόκοβιτς es:Novak Djokovic eu:Novak Djoković fa:نواک جوکوویچ fr:Novak Đoković gl:Novak Đoković ko:노바크 조코비치 hy:Նովակ Ջոկովիչ hi:नोवाक जोकोविच hsb:Novak Djoković hr:Novak Đoković id:Novak Đoković it:Novak Đoković he:נובאק ג'וקוביץ' jv:Novak Đoković kn:ನೊವಾಕ್‌ ಜೊಕೊವಿಕ್‌ (Novak Djokovic) lv:Novaks Džokovičs lt:Novakas Džokovičius hu:Novak Đoković mk:Новак Ѓоковиќ ml:നോവാക് ജോക്കോവിച്ച് mr:नोव्हाक जोकोविच arz:نوڤاك ديوكوفيتش ms:Novak Djokovic mn:Новак Жокович nl:Novak Đoković ja:ノバク・ジョコビッチ no:Novak Đoković oc:Novak Đoković pl:Novak Đoković pt:Novak Đoković ro:Novak Đoković rm:Novak Djokovic ru:Джокович, Новак scn:Novak Djokovic simple:Novak Djokovic sk:Novak Đoković sl:Novak Đoković sr:Новак Ђоковић sh:Novak Đoković fi:Novak Đoković sv:Novak Đoković ta:நோவாக் ஜோக்கொவிச் th:นอวัก จอคอวิช tr:Novak Đoković uk:Новак Джокович vi:Novak Djokovic zh-yue:祖高域 zh:諾瓦克·喬科維奇

Name	Victoria AzarenkaВікторыя АзаранкаВиктория Азаренко
Country
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Namebirth	Viktoriya Fiodorovna Azarenka
Birth date	July 31, 1989
Birth place	Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union now Belarus
Height
Weight
Turnedpro	2003
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney	$13,003,937
Singlesrecord	308–124
Singlestitles	12 WTA, 1 ITF
Highestsinglesranking	No. 1 (30 January 2012)
Currentsinglesranking	No. 1 (30 April 2012)
Australianopenresult	W (2012)
Frenchopenresult	QF (2009, 2011)
Wimbledonresult	SF (2011)
Usopenresult	4R (2007)
Othertournaments	yes
Wtachampionshipsresult	F (2011)
Doublesrecord	135–51
Doublestitles	6 WTA, 3 ITF
Highestdoublesranking	No. 7 (7 July 2008)
Currentdoublesranking	No. 19 (30 April 2012)
Grandslamsdoublesresults	yes
Australianopendoublesresult	F (2008, 2011)
Frenchopendoublesresult	F (2009)
Wimbledondoublesresult	QF (2008)
Usopendoublesresult	2R (2009)
Mixed	yes
Mixedtitles	2
Australianopenmixedresult	F (2007)
Frenchopenmixedresult	W (2008)
Wimbledonmixedresult	1R (2007)
Usopenmixedresult	W (2007)
Updated	9 April 2012 }}

Victoria Azarenka (, ; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She is the current World No. 1 as of April 30, 2012.

She won the 2012 Australian Open singles title, becoming the first Belarusian player to win a Grand Slam in singles. Her other achievements include winning two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, the 2007 US Open with Max Mirnyi and the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan.

Personal life

At age 16, Azarenka moved to Scottsdale, Arizona from Minsk, Belarus, to train. In this she was aided by National Hockey League goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his wife, who is a friend of Azarenka's mother. In 2010 she briefly considered a break from the sport of tennis to focus on education, however, after a conversation with her grandmother she decided to continue playing. It is the inspiration from her grandmother that is regarded as the key for her continued developments in the sport. Azarenka is romantically involved with tennis player Sergei Bubka Jr, son of former Olympic gold medalist and World Champion, Sergey Bubka.

Tennis career

Early career

Azarenka debuted on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior tour in November 2003 in Israel, winning one doubles title with countrywoman Olga Govortsova. She continued to participate in ITF tournaments in 2004, and at the end of the season she had a rank of 508 on WTA singles tour. Azarenka had a successful year in 2005, winning two junior Grand Slams: the Australian and US championships. She ended the season as the junior world no. 1 and was named the 2005 World Champion by the ITF, becoming the first Belarusian to do so. In addition, she reached her first semifinal on the main tour in Guangzhou, China. She went from the qualifying draw of the tournament to the main draw, where she defeated Martina Suchá and Shuai Peng, before losing to the eventual champion Yan Zi.

2006

In 2006 in Memphis, Azarenka defeated her first top-20 player, Nicole Vaidišová, and two months later defeated her second top-30 player in Jelena Janković at Miami. On clay, Azarenka pushed 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina to 7–6 in the third in Rome, and took clay-court specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues to 9–7 in the third set in the first round at Roland Garros. At the 2006 US Open, she had her first win over Myskina in the first round, and lost to Anna Chakvetadze in the third round, her best result in a Grand Slam event to that date. In her next tournament, Azarenka reached her second pro-level semifinal in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, losing to Tiantian Sun. She finished the year reaching the final of an ITF event in Pittsburgh, losing to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.

2007

Ranked world no. 96, Azarenka began the year by playing two tournaments in Australia. She lost in the second round at the Moorilla Hobart International to Serena Williams. At the Australian Open, Azarenka reached the third round of a Grand Slam singles tournament for the second consecutive time, where she lost to world no. 11 Jelena Janković in straight sets.

She was upset in the first round of the French Open by Karin Knapp of Italy, and at Wimbledon, she lost in the third round to 14th-seeded Nicole Vaidišová.

At the US Open, Azarenka upset former world no. 1 Martina Hingis in the third round, before 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova beat her in the fourth round. In mixed doubles, Azarenka and countryman Max Mirnyi won the title, defeating Meghann Shaughnessy and Leander Paes.

She ended her year at the Tier I Kremlin Cup in Moscow, where she upset world no. 4 Maria Sharapova in the second round. She then lost to the eventual winner of the tournament, world no. 14 Elena Dementieva, in the quarterfinal. At the same tournament, Azarenka and her doubles partner Tatiana Poutchek, also of Belarus, lost in the final to the world no. 3 team of Liezel Huber and Cara Black in three sets. Azarenka's results at the Kemlin Cup elevated her rankings to career highs of world no. 27 in singles and world no. 29 in doubles.

2008

Azarenka began the year at the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts tournament in Gold Coast, Australia. Unseeded, she reached the semifinals, where she beat fifth-seeded Shahar Pe'er of Israel, Azarenka's sixth top-20 victory. In her third career WTA tour final, she lost to Li Na, but the points she earned in this tournament were enough to improve her ranking to a career-best world no. 25.

Azarenka was seeded 26th at the Australian Open. This was her first appearance as a seeded player in a Grand Slam singles tournament. She showed no ill effects from a leg injury while winning her first two matches, but lost in the third round to seventh-seeded and defending champion Serena Williams. In doubles, Azarenka and her partner Pe'er were seeded 12th. They made it to the finals, before losing to the unseeded team of Kateryna and Alona Bondarenko.

She was seeded 16th at the French Open. She defeated 18th-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the third round, before losing to fourth-seeded Kuznetsova in the fourth round. Azarenka teamed with American Bob Bryan to win the mixed doubles title at the French Open, defeating the top seeded team of Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjić in the final.

At Wimbledon, Azarenka was seeded 16th in singles and 6th in doubles (with Pe'er). In singles, Azarenka was defeated by 21st-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia in the third round. In doubles, Azarenka and Pe'er reached the quarterfinals, where they lost to the top-seeded team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber.

Azarenka was seeded 14th at the US Open, but was defeated by 21st-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the third round.

2009

Azarenka began the year at the Brisbane International as the second seed. She defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, Jarmila Groth, Lucie Šafářová, and Sara Errani, all in straight sets to reach her fifth career final. In the final, Azarenka defeated third seed Marion Bartoli, 6–3, 6–1, to win her first WTA career title.

Azarenka was seeded 13th at the Australian Open. She advanced to the fourth round for the first time, winning the first set against world no. 2 Serena Williams, before she was forced to retire because of heat stress, with the score 6–3, 2–4.

At the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee, Azarenka was seeded second. She won her second WTA title by beating her doubles partner and top seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the final. Afterwards, Wozniacki and Azarenka won the doubles title, beating Michaëlla Krajicek and Yuliana Fedak in the final.

At the BNP Paribas Open, Azarenka was seeded 8th and reached the semifinals, where she lost to her doubles partner and eventual champion Vera Zvonareva, 3–6, 3–6. Because of her performance at this tournament, Azarenka improved her singles ranking to a career-best world no. 10. She is the second woman from Belarus ever to be ranked that high, following Natasha Zvereva who was ranked world no. 5 in the late 1980s.

At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Azarenka was seeded 11th. She defeated world no. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams in the final, 6–3, 6–1. This was Azarenka's first Tier I or Premier Mandatory event title. Azarenka also became the sixth teenage female singles champion in the history of this tournament, with the others being Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Venus Williams, and Gabriela Sabatini. By winning this tournament, Azarenka's ranking increased to a new career high of world no. 8.

Her next tournament was on clay at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, where she lost to Gisela Dulko in the second round. At the Italian Open, Azarenka lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.

At Roland Garros, Azarenka was seeded ninth and advanced to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she fell to top seed Dinara Safina, 6–1, 4–6, 2–6. With her partner Elena Vesnina, Azarenka made the final of the ladies doubles at Roland Garros. In the final, they played the Spanish pairing of Garrigues and Ruano Pascual, and the higher-ranked Spanish pair won, 6–1, 6–1.

She withdrew from her first match at the AEGON International, the warm-up for Wimbledon, citing a hip injury.

Azarenka was seeded 8th at Wimbledon. She fell, 2–6, 3–6, to second seed and eventual winner Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.

Receiving a bye in the first round at the Los Angeles, Azarenka fell to Maria Sharapova, 7–6, 4–6, 2–6. In Cincinnati, Azarenka lost to Jelena Janković in the third round 5–7, 6–7, committing 11 double faults. At the Rogers Cup in Toronto, she was seeded ninth. She lost to returning Kim Clijsters in the second round, 5–7, 6–4, 1–6.

At the US Open, Azarenka was seeded eighth. She fell to Francesca Schiavone in the third round, 6–4, 2–6, 2–6.

Seeded eighth at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, she lost to Li Na in the quarterfinals, 6–7, 6–4, 6–7, giving up a 5–1 lead in the first set. In her next tournament the China Open, Azarenka was seeded ninth. She lost in the second round to recent Tokyo champion Maria Sharapova, 3–6, 7–6, 5–7, leading 5–2 in the final set and serving for the match twice. She intended to play the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, but she withdrew.

At the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Azarenka vanquished Jelena Janković in her first-round robin-match, 6–2, 6–3. In her second match, however, Azarenka was defeated by Caroline Wozniacki, 6–1, 4–6, 5–7. Azarenka failed to convert a match point in the final set in which she led by a break on four occasions, and also served for the match at 5–3. Azarenka also conceded her serve at 5–5, to leave Wozniacki serving for the match after receiving a point penalty for racket abuse. Due to her loss to Wozniacki, Azarenka had to defeat second alternate Agnieszka Radwańska to qualify for the semifinals. She led 6–4, 5–2 with a double break, before going on to lose nine of the next ten games, eventually conceding the match after severe cramping in the third set forced her to retire while trailing 6–4, 5–7, 1–4.

Azarenka ended the year ranked world no. 7, with a 45–15 win-loss record, having won three titles and qualified for the year-end championships for the first time in her career. On 15 December, Azarenka split with long-time coach Antonio Van Grichen.

2010

Azarenka began the season at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic exhibition. She was part of Team Europe, along with Caroline Wozniacki and Stefan Edberg. In her first match, she defeated Gisela Dulko, 6–1. The match was played best of one set due to rain. She withdrew from her remaining matches due to illness. She was seeded sixth at the Medibank International. She won her first three matches, all 7–5 in the third set. In the semifinals, she fell to fifth seed Elena Dementieva, 3–6, 1–6.

At the Australian Open, she was seeded seventh. She lost to Serena Williams in the quarterfinal, 6–4, 6–7, 2–6, giving up a 4–0 lead in the second set. This was the third consecutive year she has lost to Williams at this tournament. Seeded fourth at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, on her way to the final, she defeated Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals and Agnieszka Radwańska in the semifinals. In the final, she lost to defending champion Venus Williams, 3–6, 5–7.

At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, she was seeded third, but was upset in the third round by María José Martínez Sánchez, 6–7, 2–6.

At the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, where she was the defending champion and fourth seed, she lost in fourth round to 14th seed and eventual champion Kim Clijsters. This was the fourth match in the five tournaments this year that Azarenka lost to eventual champions.

At the Andalucia Tennis Experience, she was the top seed. She had to retire in her quarterfinal match against María José Martínez Sánchez, leading 4–0 due to a left thigh injury.

Seeded third at the Family Circle Cup, she had to retire from her first match while leading, 6–2, 2–2, against qualifier Christina McHale. At the 2010 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she was upset in the second round by qualifier Anna Lapushchenkova, who was ranked no. 138 at the time.

At the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia, as the ninth seed, Azarenka lost to Ana Ivanović, 4–6, 4–6. As the tenth seed at the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, Azarenka retired from her first round match against Shuai Peng, while trailing 0–3 with a groin injury.

At the 2010 French Open, coming back from injury, Azarenka was upset in the first round by unseeded Gisela Dulko, 1–6, 2–6. This loss caused Azarenka to fall to world no. 15. Azarenka was unseeded at the 2010 AEGON International. Struggling with injuries, Azarenka fell to qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in the final.

Azarenka was seeded 14th at the Wimbledon. She lost to Petra Kvitová in the third round. Having served for the first set at 5–4, Azarenka lost nine consecutive games losing, 5–7, 0–6.

To begin the summer hard-court season, Azarenka competed in the 2010 Bank of the West Classic as a wildcard and eight seed. Azarenka defeated Maria Sharapova in the final, 6–4 6–1. The win propelled Azarenka to world no. 12. Despite being the favourite to win the Mercury Insurance Open, Azarenka withdrew to recover from a right shoulder injury. Seeded ninth at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open, Azarenka lost to Ana Ivanović, 2–6, 6–7, 2–6, despite serving for the match twice in the second set. However, she won the doubles title, partnering with Maria Kirilenko, defeating Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 7–6, 7–6.

At the US Open, during the second round against Gisela Dulko and whilst trailing 5–1, Azarenka collapsed on the court. There were concerns that the cause of the fall was heat-related. Azarenka was taken to a local hospital for treatment and was diagnosed with a concussion after hitting her head whilst warming up before the match during a sprint exercise.

At the Toray Pan Pacific Open, she lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals 2–6, 7–6, 4–6. At the China Open, Azarenka retired in her secound-round match, having received a bye, to Timea Bacsinszky while leading, 6–4, 2–3.

At the 2010 Kremlin Cup Azarenka, as the second seed, defeated Maria Kirilenko in the final, 6–3 6–4, coming back from 4–0 down in the second set to win her fifth career title.

Azarenka's performance in Moscow qualified her for the year-end 2010 WTA Tour Championships, where she was in the White Group as the eighth seed. In her first round-robin match, Azarenka lost to Vera Zvonareva, 6–7, 4–6, despite serving for the first set at 5–4 and leading 3–1 in the second. She also lost to Kim Clijsters in her second match, 4–6, 7–5, 1–6, which assured that she did not qualify for the semifinals. Then, in her final match of the tournament and season, she defeated Janković for the second year in a row, 6–4, 6–1. Azarenka ended the year as world no. 10, her second consecutive year-end top-10 finish.

Azarenka then took part in a charitable exhibition match in mid-November with Caroline Wozniacki, beating the Dane, 6–3 6–3, at the Sports Palace in Minsk.

2011

Azarenka began her year at the Medibank International as the seventh seed, where she lost to Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals 3–6, 2–6. At the 2011 Australian Open Azarenka was seeded eighth. She lost to the ninth seed and eventual finalist, Li Na 3–6, 3–6, in the fourth round. Azarenka partnered with Maria Kirilenko in the women's doubles event, but the pair lost to Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in the final.

Azarenka then travelled to Israel to compete in Fed Cup. Belarus beat Croatia, Austria, and Greece in the group stage, without losing a match. The Belarusian team then defeated Poland 2–0 to qualify for the World Group II play-Offs in April where they played Estonia.

Azarenka's next tournament was the 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships, where she was seeded 7th. She lost to Flavia Pennetta in the third round. Azarenka then competed at the 2011 Qatar Ladies Open as the sixth seed, but lost to Daniela Hantuchová in the first round in three sets 6–4, 1–6, 2–6.

Azarenka's next event was the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, where she competed as the eighth seed. She retired in the quarterfinals against world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, whilst trailing 0–3, due to a left leg injury. She also became the second person to defeat both Radwańska sisters in the same tournament.

Azarenka then competed at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open as the eighth seed. She reached her second final at the event, where she defeated sixteenth seed Maria Sharapova 6–1, 6–4 to win the title.

At the 2011 Andalucia Tennis Experience, Azarenka was the top seed and dropped only fourteen games on her way to the final. She defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 6–3, 6–2, in the final. Azarenka's victory, and Samantha Stosur's inability to defend her points at Charleston, ensured that Azarenka would reach a career high of world no. 5. She then participated in Belarus' 5–0 win over Estonia in the Fed Cup, registering a 6–2, 6–0 win in her singles rubber. In her next tournament the 2011 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Azarenka retired after the first set of her first match, having won the first set 6–4 against Julia Goerges, ending her 12-match winning streak. Ironically, Julia went on to win the tournament.

At the 2011 Madrid Masters, Azarenka was seeded fourth. She lost in the final in straight sets to Petra Kvitová, but still rose to a career-high world no. 4. Azarenka then reached the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, where she was up a set before retiring to eventual champion Maria Sharapova.

Azarenka was the fourth seed at the 2011 French Open. She beat Andrea Hlaváčková in the first round, Pauline Parmentier in the second round, 30th seed Roberta Vinci in the third round, and Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round to reach her fourth career Grand Slam quarterfinal. She lost to Li Na in the quarterfinals.

Azarenka was the fourth seed at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. She beat 25th seed Daniela Hantuchová in a three-set third-round match, before beating Nadia Petrova. She followed that up with an easy victory over Tamira Paszek, advancing to the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. Azarenka was beaten by Czech player and eventual champion Petra Kvitová, going down in three sets 1–6, 6–3, 2–6.

Her next tournament was the 2011 Bank of the West Classic, where she was the defending champion and top seed. Azarenka was ousted by 124th-ranked Marina Erakovic from New Zealand in the second round. Despite her 'horrible match' in singles, Azarenka claimed the doubles title with partner Kirilenko.

The next tournament Azarenka played was the 2011 Rogers Cup, where she was seeded fourth. After a bye, Azarenka crushed Stephanie Dubois, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, and Galina Voskoboeva, before being stopped by Serena Williams in the semifinals, 3–6, 3–6. Azarenka reached the doubles final with Kirilenko, but the team was forced to withdraw because of a hand injury to Azarenka. Azarenka pulled out of the 2011 Western & Southern Open with the same injury.

Azarenka's next tournament was the 2011 US Open, where she was seeded fourth. She made it to the third round, where she was defeated by Serena Williams 1–6, 6–7. Despite the early loss, she reached a new career high of no. 3 in the world.

Azarenka reached the semifinals of the 2011 Toray Pan Pacific Open, losing to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska. In doing so she qualified for the year-end championships in Istanbul.

The Belarusian participated in the China Open, the last of the four mandatory events for 2011, as the second seed. She defeated Polona Hercog in the second round, after receiving a first-round bye. She then withdrew from the tournament citing a right foot strain.

Azarenka would win her third title of the year at the 2011 BGL Luxembourg Open, defeating Monica Niculescu in the final.

Azarenka was placed in the White Group at the 2011 WTA Tour Championships. She beat Samantha Stosur 6–2, 6–2 and Li Na 6–2, 6–2 in her first two Round Robin matches. She secured the move to the semifinals despite her loss in three sets, 7–5, 4–6, 4–6, to Marion Bartoli, a substitute for Maria Sharapova. She then beat Vera Zvonareva 6–2, 6–3 to move to the final where she lost to Petra Kvitova 5–7, 6–4, 3–6.

2012

Azarenka claimed her first title of the season at the 2012 Apia International Sydney as the third seed. She defeated her first three opponents, Stefanie Voegele, Jelena Jankovic and Marion Bartoli all in straight sets to advance to the semifinals where she defeated the seventh seed, Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets 1–6, 6–3, 6–2 to reach the final, where she defeated the defending champion Li Na in three sets 6–2, 1–6, 6–3.

Azarenka competed at the 2012 Australian Open as the third seed, defeating Heather Watson, Casey Dellacqua, Mona Barthel and Iveta Benesova in the first four rounds without dropping a set, losing just 10 games and winning 48. In the quarterfinals, Azarenka faced a sterner test against world no. 8 Agnieszka Radwańska, and lost the opening set on a tie-break before coming back strongly, losing just two further games en route to a 6–7, 6–0, 6–2 win. In the semi-finals, she defeated the eleventh seed and defending champion Kim Clijsters 6–4, 1–6, 6–3 to reach her first Grand Slam singles final where she faced the world no. 4 Maria Sharapova, conqueror of 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová in the other semifinal. In a nervous start to the final, Azarenka lost the opening two games of the match, and was within two points of trailing 0–3 after Sharapova took the first two points of the third game. Azarenka came back to hold serve, however, and took the next two games to establish a 3–2 lead, before her opponent held serve to level the score at 3–3. This would prove to be Sharapova's last service hold in the match, as Azarenka then proceeded to win all of the next nine games, to record an emphatic 6–3, 6–0 victory. Unusually, due to the earlier quarter-final defeat of Caroline Wozniacki by Clijsters in the same tournament, whichever of the finalists triumphed in Melbourne would gain sufficient points to replace Wozniacki at the top of the Women's rankings. Azarenka thus recorded her first Grand Slam singles title and became the world no. 1 (with effect from the 30th of January 2012) in the same match.

Her first tournament as world number one was the 2012 Qatar Total Open. After receiving a bye in the first round, she played German Mona Barthel, dropping just one game in a comprehensive 6–1 6–0 victory. She won her third title of the year in Doha, defeating Barthel, Simona Halep, Yanina Wickmayer, Agnieszka Radwanska and Samantha Stosur all in straight sets. Azarenka planned to compete at the 2012 Dubai Tennis Championships. However, after a bye in the first round, she withdrew from the tournament due to an ankle injury.

In March, she played in the 2012 BNP Paribas Open, where she was the top seed. After receiving a bye in the first round, she defeated Mona Barthel in a tough three set match. In the next four rounds, she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, Julia Gorges, Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber easily in straight sets, dropping just 16 games. In a re-run of the 2012 Australian Open decider, her opponent in the final was World No. 2 Maria Sharapova, and once again, Azarenka won in straight sets, this time by 6–2 6–3, thus extending her undefeated record in 2012 to 23–0. Azarenka´s next tournament was the 2012 Sony Ericsson Open, where after a bye in the first round, she went to defeat Michaella Krajicek 6–3 7–5 in the second round, Heather Watson 6–0 6–2 on the third round, next round she faced a harder test against Dominika Cibulkova, losing the first set and being 4–0 down on the second set, Azarenka managed to came back and pull out the match, with a final score of 1–6, 7–6(7), 7–5. In the next round she faced Marion Bartoli, who ended Azarenka's 26 match winning streak to start the 2012 season (3–6, 3–6).

Career statistics

Grand Slam Finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

{|class="sortable wikitable" style=font-size:97% !Outcome !Year !width=200|Championship !Surface !width=200|Opponent !width=150|Score |-style="background:#ffc;" |bgcolor=98FB98|Winner||2012||Australian Open||Hard|| Maria Sharapova||6–3, 6–0 |}

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

{|class=wikitable style=text-align:center;font-size:97% !Tournament!!2003!!2004!!2005!!2006!!2007!!2008!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012!!W–L |- |colspan=15 align=left|'''Grand Slam tournaments |- |align=left|Australian Open |A |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=lime|'''W |21–6 |- |align=left|French Open |A |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF | |11–6 |- |align=left|Wimbledon |A |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|1R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#ffebcd|QF |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=yellow|SF | |15–6 |- |align=left|US Open |A |A |A |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|4R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R |bgcolor=#afeeee|2R |bgcolor=#afeeee|3R | |12–6 |- !style=text-align:left|Win–Loss !0–0 !0–0 !0–0 !2–4 !7–4 !9–4 !13–4 !7–4 !14–4 !7–0 !59–24 |}

References

External links

{{navboxes|title=Victoria Azarenka in the Grand Slam Tournaments |list1= }}

Category:1989 births Category:Living people Category:Australian Open champions Category:Australian Open junior champions Category:Belarusian expatriates in the United States Category:Belarusian female tennis players Category:French Open junior champions Category:Olympic tennis players of Belarus Category:People from Minsk Category:People from Scottsdale, Arizona Category:Tennis people from Arizona Category:Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:US Open (tennis) junior champions Category:Wimbledon junior champions Category:World No. 1 tennis players

af:Victoria Azarenka ar:فيكتوريا ازارينكا be:Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка be-x-old:Вікторыя Азаранка bg:Виктория Азаренка ca:Victoria Azarenka cs:Viktoria Azarenková da:Viktoria Azarenka de:Wiktoryja Asaranka et:Viktorija Azarenka es:Victoria Azarenka eo:Viktoria Azarenka eu:Viktoria Azarenka fa:ویکتوریا ازارنکا fr:Victoria Azarenka ko:빅토리야 아자란카 hi:विक्टोरिया अज़ारेन्का hr:Viktorija Azarenka id:Victoria Azarenka it:Viktoryja Azaranka he:ויקטוריה אזרנקה lv:Viktorija Azarenka hu:Viktorija Fjodaravna Azaranka mr:व्हिक्टोरिया अझारेन्का ms:Victoria Azarenka nl:Viktoryja Azarenka ja:ビクトリア・アザレンカ no:Viktoryja Azarenka pl:Wiktoryja Azaranka pt:Victoria Azarenka ro:Victoria Azarenka ru:Азаренко, Виктория Фёдоровна simple:Victoria Azarenka sk:Viktorija Fiodorovna Azarenková sr:Викторија Азаренка sh:Viktorija Azarenka fi:Viktoryja Azarenka sv:Victoria Azarenka ta:விக்டோரியா அசரென்கா th:วิคตอเรีย อซาเรนกา tr:Viktoriya Azarenka uk:Азаренко Вікторія Федорівна vi:Victoria Azarenka zh:维多利亚·阿扎伦卡

name	Rory McIlroy MBE
fullname	Rory McIlroy
nickname	Rors
birth date	May 04, 1989
birth place	Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland
death date
height
weight
nationality
residence	Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland
yearpro	2007
tour	European TourPGA Tour
prowins	6
pgawins	3
eurowins	3
champwins
japwins
asiawins
sunwins
auswins
otherwins	1
majorwins	1
masters	T15: 2011
usopen	Won: 2011
open	T3: 2010
pga	T3: 2009, 2010
wghofid
wghofyear
award1
year1
awardssection	}}

Rory McIlroy, MBE (born 4 May 1989) is a Northern Irish professional golfer from Holywood in County Down. He is the current World Number One, and has represented Europe, Great Britain & Ireland, and Ireland as both an amateur and a professional. He had a successful amateur career, topping the World Amateur Golf Ranking for one week as a 17-year-old in 2007. Later that year he turned professional and soon established himself on the European Tour. He had his first win on the European Tour in 2009, and on the PGA Tour in 2010. He represented Europe in the 2010 Ryder Cup.

On 19 June 2011, he won the U.S. Open, his first major. He finished with a record score of 16-under-par on his way to an eight-shot victory, as the youngest winner since Bobby Jones in 1923. He has been cited as the most exciting young prospect in golf and having the potential to become one of the highest earners in sports in terms of endorsements. The victory lifted McIlroy's position in the Official World Golf Ranking to a career high of number four. In November, he finished tied for 4th at the WGC-HSBC Champions to move to a new career high of number 2. On 4 March 2012, McIlroy won the Honda Classic, which propelled him to number one in the world rankings. Two weeks later, he fell to number two following Luke Donald's win at the Transitions Championship, but regained number one on 15 April 2012..

Early life, family, and early golf development

McIlroy was born in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. He is the only child of Gerry and Rosie (née McDonald) McIlroy; he attended St. Patrick's Primary School and then Sullivan Upper School.

He was introduced to golf at an exceptionally young age by his father, who coached him from at least the age of 18 months. Gerry McIlroy is a fine golfer himself, who once played at a scratch handicap level. Young Rory gave early evidence of his golf potential by hitting a 40-yard drive at the age of two years. Rory was very keen for the sport from the start, and asked his father virtually every day to take him to the golf course. Family lore relates that Rory received a new golf club as a present, being shown the correct grip by his father, then taking the club to bed with him that night, with his hands holding the club properly. A video on golf technique produced by champion Nick Faldo was his early favourite.

Gerry McIlroy held down several jobs to earn additional income for his son's golf development. Rory's mother worked extra shifts at the local 3M plant. His first significant international victory came in the World Championship for the 9–10 age group bracket at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami, Florida. Rory McIlroy learned his early golf at the Holywood Golf Club, which he still retains as his home course. He became the youngest club member at age seven. Rory started his early training with Michael Bannon, previously the Golf Professional of Holywood Golf Club, who is also his current coach and dedicated mentor.

Amateur career

McIlroy at age 15 was a member of Europe's winning 2004 Junior Ryder Cup team; the event was held in Ohio. In 2005 he became the youngest-ever winner of both the West of Ireland Championship and the Irish Close Championship. He retained the West of Ireland Championship in 2006 and followed that up with back-to-back wins at the Irish Close Championship. In August 2006, he won the European Amateur at Biella Golf Club, near Milan, Italy with the score of 274.

In late 2004, at age 15, he signed a letter of intent to play collegiate golf at East Tennessee State University, but after his wins in 2005, he decided to forgo the golf scholarship and continue to play amateur golf in Europe. McIlroy shot an opening round of 3-under-par 68 at the 2007 Open Championship at Carnoustie, his first major championship entry. He shot +5 overall and was the highest finishing amateur, winning the silver medal.

In July 2005, at age 16, McIlroy shot a new competitive course record score of 61 on the Dunluce links of Royal Portrush Golf Club. In October 2006, McIlroy represented Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy, which is the Amateur World Team Championship. On 6 February 2007, he became the second man to top the World Amateur Golf Ranking, though he lost the top spot after just one week.

McIlroy was part of the Great Britain & Ireland team at the 2007 Walker Cup, held at the Royal County Down Golf Club. On the first day of the event he was paired with Jonathan Caldwell for morning foursomes, and the match was halved. In the afternoon he faced Billy Horschel in singles, but Horschel won 1 up. On the second day McIlroy and Caldwell lost in morning foursomes by the score of 2 & 1. In the afternoon he faced Horschel in singles again, and this time he won by the score of 1 up. McIlroy's overall record was (1–2–1) in Win-Loss-Tie format. The United States came out victorious by a score of 12½ to 11½. He made his first appearance in a European Tour event a few days after turning 16, when he took part in the 2005 British Masters. He made the cut on the European Tour for the first time as a 17-year-old at the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic, where he had to forego prize money of over €7,600 due to his amateur status.

Professional career

2007

McIlroy turned professional on 19 September 2007, the day before the Quinn Direct British Masters. He signed with International Sports Management. At the Quinn Direct British Masters, McIlroy shot 290 (+2), which put him in a tie for 42nd place. He finished in 3rd place at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October. He became the youngest Affiliate Member in the history of The European Tour to earn a tour card. The next week, he secured his card for 2008 by finishing in a tie for 4th place at the Open de Madrid Valle Romano. On the 2007 European Tour season, he earned €277,255 and finished in 95th place on the Order of Merit list. He was the highest ranked associate member.

2008

Before his season started, Tiger Woods invited McIlroy to play in the 2007 Target World Challenge, held in December. McIlroy declined the invitation, preferring to play the European Open.

McIlroy started his 2008 European Tour season at the UBS Hong Kong Open. He did not make the one-under cut. He finished in a tie for 15th at the MasterCard Masters in Australia. He entered the top 200 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time on 27 January 2008.

On 7 September 2008, McIlroy took a four-shot lead into the final round of the Omega European Masters in Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland, but finished in a tie for first place with Frenchman Jean-François Lucquin after a play-off. He finished the 2008 season ranked 36th on the European Tour Order of Merit.

2009

After finishing second in the UBS Hong Kong Open in November 2008, McIlroy attained his highest world ranking position of 50. He finished the 2008 calendar year at 39th in the world rankings after finishing joint 3rd in the South African Open. This earned him an invitation to the 2009 Masters Tournament. His first professional win came at age 19 when he won the Dubai Desert Classic on 1 February 2009, this win took him to 16th in the world rankings.

In the 2009 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, McIlroy reached the quarterfinals. In the first round he defeated Louis Oosthuizen 2 & 1, in the second round he beat Hunter Mahan 1-up, and in the third round he beat Tim Clark, 4 & 3. He lost to Geoff Ogilvy, who won the tournament, in the quarterfinals 2 & 1. McIlroy continued to play on the PGA Tour until May. He finished tied for 13th at the Honda Classic, tied for 20th at the WGC-CA Championship and tied for 19th at the Shell Houston Open.

In April 2009, McIlroy appeared at The Masters in his first major tournament as a professional and his first Masters Tournament. He finished the tournament tied for 20th place, two shots under par for the tournament. Of the players to make the cut, McIlroy achieved the third highest average driving distance, beaten only by Dustin Johnson and Andrés Romero. McIlroy played in two more events on the PGA Tour after the Masters including his first appearance at The Players Championship where he was cut.

McIlroy then returned to Europe and recorded two top 25 finishes leading up to his first U.S. Open. He finished fifth at the BMW PGA Championship and 12th at the European Open. McIlroy played in his second major as a professional at the 2009 U.S. Open. His final round of 68 (−2) helped him finish in a tie for 10th, his first top ten finish in a major. The following week, McIlroy finished in 15th at the BMW International Open. McIlroy played in his first Open Championship as a professional in July and finished T-47. He finished T-3 at the 2009 PGA Championship.

McIlroy finished the 2009 season ranked second on the Race to Dubai, behind Lee Westwood, and in November he entered the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time. McIlroy finished 2009 ranked 9th in the world. In November 2009, McIlroy announced that he would join the American-based PGA Tour for the 2010 season.

McIlroy accepted an invitation from Gary Player to participate in the 2009 Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City, South Africa in December, but withdrew after feeling unwell.

2010

McIlroy finished 3rd at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. McIlroy failed to defend his title at the 2010 Dubai Desert Classic after shooting a round of final-round 73 to finish in a tie for fifth place.

In the 2010 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, McIlroy beat Kevin Na 1-up in the first round and then lost on a playoff hole to Oliver Wilson. After the Accenture Match Play Championship, McIlroy took time off from golf due to a sore back. After a two-week break McIlroy returned in the 2010 Honda Classic and finished in a tie for 40th.

On 2 May, McIlroy recorded his first PGA Tour win after shooting 62 in the final round of the Quail Hollow Championship. The round set a new course record, and concluded with six consecutive scores of three. He became the first player since Tiger Woods to win a PGA Tour event prior to his 21st birthday. The win earned him a two-year Tour exemption. On 2 June, McIlroy played at the Memorial Skins Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. McIlroy finished T10 at the Memorial Tournament.

On 15 July 2010, McIlroy confirmed his status as a favourite for the Open title on the Old Course at St Andrews by shooting a 9-under-par 63 on the opening day, the lowest-ever first round score in the 150-year history of the Open Championship, and tying the course record. He missed a putt on the 17th, "The Road Hole", that would have given him the outright record. His tied third finish in the 2010 Open Championship sent him to a career high world ranking of seventh.

McIlroy missed out on a chance to win the 2010 PGA Championship when he three-putted the 15th green to fall out of a tie for the lead. His final-hole birdie putt narrowly missed the hole to leave him a shot out of the playoff between Bubba Watson and eventual winner Martin Kaymer. McIlroy finished tied for third. On 4 October 2010, McIlroy won a crucial half-point to help Europe regain the Ryder Cup. Following the Ryder Cup, he announced in November that he would return to play full-time on the European Tour, although he also stated that he would continue to play 11 or 12 tournaments in the U.S. per year. He attributed the decision to having closer friends on the European Tour, his part in the Ryder Cup victory, and wanting to be nearer his girlfriend and family.

McIlroy later stated that he regretted his 2010 decision to give up his PGA Tour card, and his skipping the 2010 Players Championship at Sawgrass. McIlroy's manager Chubby Chandler's aversion to the PGA Tour was cited by McIlroy as one of the main reasons for their later professional split.

2011

Masters

On 7 April, McIlroy shot a bogey-free 7-under-par 65 in the first round of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia to take the lead after the first day of the four-day competition. He is the youngest player to date to lead the Masters at the close of the first day. On Friday, he shot 69 to lead by two strokes over Jason Day with a 10-under-par score. On Saturday, he shot 70 to finish at 12-under-par, four strokes ahead of four other challengers. However, on the fourth and final day, he shot the worst round in history by any professional golfer leading after the third round of the Masters. McIlroy scored one-over-par 37 on the first nine, and still had the lead, but shot a round of 80, finishing T15 at 4-under for the tournament.

McIlroy failed to make the cut in his title defence at Quail Hollow in early May, was well off the pace at the BMW PGA Championship. He held the 18 hole lead at the Memorial Tournament but finished in 5th place.

2011 U.S. Open win

McIlroy won the U.S. Open held at Congressional in Bethesda, Maryland on 19 June winning by eight shots over Jason Day. McIlroy set several records in his victory, most notably, his 72-hole aggregate score of 268 (16-under) was a new U.S. Open record. The 268 aggregate beat the previous record of 272 held by Jack Nicklaus (Baltusrol, 1980), Lee Janzen (Baltusrol, 1993), Tiger Woods (Pebble Beach, 2000), and Jim Furyk (Olympia Fields, 2003). The 16-under in relation to par beat Tiger Woods' 12 under at Pebble Beach Golf Links in 2000.

In preparation for the US Open, McIlroy practiced at Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey, rather than at Congressional, but did play two practice rounds at Congressional about a week before the start of the Open, after returning from a two-day trip to Haiti as an ambassador for UNICEF.

On 17 June during the second round, McIlroy became the first player in the history of the tournament to amass a score of 13-under-par at any point in the tournament. He achieved the feat by making a birdie at the 17th hole in the second round. Despite a double bogey on the final hole, his two-day total of 131 (65–66, 11-under par) set a record as the lowest 36-hole total in U.S. Open history. The score was one better than Ricky Barnes' 132 in 2009. He was also the fastest golfer to reach double digits under par in the U.S. Open, reaching 10 under par in 26 holes.

On 18 June, during the U.S. Open's third round, he became the first player to reach 14-under par at the tournament by making a birdie at the 15th hole, on his way to a 54-hole U.S. Open record of 199. In doing so, he also built an eight-shot lead going into the final round. A final round of 69 allowed him to claim his first major championship setting the 72-hole record.

Rest of 2011

McIlroy took a month off from competitive golf. At The Open Championship he struggled in tough weather over a difficult layout at Royal St George's Golf Club, failing to contend with the conditions. He was again a non-factor at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club after injuring his wrist on the 3rd hole of the first round after attempting to hit a ball behind a tree root. McIlroy went on to win the Lake Malaren Shanghai Masters in a playoff against Anthony Kim. In December 2011, he won the UBS Hong Kong Open by 2 shots.

2012

McIlroy's first tournament of the year was at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship during the Dubai swing of the European Tour at the end of January. The tournament was in the spotlight due to its high profile field including former and current World No. 1 Tiger Woods and Luke Donald respectively, and World No. 2 Lee Westwood. McIlroy also played alongside Woods and Donald in the marquee group during the first two days. McIlroy shot rounds of 67-72-68 to start round 4 in joint 3rd place behind joint leaders Robert Rock and Tiger Woods. He shot a 3-under-par 69 on Sunday to finish lone second, one shot behind winner Robert Rock. McIlroy continued the Dubai swing at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic where he finished tied 5th on 14-under-par, four shots behind winner Rafael Cabrera-Bello. He continued to play well at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona where he won matches against George Coetzee, Anders Hanson, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Bae Sang-moon and Lee Westwood before losing to Hunter Mahan in the final. After 10 holes in the final match, McIlroy was 4 down to Mahan, but cut the deficit to 2 down through 16 holes. The 17th hole was halved with pars, securing the win for Mahan. There was anticipation surrounding the semi-final match between McIlroy and Westwood, as the winner would become the number one golfer in the world if they also won the final. McIlroy's runner-up finish moved him up to number two in the world while also putting him at the top of the Race to Dubai leaderboard.

The following week, McIlroy continued good form and won the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and with it claimed the No. 1 spot in the world rankings. He started the fourth round in first place at 11-under-par after rounds of 66-67-66, ahead of a chasing pack including Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood and Keegan Bradley. McIlroy shot a final round of 69 to claim his third PGA Tour title and finished two shots ahead of Tiger Woods and Tom Gillis. McIlroy became the second youngest World No. 1 and moved up to fourth place in the FedEx Cup standings. McIlroy played the following week at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in Miami, Florida. His recent good form began to dwindle slightly on Thursday, when he shot a 1-over par 73. However, he shot 69 and 65 the next two days to begin the fourth round in tied 8th place. Going into the back 9 on Sunday, he had a chance of winning his second title of 2012 in as many weeks due to the leaders faltering. However two late bogeys halted his chance and he settled for 3rd place, two shots behind winner Justin Rose.

Technique, additional mentors and coaches

McIlroy employs the interlocking grip on full shots; this same somewhat rare method is used by Tiger Woods, the dominant star golfer of McIlroy's youthful years. Previous great champions who have used this grip included Jack Nicklaus, Tom Kite, John Daly, Gene Sarazen, Francis Ouimet, and Willie Anderson.

Darren Clarke, the veteran Northern Irish Ryder Cup player and winner of pro events around the world, met McIlroy when he was 12 years old, and has been a mentor to him since that time. Nick Faldo, six-time major winner, welcomed young McIlroy into his youth golf tournament series from his early teen years. Graeme McDowell, the Northern Irish Ryder Cup player and 2010 U.S. Open champion who is ten years older, has helped and mentored McIlroy from his early professional years. McDowell frequently plays practice rounds at Tour events with McIlroy, and has seen his talents develop quickly. The two are close friends. McIlroy has recently obtained putting assistance and instruction from Dave Stockton, a retired PGA Tour star who won two major championships. Stockton is a renowned expert on putting who coaches several Tour players, and has written a well-received book on his techniques. Retired superstar Jack Nicklaus met young McIlroy when he was starting to play the U.S. Tour in 2009, and extended his friendship along with an early invitation to his Memorial Tournament, one of the Tour's most prestigious events. Nicklaus and McIlroy get together for lunch whenever possible, and Nicklaus reached out to McIlroy after his collapse in the 2011 Masters with some friendly advice on how to close out tournaments.

McIlroy was managed by Englishman Andrew "Chubby" Chandler, a former European Tour player who founded International Sports Management. The pair split in October 2011, with McIlroy joining Dublin-based Horizon Sports Management.

Controversy

On 17 August 2010, McIlroy answered a media question regarding Tiger Woods' potential of getting a captain's pick in the Ryder Cup (despite his poor play at the time) by saying that any member of the European Team would "fancy his chances against him".

In May 2011, McIlroy was criticised for skipping The Players Championship. The skip was controversial because 48 of the top 50 in the world participated in it, the other golfer skipping being fellow European Lee Westwood.

On 17 July 2011, following a poor showing over the weekend in the 2011 Open Championship, McIlroy told the media that he was "not a fan of golf tournaments that are predicted so much by the weather,", and saying he would rather "wait for a year when the weather is nice" instead of tuning his game to prepare for the Open Championship. He also added that he would "rather play when it's 80 degrees and sunny and not much wind".

On 28 July 2011, after being criticised on air by commentator Jay Townsend about McIlroy's questionable course management skills during the first round of the Irish Open, McIlroy wrote on Twitter telling Townsend to "shut up" and saying Townsend is a "failed golfer" and that "his opinion meant nothing". Later, McIlroy stood by his comments and stated that his comments were made in defense of his caddie J. P. Fitzgerald whom Townsend had been blaming for McIlroy's course management since 2008.

Personal life

McIlroy self-identifies as both British and Irish, and carries a British passport. When in Northern Ireland, he lives near the town of Carryduff in County Down, about 20 minutes from Belfast. The land around his house includes a custom-made practice facility, as well as a scaled-down football pitch.

He is an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland and made his first visit to Haiti with UNICEF in June 2011.

His great uncle Joe McIlroy was murdered by the Ulster Volunteer Force at his east Belfast home in November 1972. As of 2011 he has been in a relationship with Danish tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.

McIlroy is also a Manchester United football supporter, admitting in an interview with the club website that "they create good football when they needed to down the years".

McIlroy was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to sport.

Amateur wins (5)

2005 West of Ireland Championship, Irish Close Championship

2006 West of Ireland Championship, Irish Close Championship, European Amateur Championship

Professional wins (6)

PGA Tour wins (3)

{| style="width:53%;" |- | style="width:33%; vertical-align:top; text-align:left;"|

Legend

Major championships (1)

Other PGA Tour (2)

|}

!No.!!Date!!Tournament!!Winning score!!To par!!Marginof victory!!Runner(s)-up
		Quail Hollow Championship	72-73-66-62=273		4 strokes	Phil Mickelson
			65-66-68-69=268		8 strokes
		The Honda Classic	66-67-66-69=268		2 strokes	Tiger Woods, Tom Gillis

European Tour wins (3)

{| style="width:53%;" |- | style="width:33%; vertical-align:top; text-align:left;"|

Legend

Major championships (1)

Other European Tour (2)

|}

!No.!!Date!!Tournament!!Winning score!!To par!!Marginof victory!!Runner-up
		Dubai Desert Classic	64-68-67-70=269		1 stroke	Justin Rose
			65-66-68-69=268		8 strokes
		UBS Hong Kong Open(co-sanctioned with Asian Tour)	64-69-70-65=268		2 strokes	Grégory Havret

Other wins (1)

2011 Lake Malaren Shanghai Masters (Not sanctioned by any major tour)

European Tour professional career summary

4 27 25 16 19

Season !! Starts !! Cuts Made !! Wins !! 2nd !! 3rd !! Top 10 !! Top 25 !! Earnings (€) !! Money list rank
2007	4	|	0	0	1	2	2	277,255	95
2008	|	16	0	1	0	6	10	696,335	36
2009	|	24	1	3	3	14	18	3,610,020	2
2010	|	14	0	0	3	9	11	1,821,050	13
2011	|	19	2	2	3	12	17	4,002,168	2
! Career* !! 91 !! 77 !! 3 !! 6 !! 10 !! 43 !! 58 !! 10,406,829 !! 25

As of end of 2011 season.

Major championships

Wins (1)

{|class="wikitable" !Year!!Championship!!54 Holes!!Winning score!!Margin!!Runner-up |- style="background:#fbceb1;" |2011 ||U.S. Open ||8 shot lead || −16 (65-66-68-69=268) || 8 strokes || Jason Day |}

Results timeline

{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px; border-collapse: collapse;" |- style="background:#eee;" !align="left"|Tournament !! 2007 !! 2008 !! 2009 !! 2010 !! 2011 !! 2012 |- |The Masters | style="text-align:center;"|DNP | style="text-align:center;"|DNP | style="text-align:center;"|T20 | style="text-align:center;"|CUT | style="text-align:center;"|T15 | style="text-align:center;"|T40 |- |U.S. Open | style="text-align:center;"|DNP | style="text-align:center;"|DNP | style="text-align:center; background:yellow;"|T10 | style="text-align:center;"|CUT | style="text-align:center; background:#0f0;"|1 | style="text-align:center;"| |- |The Open Championship | style="text-align:center;"|T42 LA | style="text-align:center;"|DNP | style="text-align:center;"|T47 | style="text-align:center; background:yellow;"|T3 | style="text-align:center;"|T25 | style="text-align:center;"| |- |PGA Championship | style="text-align:center;"|DNP | style="text-align:center;"|DNP | style="text-align:center; background:yellow;"|T3 | style="text-align:center; background:yellow;"|T3 | style="text-align:center;"|T64 | style="text-align:center;"| |}

LA = Low Amateur DNP = Did not play CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" = tied Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournaments played: 14

Wins: 1

2nd: 0

3rd: 3

Top 10s: 5

Top 25s: 8

Missed cuts: 2

Most consecutive cuts made: 7

Results in World Golf Championship events

!Tournament!!2009!!2010!!2011!!2012
align="left"		R32	R32
align="left"	T20	T65
align="left"	T68
align="left"

DNP = Did not play QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = tied Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances

Amateur

Junior Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2004 (winners)

Eisenhower Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2006

European Amateur Team Championship (representing Ireland): 2007 (winners)

Walker Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2007

Professional

Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2010 (winners)

Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2009 (winners)

World Cup (representing Ireland): 2009, 2011

Equipment

Driver - Titleist 910D2, 8.5 degree, Rombax 7V05 X Flex

Fairway woods - Titleist 906F2, 15 degree, Project X 76 gram X-Flex; Titleist 906F2, 18.5 degree, Fujikura Fit-on 11 Pro 95 X-Flex

Irons - Titleist MB, 3-9 Iron, Project X 7.0 shafts

Wedges - Titleist Bob Vokey, 48, 54, 60 degree, Project X 7.0 shafts

Putter - Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport GSS (prototype)33"

Ball - Titleist ProV1x

Bag - Titleist SM Staff Bag, 2012 edition

References

External links

Category:Golfers from Northern Ireland Category:European Tour golfers Category:PGA Tour golfers Category:Winners of men's major golf championships Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:People of the Year Awards winners Category:Laureus World Sports Awards winners Category:GQ Award winners Category:People educated at Sullivan Upper School Category:People from Holywood Category:1989 births Category:Living people

da:Rory McIlroy de:Rory McIlroy fr:Rory McIlroy ga:Rory McIlroy it:Rory McIlroy sw:Rory McIlroy nl:Rory McIlroy ja:ローリー・マキロイ no:Rory McIlroy fi:Rory McIlroy zh:羅伊·麥克羅伊