Maria Yuryevna Sharapova is a world renowned professional tennis player who hails from Russia. She started her professional tennis career at the age of 14 and despite suffering from multiple injuries during the course of her career, Maria Sharapova is one of the few woman tennis players to earn many accolades and retain her position in the sport. Other than sports, she has endorsed multiple brands owing to her popularity and good looks. Maria Sharapova has also supported the United Nations Development Programme. Though a Russian national, she has been residing in Florida, United States of America since 1994. Her performance and accompanied grunts during the game has earned her nicknames like “Screaming Cinderella” and “Siberian Siren” from media and press. Maria Sharapova however admits that screaming aids her in concentrating on the game. Her interests other than sports are towards music, reading and fashion. Maria Sharapova is also known to have avid interest in collecting stamps. She has her own website and has immense fan following on social media platforms such as twitter, facebook etc.

Childhood & Early Life

• Maria Sharapova was born on 19 April 1987 to Yuri and Yelena in the Nyagan town of Russia.
• In 1994, she moved from Russia to the United States of America along with her father to enroll at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Her mother had to stay back in Russia as she did not get visa and joined them after two years.
• Maria Sharapova was not granted admission to Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy immediately as she was too young to join the academy. She initially took up tennis training at the Rick Macci Tennis Academy and later signed a deal with the International Management Group (IMG), a global sports and talent organization based in New York.

Career

• When Maria Sharapova was merely 13 years old, she won the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in the girls’ 16 division and was then awarded the ‘Rising Star’ award.
• She began her professional Tennis career in 2001 and made her first WTA debut at the Pacific Life Open in 2002.
• Since she was young, there were restrictions on how many professional events she could play. Therefore, she decided to concentrate on junior tournaments. In 2002, she reached the finals of the girls' singles events at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
• In 2003, Maria Sharapova made her debut at the Australian Open and French Open, but lost in the first round at both the tournaments. She won her maiden WTA title at the Japan Open Tennis Championship. She was awarded the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2003.
• Maria Sharapova’s won her first Grand Slam singles title at the Wimbledon in 2004, at the age of 17, after defeating defending champion Serena Williams.
• She thus became the second Russian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title. As a result of her win, she entered the top 10 in the rankings for the first time.
• In 2005, Sharapova reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of the French Open. She also reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon before losing to the eventual champion Venus Williams.
• On August 22, 2005, she became the first Russian woman to hold the world No. 1 ranking. But her reign at the top was short lived and within a week she lost her No. 1 ranking to Lindsay Davenport.
• In 2006, Maria Sharapova reached the semifinals of Australian Open, lost in fourth round of French Open and was defeated in the semifinals of the Wimbledon by the eventual champion Amelie Mauresmo. She won the second Grand Slam singles title of her career when she defeated Justine Henin to win the U.S. Open.
• In 2007, she reached the finals of the Australian Open, reached the semifinals of the French Open, lost in the fourth round of the Wimbledon and made a exit in the third round of the U.S. Open. Sharapova was also troubled by the injuries during the year and her ranking fell below top 5.
• In 2008, she won the third Grand Slam title of her career when she defeated Ana Ivanovic in the finals of the Australian Open. In May 2008, she once again became the No. 1 player but thereafter she experienced a sharp dip in her form; she reached the fourth round of the French Open and lost in the second round of the Wimbledon. Due to a shoulder injury she didn't play in the later part of the year and underwent a corrective surgery.
• Shoulder injury, treatment and rehabilitation kept her away from the sport for many months that followed and though Maria Sharapova did make comebacks in between, until 2011 there were no major wins for the player.
• In 2012, Sharapova won her first French Open title and became only the tenth woman to complete a Career Grand Slam. In the process, she also regained the world No. 1 ranking. She won a silver medal in the 2012 London Olympics.
• In 2013, Sharapova was once again troubled by the shoulder injury, which affected her performance. She reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, reached the finals of the French Open, lost in the second round of the Wimbledon and withdrew from the U.S. Open due to a shoulder injury.
• In 2014, Maria Sharapova won the second French Open title of her career by defeating Simona Halep. She also won the Stuttgart Open, Madrid Open, and China Open that year. Her ranking rose from No. 4 to No. 2 at the end of the year. In 2015, she reached the finals of the Australian Open, won the Italian Open, and lost in the semifinals of the Wimbledon. She did not play in the U.S. Open due to injury.
• Maria Sharapova has been the brand ambassador of many leading brands such as Motorola, Tiffany, Land Rover, Canon, Tropicana, Gatorade, Nike, Porsche, Tag Heuer etc.

Awards & Achievements

• She has to her credit 5 Grand Slam Titles – One at Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open and two at French Open along with 35 singles titles.
• Maria Sharapova was appointed the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the UNDP specifically for the Chernobyl recovery projects in 2007.
• As on 2015, Maria Sharapova is ranked No.3 by the Women’s Tennis Association.
• Maria Sharapova was the first torch bearer in the lighting ceremony of Winter Olympics in Russia in 2014.

Personal Life & Legacy

• Maria Sharapova had dated singer Adam Levine in 2005 but the couple split after a short while.
• In 2008, she had a short lived relationship with TV producer Charlie Ebersol.
• In 2009, she began dating Slovenian basketball player Sasha Vujacic and the couple had announced their engagement in 2010. However, Maria Sharapova announced the end of the relationship in 2012.
• In 2007, Maria Sharapova became the goodwill ambassador of the UNDP. The Maria Sharapova Foundation in collaboration with the UN is working towards helping children around the world achieve their dreams.

Trivia

• Maria Sharapova was once offered a cameo role in a leading TV Show Desperate Housewives, but she declined the offer.
• In 2010, she launched her own apparel line “ Nike Maria Sharapova Collection”
• In 2013, Maria Sharapova along with candy expert Jeff Rubin has launched “Sugarpova”- a premium candy line. A percentage of the income generated goes to the Maria Sharapova Foundation.

Business ventures

Sharapova launched her confectionery brand Sugarpova in 2012. Sugarpova had a reported sales of $20 million in the year 2019. In 2014, Sharapova invested in sunscreen brand supergoop. It was reported in 2021 that Blackstone had bought a majority stake in supergoop. Sharapova also appeared as a guest shark in the American TV show Shark Tank in 2020, where she teamed up with Mark Cuban to invest $900,000 for a 30% stake in Wearable wrist and ankle weights company Bala Bangles. Later in 2020, Sharapova became an investor in wellness brand therabody. Some other companies Sharapova has invested in includes UFC, Tonal, Public.com, Moonpay, Clio Snacks. In April 2022, Sharapova also became a member of Board of Directors of fashion brand Moncler. Sharapova acts as an advisor to brands Naked Retail and Bright.

Career Stats

Singles finals: 10 (5 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	2004	Wimbledon	Grass	Serena Williams	6–1, 6–4
Win	2006	US Open	Hard	Justine Henin	6–4, 6–4
Loss	2007	Australian Open	Hard	Serena Williams	1–6, 2–6
Win	2008	Australian Open	Hard	Ana Ivanovic	7–5, 6–3
Loss	2011	Wimbledon	Grass	Petra Kvitová	3–6, 4–6
Loss	2012	Australian Open	Hard	Victoria Azarenka	3–6, 0–6
Win	2012	French Open	Clay	Sara Errani	6–3, 6–2
Loss	2013	French Open	Clay	Serena Williams	4–6, 4–6
Win	2014	French Open (2)	Clay	Simona Halep	6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–4
Loss	2015	Australian Open	Hard	Serena Williams	3–6, 6–7(5–7)

WTA Tour Championships

Finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	2004	Hard	Serena Williams	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
Loss	2007	Hard	Justine Henin	7–5, 5–7, 3–6
Loss	2012	Hard	Serena Williams	4–6, 3–6