Maria Sharapova (born April
19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player, and currently World
No. 1 as of September 12, 2005. Her parents are originally from Gomel,
Belarus, but moved to Russia in 1986 in the aftermath of the Chernobyl
nuclear accident. Sharapova was born in Nyagan, Russia, the following
year.
Career
At the age of three, Sharapova moved with her family to the resort town
of Sochi, beginning to play tennis at the age of four, using a racquet
given to her by Yevgeny Kafelnikov's father. At age five or six, at a
tennis clinic in Moscow, Sharapova was spotted by Martina Navratilova,
who urged her parents to get her serious coaching in the United States.
In 2004, Sharapova became the second youngest Wimbledon women's champion
in the Open Era (after Martina Hingis) by defeating defending two-time
champion Serena Williams in straight sets (6-1, 6-4). In the process she
also became the first Russian ever to win that tournament.
Maria Sharapova uses the Prince Shark Racket and consequently the
popularity of the racket has gone through the roof.
A 6 ft 2 in. blonde, Sharapova is regarded by many as possessing a
natural beauty and figure and has done some modeling, having signed a
contract in November 2003 with IMG Models. She enjoys fashion and is
known to read celebrity magazines. However, she says she does not want
to overdo these activities, preferring to focus on her tennis. She is
often compared to Anna Kournikova, also a Russian Bollettieri student
and model. However, Sharapova, Bollettieri, and Kournikova all reject
the comparison.
From June 2004 until her Wimbledon semi-final appearance in 2005,
Sharapova had a 22-match winning streak on grass, including back-to-back
Birmingham titles and the Wimbledon crown. Sharapova's huge success
continued after winning Wimbledon, with a victory at the WTA Season-Ending
Championships and consistent results.
In April 2005, Sharapova was listed by People Magazine as among the 50
most beautiful celebrities in the world. In June of 2005, Forbes
magazine listed Sharapova as the highest-paid female athlete in the
world, with annual earnings of $18 million. A signficant portion of this
amount came from endorsements.
Defending her Wimbledon title in 2005 proved to be a simple enough task
at first, with Sharapova sailing through to the semi-finals with ease
without losing a set. However, she dropped her first set of the
tournament against a rejuvenated Venus Williams and lost the match 6-7
1-6 in one of the most thrilling and masterful displays of power and
accuracy seen in the women's game. Sharapova's streak on grass was ended,
as was her quest for the No. 1 ranking, with Lindsay Davenport, who lost
a historic match to Venus Williams in the 2005 Wimbledon final, holding
firm.
However, a back injury Davenport sustained in the Wimbledon final meant
that she could not defend her titles won during the US hard court season
of 2004. Because of this, she lost valuable ranking points. Sharapova
was also suffering from an injury and did not complete a tournament
during the season; however, she had fewer points to defend and therefore
rose to the No. 1 ranking on August 22, 2005. However, Sharapova's reign
was shortlived, lasting only a week after Davenport re-ascended after
winning the New Haven title. Sharapova rose to No. 1 ranking again on
September 12, 2005 despite losing in the Semi-finals of the US Open.
Her loss in the semifinal of the 2005 US Open againt Kim Clijsters,
marked the fourth time that season she lost at a Grand Slam tournament
against the eventual champion: Australian Open-SF-Serena Williams,
French Open-QF-Justine Henin-Hardenne, Wimbledon-SF-Venus Williams, US
Open-SF-Kim Clijsters.
US Open 2005
Sharapova was defeated in the semi-finals of the US Open against Kim
Clijsters after a nerve-wrecking encounter that ended 2-6 in first set,
followed up by 7-6 in the second (ending in a tie-break) to finally lose
with 3-6 in the third. Sharapova's defeat was much due to her
inconsistent serves that led to a total of seven double faults during
the encounter. Nevertheless, after falling behind 0-40 in the 12th game
of the second set, the Russian started uncorking winners and managed to
bring the game to deuce where after she fought off two more match points
to force a tiebreak. Unfortunately, she didn't have the physical
endurance left to pull-off a winning game on the last set and inevitably
lost the match to Clijsters for the fourth time in a row.
Education
Sharapova studies via correspondence on the internet with the Keystone
High School home schooling program and has a liking for sociology.
