In the summer of 2004, seventeen-year-old Maria Sharapova became the first Russian player to win Wimbledon, the prestigious tennis event that takes place every summer in London, England. Wimbledon is one of the four Grand Slam events in tennis, along with the U.S., French, and Australian Open tournaments, and winners of these contests have triumphed over the best players in the world. Sharapova, who had spent much of her life in Florida at a renowned tennis academy, was the third youngest champion in Wimbledon history, and her women's singles Wimbledon title came with a $1 million prize purse. Afterward, she was signed to a number of product endorsement deals. By the summer of 2005, she had won a spot on Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 list as the highest paid female athlete in the world.
Says good-bye to mother
Born on April 19, 1987, Sharapova is the daughter of Yuri and Yelena Sharapova. Her father worked in the construction industry, and both parents were avid athletes. They had met in Gomel, a city in the Ukraine that was near the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in April 1986, just a year before Sharapova was born. When her mother became pregnant, she and Yuri decided to move east to escape the potentially damaging radioactive effects of the accident. They settled in Nyagan, Siberia, where Sharapova was born. Yuri found work in the Siberian oilfields, but the climate was too cold for them. They saved their money for four years and finally were able to move to Sochi, a pleasant resort town on the Black Sea in the south of Russia.
Sharapova's parents liked to play tennis, and they gave her a racket as a toddler and began teaching her how to hit the ball. Because they could not afford a genuine child-size racket, they cut off the handle of an adult one for her to master instead. She proved a quick learner, and when she was six years old they traveled to Moscow for a youth tennis clinic. One of the celebrity athletes at the event was Czech-born Martina Navratilova (1956–), a nine-time women's singles winner at Wimbledon. Navratilova was impressed by Sharapova's skills and suggested to the parents that they contact the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. This was a tennis-focused boarding school that had trained several future champions, including Andre Agassi (1970–), Pete Sampras (1971–), and Monica Seles (1973–).
"Tennis obviously is going to make my money at this point, and that's what I've been practicing for. But it's not my life."
Maria Sharapova Biography
Name: Maria Yuryevna Sharapova
Date of Birth: April 19, 1987
Birthplace: Nyagan, Russia (Siberian Region)
Residence: Bradenton, Florida, USA
Nationality: Russian
Height: 6'2
Weight: 130 lbs. (59 kg)
Plays: Right-handed
Clothing: Nike
Racquet: Prince
Maria's Endorsements:Speedminton, Motorola, Parlux Fragrances, Canon, TAG Heuer, Honda Japan, Colgate-Palmolive, Land Rover, Gatorade, Sony Ericsson.
