Maria Sharapova

When Sharapova was six, she and her father moved from their life of poverty in Russia to the United States, to enroll in the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. After rising rapidly through the junior and professional ranks in the years that followed, Sharapova won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 17. In the two years that followed, Sharapova won eight titles on the WTA Tour and had two brief stints as the World No. 1. However, she lost all five Grand Slam semifinals she played during this period. She ultimately won her second Grand Slam title at the 2006 US Open. In 2007, a right shoulder injury forced Sharapova to withdraw from numerous tournaments; this was partially responsible for her dropping out of the top five on the WTA world rankings for the first time in three years. Although she won her third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in early 2008 and returned to the World No. 1 position later in the year, her shoulder needed surgery in October 2008. Sharapova was away from the sport for ten months until May 2009, which caused her ranking to drop out of the top 100. Since returning, Sharapova's ranking has recovered to within the top 15. Sharapova's public profile extends beyond tennis. She has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Sharapova was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo! in both 2005 and 2008.[1][3][4] In July 2008, as a result of her success both on and off court, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete, earning US$26 million.[5] Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Project Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with efforts in Chernobyl to recover from the 1986 nuclear disaster. Sharapova was born in 1987 to Yuri and Elena, ethnic Russians, in the town of Nyagan' in Siberia, Russia. Her parents moved from Gomel, Belarus after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 affected the region.[6] When Sharapova was two, the family moved to Sochi where her father befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to become a Grand Slam champion. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racket at the age of four, whereupon she began practicing regularly with her father in a local park.[7] At the age of six,

Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria SharapovaSharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navrátilová, who recommended professional training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, which had previously trained players such as Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova.[7] Sharapova and her father, neither of whom could speak English, moved to Florida in 1994. Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years.[6] Sharapova's father took various low-paying jobs, including dish washing, to fund her lessons before she was admitted to the academy. In 1995, she was signed by IMG and finally enrolled in the academy.[7] [edit] 2001–03: Professional debut Sharapova turned professional in 2001 but played just one tournament that year. The following year, the 14 year-old Sharapova became the youngest female to reach the final of the junior Australian Open[18], before reaching the final of the junior Wimbledon Championships later in the year.[19] She also won three titles on the International Tennis Federation Circuit and played her first matches on the main Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, winning a match at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, a Tier I event, before losing to former World No. 1 Monica Seles in the second round. Sharapova started playing WTA Tour events full-time in 2003. She won through the qualifying rounds to reach the main draw of Grand Slams for the first time at the Australian Open and the French Open, but lost in the first round of both.[20] Her breakthrough came on grass; at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Sharapova defeated World No. 15 Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals, a result which secured Sharapova both her first WTA Tour semifinal and her first win over a player ranked inside the top 20. She then lost to Shinobu Asagoe in the semifinals. As a wildcard at Wimbledon, Sharapova defeated 11th seed Jelena Dokic to reach the fourth round, where she lost in three sets to Svetlana Kuznetsova.[20] After being defeated in the second round of the US Open by Émilie Loit,[20] Sharapova won her first two WTA Tour titles in the fall, both at Tier III level. These were the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, defeating Anikó Kapros in the final,[20] and the Bell Challenge in Quebec City,
Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria SharapovaOpen by seventh seed Anastasia Myskina.[21] The highlight of the remainder of her spring hardcourt season was a run to the semifinals at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, USA, where she ultimately lost to Vera Zvonareva.[21] 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 in Berlin[21] and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, both of which were Tier I events.[21] At the latter event, Sharapova defeated a player ranked inside the top 10 for the first time with a straight-sets win over World No. 10 Elena Dementieva. Sharapova went on to make the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the French Open, before losing there to Paola Suárez 6–1, 6–3. Sharapova won the third title of her career at the Wimbledon warm-up DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, defeating Tatiana Golovin in the final.[21] Seeded 13th and aged 17 at Wimbledon, Sharapova reached her second consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she defeated Ai Sugiyama 5–7, 7–5, 6–1 to make her first Grand Slam semifinal. There, she came back from a 6–2, 3–1 deficit to defeat fifth seed and former champion Lindsay Davenport 2–6, 7–6(5), 6–1. In the final, Sharapova upset top seed and defending champion Serena Williams 6–1, 6–4 to win her first Grand Slam singles title. She was the third youngest woman to win the Wimbledon title, behind only Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis. She entered the top ten for the first time as a result of the win.[21] Sharapova's form dipped in the aftermath of her Wimbledon victory, 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. However, Sharapova rebounded in the fall to win consecutive titles in Asia, first defeating Marta Domachowska to win the Hansol Korea Open Tennis Championships in Seoul, South Korea, before defeating Mashona Washington to retain the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo. 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 in Los Angeles. 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, Sharapova defeated an injured Serena Williams 4–6, 6–2, 6–4, after trailing 4–0 in the final set.[21] Sharapova's win-loss record came to 55-15. Her five titles during the year were matched or bettered only by Davenport (7) and Justine Henin (5). Sharapova topped the prize money list for the year and finished 2004 ranked World No. 4. [edit] 2005-2006: Consistency Sharapova at Indian Wells in 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 the eventual champion Serena Williams 2–6, 7–5, 8–6.[22] In February, at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Sharapova defeated top-ranked Lindsay Davenport to win a Tier I title for the first time in her career.[22] Sharapova also won her next tournament three weeks later, the Qatar Total Open in Doha,