Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 01:52, 10 September 2006

Maria Sharapova

Country (sports)	Russia
Residence	Bradenton, Florida, USA
Height	190.5 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro	2001
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Prize money	US$6,167,274
Singles
Career record	214-54
Career titles	12
Highest ranking	1 (22 August 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	SF (2005, 2006)
French Open	QF (2004, 2005)
Wimbledon	W (2004)
US Open	W (2006)
Doubles
Career record	23-16
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 1
Last updated on: 15 August 2006.

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (Template:Lang-ru; born April 19, 1987) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player and the world's highest-paid female athlete.

Youth

Sharapova's parents are originally from Gomel, Belarus, and moved to Siberia, Russia in 1986, after the Chernobyl nuclear accident. She was born in Nyagan, Russia, the following year.

At age 9, Sharapova, accompanied by her father, moved to the United States to attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Her mother followed a few years later.

Sharpova now lives in the United States, but keeps her Russian citizenship and continues to represent Russia in international matches.

Career

In 2004, Sharapova became the third-youngest Wimbledon women's champion (after Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis) and second-youngest in the Open Era by defeating Ai Sugiyama (5-7, 7-5, 6-1), Lindsay Davenport (2-6, 7-6, 6-1), and defending two-time champion Serena Williams (6-1, 6-4). She also became the first Russian to win that tournament. Sharapova followed it up with a victory at the season-ending WTA Championships, defeating Williams (4-6, 6-2, 6-4). In the final set, she came back from a 0-4 deficit.

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, both on the court, making the semi-finals of the 2005 Australian Open (and holding 3 match points in the semis against eventual champ Williams), and off with numerous endorsements following

Defending her Wimbledon title in 2005, Sharapova sailed through to the semi-finals without losing a set, then lost to a rejuvenated Venus Williams (6-7, 1-6). Sharapova's streak on grass was ended, as was her quest to dethrone No. 1 Lindsay Davenport.

However, a back injury that Davenport sustained in the Wimbledon final meant that she could not defend the ranking points she obtained during the US hard court season of 2004. Sharapova was also suffering from an injury and did not complete a tournament during the season, but she had fewer points to defend and therefore rose to the No. 1 ranking on August 22, 2005. Her reign lasted only a week when Davenport re-ascended after winning the New Haven title. Sharapova rose to the No. 1 ranking again on September 12, 2005 despite losing in the semi-finals of the US Open. Sharapova would hold on to the No. 1 ranking for a further six weeks before relinquishing it again to Davenport following the 2005 Zurich Open.

Her loss in the semifinal of the 2005 US Open against Kim Clijsters marked the fourth time that season that 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. That record was broken in January 2006, when Sharapova lost in the Australian Open semi-final to Justine Henin-Hardenne. Henin-Hardenne went on to lose in the final of the Australian Open to Amélie Mauresmo.

On March 18, 2006, Sharapova, as No. 3 seed, claimed her first title of the year at the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells (a Tier 1 event), defeating No.4 seed Elena Dementieva in the final, 6-1 6-2. This was the 11th title of her career. Sharapova was the first Russian to reach the final of the Pacific Life Open. As Dementieva reached the final later, surprisingly defeating Justine Henin-Hardenne, this was the first-ever all-Russian final at the event. Soon after, Sharapova reached the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 3-6. She then took 2 months off because of an ankle injury, resulting in her pulling out of events in Rome and Istanbul.

Sharapova decided to participate at the 2006 French Open despite having not played any clay court tune-ups. After saving three match points in the first round against Mashona Washington, Sharapova was eliminated in the fourth round by Dinara Safina, blowing a lead of 5-1 in the third set, and losing 18 of the last 21 points to lose 5-7, 6-2, 5-7. She welcomed the onset of the grass season, but failed to add a third successive Birmingham title to her collection, losing in the semi-finals to the inexperienced American player Jamea Jackson.

For the second consecutive year, Sharapova was defeated in the semi-finals of The Championships, Wimbledon, losing to eventual winner Amélie Mauresmo 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Sharapova currently has a 1-5 record in Grand Slam semi-finals. Sharapova is currently ranked No. 4 in the world. Sharapova has a combined 3-11 record against the top 3 players in the world (1-3 against Mauresmo, 1-4 against Justine Henin-Hardenne, and 1-4 against Kim Clijsters.

Sharapova claimed her second title of 2006 (12th career title) as the second seed at the Acura Classic in San Diego, defeating top seed Kim Clijsters, 7-5 7-5 (Her first victory over Clijsters in five meetings).

Sharapova entered the 2006 U.S. Open seeded third after Kim Clijsters dropped out of the tournament. Considered a favorite to reach the final and even win the title, she lived up to expectations defeating the number one player in the world, Amélie Mauresmo, in the semi-finals with a score of 6-0, 4-6, 6-0. It was the first time in the Open era, which began in 1968, that a female semifinalist in the US Open lost two sets at love.

Personal life

In July 2006, Maria and her agents sued Byzantium Productions, Inc., a Florida-based production company, accusing them of illegally using her name and image to promote their documentaries. A federal judge ruled in Byzantium's favour on August 3, 2006. .

Awards

2003

• WTA Newcomer of the Year
• Hottest female athlete of the year(Maxim)

2004

• WTA Player of the Year
• WTA Most Improved Player of the Year
• WTA Player Service
• Hottest female athlete of the year(Maxim)

2005

• ESPY Best Female Tennis Player
• Named the country's best female player for the year by Russia's tennis federation
• Awarded the honorary Master of Sports of Russia title
• Hottest female athlete of the year(Maxim)

Trivia

• After winning Wimbledon in 2004, Sharapova signed a one-year deal with Car company, Honda, but the deal was only in Japan.
• In November 2004, Sharapova signed a deal to represent Canon Inc. and promotes both their cameras and office products.
• In December 2004, she signed a deal with Swiss sports watch TAG Heuer to become their latest "sport and glamour" ambassador.
• Also in December 2004, Sharapova donated $10,000 to victims of earthquake and killer tsunamis in Thailand.
• In January 2005 she donated proceeds of an auction for the Porsche car she won at the season-ending WTA Tour Championships of more than $50,000 to victims of the school siege in Beslan, Russia.
• In April 2005, she was listed by People Magazine as among the 50 most beautiful celebrities in the world.
• In June 2005, Forbes magazine listed Sharapova as the highest-paid female athlete in the world, with annual earnings of $18 million. A significant portion of this amount came from endorsements.
• In 2006, Maxim magazine named her the hottest athlete in the world.
• In February 2006, she featured in a six-page bikini photoshoot spread in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue annual magazine which debuted on Valentine's Day, along with 25 other scantily-clad supermodels. Sharapova joined the ranks of other athletes who have previously appeared in the publication.
• In April 2006 Sharapova signed a three-year deal with Car company Land Rover to endorse their vehicles that one source with knowledge of the deal said was worth approximately $2 million a year.
• In June 2006, Sharapova appeared in a commercial for ESPN's This is SportsCenter campaign. In the commercial, she is walking past Stuart Scott's desk when he stops her. He offers her a can of tennis balls he received from a supplier. She says that the can is filled with paper "worms" and that she doesn't want it. Scott acts offended, causing Sharapova to feel bad. She obliges to take the can, opens it, and paper worms fly into her face. She angrily walks away and throws the can back at Scott after he asks for it back. This commercial also featured Roger Federer who suffers the same fate before Sharapova. This was Sharapova's second commercial for ESPN, the first one, in which anchor John Anderson gives Sharapova a seat, which he was saving for Stuart Scott, even though he declined to give the seat to another anchor. This was an obvious reference to Sharapova's looks, as she is seen as one of the most beautiful athletes in the world.
• Never one to stay quiet on court, perhaps one of the most unusual aspects of Sharapova's game is her trademark on-court "grunting", or "screaming". Quite possibly the loudest female screamer since Monica Seles, Sharapova's on-court grunts have been measured at 102.12 decibels apparently as loud as a police siren. Sharapova claims that this is just part of her game and that only the British press give her a hard time about it. Elena Dementieva, Sharapova's opponent in the Wimbledon 2006 quarter-final, complained about the distraction it causes.. Later in US open, Tatiana Golovin said: "Shrieking is not going to make the tennis ball come to me faster".
• Says what she enjoys most about being a professional tennis player is the traveling/getting to meet new people and see new cultures.
• Is good friends with fellow Russian tennis player Maria Kirilenko, despite not getting along with many of the other female Russian tennis players.
• Is affectionately called "Masha".
• Is ambidextrous, and was undecided about which hand to use dominantly up until her professional tennis career began.
• Earns 13.4 million GBP per year, over 90 percent of which comes from endorsements. When asked about her income, said, "It's never enough. Bring on the money. There's no limit to how much you can make."

Sponsors

• Land Rover - she gets a fee, a free Land Rover Range Rover Sport in Florida, and a chauffeured Discovery where ever she wants.
• Motorola - a fee, plus a mobile phone and all her mobile phone bills paid, plus a share of the income of downloads from HelloMoto/Maria
• Gatorade - energy drink
• TAG Heuer - a fee plus free watches
• Nike Inc.
• Prince Sports, Inc.
• Canon Inc.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2004	Wimbledon	Serena Williams	6-1, 6-4

WTA Tour Championships singles finals

Wins (1)

Year	Venue	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2004	Los Angeles	Serena Williams	4-6, 6-2, 6-4

WTA Tour titles (14)

Singles (12)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	29 September, 2003	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Aniko Kapros	2-6 6-2 7-6
2.	Oct 27, 2003	Quebec City, Canada	Hard	Milagros Sequera	6-2 retired
3.	Jun 7, 2004	Birmingham, Great Britain	Grass	Tatiana Golovin	4-6 6-2 6-1
4.	Jun 21, 2004	Wimbledon, London, Great Britain	Grass	Serena Williams	6-1 6-4
5.	Sep 27, 2004	Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Marta Domachowska	6-1 6-1
6.	Oct 4, 2004	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Mashona Washington	6-0 6-1
7.	Nov 8, 2004	WTA Championships, Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Serena Williams	4-6, 6-2, 6-4
8.	Feb 6, 2005	Tokyo, Japan	Carpet	Lindsay Davenport	6-1 3-6 7-6
9.	Feb 21, 2005	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Alicia Molik	4-6 6-1 6-4
10.	Jun 6, 2005	Birmingham, Great Britain	Grass	Jelena Jankovic	6-2 4-6 6-1
11.	Mar 18, 2006	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Elena Dementieva	6-1 6-2
12.	Aug 6, 2006	San Diego, USA	Hard	Kim Clijsters	7-5 7-5

Singles finalist (4)

• 2004: Zurich (lost to Alicia Molik)
• 2005: Miami (lost to Kim Clijsters)
• 2006: Dubai (lost to Justine Henin-Hardenne)
• 2006: Miami (lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova)

Doubles Titles (3)

• 2003: Japan Open (Partner: Tamarine Tanasugarn) 7-6, 6-0.
• 2003: Luxembourg (Partner: Tamarine Tanasugarn) 6-1, 6-4.
• 2004: Birmingham (Partner: Maria Kirilenko) 6-2, 6-1.

Performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after the player's participation in the tournament has concluded.

Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-8 (quarter finals up to finalist).
If ITF women's circuit (Hardcourt: 22-4; Clay: 9-1) participation is included, overall win-loss record stands at 211-53.

WTA Tour career earnings

*As of August 28, 2006.

Famous matches

• 2003 Birmingham quarter-final: defeated Elena Dementieva, 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2. As a qualifier, Sharapova reached the tournament's semi-final, defeating top-seeded Dementieva along the way. Although she lost in the semis to Shinobu Asagoe, she has began to elicit the media attention, not just because of her model looks as compared to Anna Kournikova, but also because of her grunts. Fellow players and spectators had complained of her boisterous style. Still, she followed this up with a fourth round showing at Wimbledon, equaling the best performance by a female wildcard in the tournament's history.
• 2004 Wimbledon semi-final: defeated Lindsay Davenport, 2-6 7-6(5) 6-1. The 13th seed Sharapova faced fifth seed Davenport in a match of youth versus experience. Sharapova was overwhelmed by the veteran in the first set, and was trailing 3-1 in the second set before she turned the match around, after a drizzle interrupted it. Although she was three points from defeat in the tiebreak, Sharapova fought back, consolidated her position to take the second set and cruise through the third.
• 2004 Wimbledon final: defeated Serena Williams, 6-1 6-4. Sharapova faced the top seed in the final. She defeated the two-time defending champion in one of the most stunning upsets in Wimbledon history. In doing so, she became the second youngest women's Wimbledon champion in the Open Era, and the first non-American victor since Jana Novotna won in 1998.
• 2004 Tour Championships final: defeated Serena Williams, 4-6 6-2 6-4. Sharapova became the second player to win the Year-End Championships in her debut. Trailing 4-0 in the third set, Sharapova won the next six games after Williams began to struggle with an abdominal muscle strain. She finished the year ranked number four. Albeit her tournament run was characterized by controversy, marred by accusations of other Russian players that she had received coaching during matches, as well as some critics' reaction to her fist-pumping attitude in the final, wherein she accompanied these with her "Come On" battlecry as Williams played throughout the second half of the match in pain.
• 2005 Australian Open semi-final: lost to Serena Williams, 6-2 5-7 6-8. Continuing a seeming rivalry, Sharapova served for the match during the second and third set, even holding triple match point in the latter. However, Williams came back to take the match and win the tournament.
• 2005 Indian Wells semi-final: lost to Lindsay Davenport, 0-6 0-6. Despite holding a 2-0 head-to-head record, Sharapova, then ranked number three in the world, was dealt her worst defeat as Davenport double bageled her. This marked the first time that a player in the top three was double bageled.
• 2005 Wimbledon semi-final: lost to Venus Williams, 6-7(2) 1-6. The match was billed as one of the best in years. The high quality match up featured long rallies, high-intensity groundstrokes just clipping the lines, and dramatic grunts. In the end, Williams beat the defending champion, ending Sharapova's 22-match grass court winning streak.

References

1. Federal judge ruling in Byzantium's favour
2. Sharapova's decibel levels.
3. Sharapova makes 'too much noise'
4. WTA tour news comment: enjoys traveling/ getting to meet new people.
5. Good friend of a fellow Russian tennis player
6. Biography
7. Ambidextrous
8. Fellow players and spectators had complained of Maria's boisterous style.
9. 2004 Wimbledon semi-final.
10. 2004 Wimbledon final: one of the most stunning upsets in Wimbledon history.
11. 2005 Australian Open semi-final.
12. 2005 Wimbledon semi-final.
13. 2005 Wimbledon semi-final: Williams ends Sharapova's 22-match grass court winning streak.

• "Maria puts world domination on hold". (Nov. 11, 2005). New Straits Times, p. 42.
• "Sharapova makes 'too much noise'" by Piers Newbery, bbc.co.uk, July 4, 2006, retrieved September 5, 2006

External links

• Maria Sharapova Official Site
• Maria Sharapova at the Women's Tennis Association
• Maria Sharapova at IMDb
• Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue: Maria Sharapova

• 1987 births
• Living people
• Russian athletes
• Sports Illustrated swimsuit models
• Russian models
• Russian tennis players
• Wimbledon champions
• Current sports events