Maria Sharapova

MARIA Yuryevna Sharapova (Russian: Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова; IPA: [mɐˈrʲijə ˈjʉrʲjɪvnə ʂɐˈrapəvə] ( listen); born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player. A United States resident since 1994, Sharapova has competed on the WTA tour since 2001. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the WTA on five separate occasions, for a total of 21 weeks. She is one of ten women, and the only Russian, to hold the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist, having earned silver for Russia in women's singles at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Sharapova became the world No. 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005, at the age of 18, and last held the ranking for the fifth time for four weeks from June 11, 2012, to July 8, 2012.Her 35 singles titles and five Grand Slam titles—two at the French Open and one each at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open—rank third among active players, behind Serena and Venus Williams. She won the year-ending WTA Finals in her debut in 2004. She has also won three doubles titles.

Despite an injury-prone career, Sharapova has achieved a rare level of longevity in the women's game. She has won at least one singles title a year from 2003 until 2015, a streak only bested by Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert. Several tennis pundits and former players have called Sharapova one of tennis's best competitors, with John McEnroe calling her one of the best thesport has ever seen

Sharapova has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She appeared in many advertisements, including those for Nike, Prince, and Canon, being the face of several fashion houses, most notably Cole Haan. Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time and in March 2012 was named one of the "100 Greatest of All Time" by Tennis Channel. According to Forbes, she has been named highest paid female athlete in the world for 11 consecutive years and earned US$285

million including prize money since she turned pro in 2001.

In March 2016, Sharapova revealed she had failed a drug test at the 2016 Australian Open, admitting to testing positive for meldonium, a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) at the start of 2016. On June 8, 2016, she was suspended from playing tennis for two years by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).On October 4, 2016, the suspension was reduced to 15 months.

Contents 

1 Early life

1.1 Introduction to tennis

1.2 Start of professional training

2 Tennis career

2.1 Junior and early career

2.2 Junior Grand Slam tournament finals

2.2.1 Singles: 2 finals (2 runners-up)

2.3 2003: First tournament titles

2.4 2004: Wimbledon champion and rise to fame

2.5 2005: Rise to world No. 1 ranking

2.6 2006: US Open champion

2.7 2007: Shoulder injury and fall from the top 5

2.8 2008: Australian Open champion and second shoulder injury

2.9 2009: Shoulder surgery and rehabilitation

2.10 2010: Comeback and struggles with form

2.11 2011: Return to the top 10

2.12 2012: Career Grand Slam, return to world No. 1 and Olympic silver medal

2.13 2013: Third shoulder injury

2.14 2014: Comeback and second French Open title

2.15 2015: Fourth Australian Open final

2.16 2016: More injuries and suspension

3 WADA substance controversy

4 Fed Cup participation

5 Playing style

5.1 Serve

5.2 Surfaces

6 Personal life

6.1 Relationships

6.2 Public profile

6.3 Charity work

7 Endorsements

8 Sugarpova

9 Career statistics

9.1 Grand Slam tournaments

9.1.1 Singles performance timeline

9.1.2 Finals: 10 (5 titles, 5 runners-up)

9.2 Year-end championships

9.2.1 Singles performance timeline

9.2.2 Finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runners-up)

9.3 Junior Grand Slam tournament finals

9.3.1 Singles: 2 finals (2 runners-up)

10 Awards

11 See also

12 References

13 External links

Early life[edit]

Maria Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987, in Nyagan, Russian SFSR. Her parents, Yuri and Yelena, are from Gomel, Belarussian SSR. Concerned about the regional effects of the 1986

Chernobyl nuclear accident, they left their homeland shortly before Maria was born.

Introduction to tennis

In 1989, when Sharapova was two, the family moved to Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. There her father Yuri befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would go on to win two Grand Slam singles titles and become Russia's first world No. 1 ranked tennis player. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racquet in 1991 when she was four, whereupon she began practicing regularly with her father at a local park. Maria took her first tennis lessons with veteran Russian coach Yuri Yutkin, who was instantly impressed when he saw her play, noting her "exceptional hand

eye coordination"

Start of professional training

In 1993, at the age of six, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navratilova, who recommended professional training at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, which had previously trained players such as Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, and Anna Kournikova. With money tight, Yuri Sharapov borrowed the sum that would enable him and his daughter, neither of whom could speak English, to travel to the United States of America, which they finally did in 1994. Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years. Arriving in Florida with savings of US$700, Sharapova's father took various low-paying jobs, including dishwashing, to fund her lessons until she was old enough to be admitted to the academy. Before she entered the IMG business, she trained with Rick Macci, in the Rick Macci Tennis Academy. She then was offered a deal from IMG which forced her to change academies. Originally, she did train with Rick Macci, but after the deal with IMG, she could not see Rick Macci anymore. In 1995, she was signed by IMG, who agreed to pay the annual tuition fee of $35,000 for Sharapova to stay at the Academy, allowing

her to finally enroll at the age of 9

Tennis career

Junior and early career[edit]

Sharapova first hit the tennis scene in November 2000, when she won the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in the girls' 16 division at the age of just 13. She was then given a special distinction, the Rising Star Award, which is awarded only to players of exceptional promise. Sharapova made her professional debut in 2001 on her 14th birthday on April 19, and played her first WTA tournament at the Pacific Life Open in 2002, winning a match before losing to Monica Seles. Due to restrictions on how many professional events she could play, Sharapova went to hone her game in junior tournaments, where she reached the finals of the girls' singles events at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2002. She was the youngest girl ever to reach the final of the

Australian Open junior championship at 14 years and 9 months.

Sharapova reached No. 6 in the ITF junior world singles ranking on October 21, 2002. In all, she won three junior singles tournaments and was runner-up at five, including two junior Grand Slam events.

Her win-loss record in junior competition was 47–9.

Junior Grand Slam results:

Australian Open: F (2002)

French Open: 3R (2002)

Wimbledon: F (2002)

US Open: 2R (2001)