Maria Sharapova Early Life, Career, Family, Boyfriend, Affairs, Personal Life, Facts, Age, Wiki, Tennis career, Playing style, Statistics, Biography

NAME

Maria Sharapova

OCCUPATION

Tennis Player, Athlete

BIRTH DATE

April 19, 1987 (age 31)

PLACE OF BIRTH

Nyagan, Russia

AKA

Maria Sharapova

FULL NAME

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova

ZODIAC SIGN

Aries

Early life

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".

Tennis career

Junior and early career

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. Her best results in the Junior Grand Slam tournaments were the finals of the 2002 Australian Open, finals of the 2002 Wimbledon Championships, third round of the 2002 French Open, and second round of the 2001 US Open.

2005: World No. 1

2005 Maria Sharapova tennis season

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 eventual champion Serena Williams. In February, Sharapova won back-to-back tournaments, the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the Qatar Total Open, allowing her to reach number 3 in the world rankings for the first time.

In the semifinals of the Tier I Pacific Life Open, Sharapova was defeated by Lindsay Davenport, the first time she had failed to win a game in a match. She defeated former world No. 1 players Justine Henin and Venus Williams to reach the final at the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open, where she lost to Kim Clijsters.

Sharapova made the semifinals of a clay-court tournament for the first time at the Italian Open, where she lost to Patty Schnyder. Sharapova would have become world No. 1 for the first time had she won the tournament. Sharapova then reached the quarterfinals of the French Open for the second consecutive year, before losing to eventual champion Henin. On grass, Sharapova won her third title of the year when she successfully defended her title at the DFS Classic, defeating Jelena Janković in the final. As the defending champion at Wimbledon, Sharapova reached the semifinals without dropping a set and losing a service game just once, extending her winning streak on grass to 24 matches. However, she was then beaten by eventual champion Venus Williams.

Sharapova had far fewer points to defend, and so she became the first Russian woman to hold the world No. 1 ranking on August 22, 2005. Her reign lasted only one week, however, as Davenport reclaimed the top ranking after winning the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament.

As the top seed at the US Open, Sharapova lost in the semifinals to Kim Clijsters, meaning she had lost to the eventual champion in every Grand Slam of the season. However, she once again leapfrogged Davenport to take the world No. 1 ranking on September 12, 2005. She retained it for six weeks, but after playing few tournaments while injured, she again relinquished the ranking to Davenport. To conclude the year, Sharapova failed to defend her title at the year-end Sony Ericsson Championshipsin Los Angeles, defeating Davenport in one of her round-robin matches, but ultimately losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Amélie Mauresmo.

2003: First tournament titles

From 2003, Sharapova played a full season and made a rapid climb into the top 50 by the end of the year. She made her debuts at both the Australian Open and the French Open, but failed to win a match in either. Then, as a wildcard at Wimbledon, she defeated 11th seed Jelena Dokić, her first win over a top-20 player, to reach the fourth round, where she lost in three sets to Svetlana Kuznetsova. By the end of September, Sharapova had already captured her first WTA title at a smaller event, the Japan Open Tennis Championships, before winning her second in her final tournament of the season, the Bell Challenge. To cap off her first full season as a professional, she was awarded the WTA Newcomer of the Year honor.

Playing style

Sharapova is an aggressive baseliner with power, depth, and angles on her forehand and backhand. She is one of the few players on the WTA tour who often use the reverse forehand. Instead of using a traditional volley or overhead smash, she prefers to hit a powerful "swinging" volley when approaching the net or attacking lobs. Sharapova is thought to have good speed around the court, especially considering her height. At the beginning of 2008, some observers noted that Sharapova had developed her game, showing improved movement and footwork and the addition of a drop shot and sliced backhand to her repertoire of shots. Despite her powerful game, Sharapova's greatest asset is considered to be her mental toughness and competitive spirit, with Nick Bollettieri stating that she is "tough as nails". Hall-of-famer John McEnroe said of Sharapova, "she's one of the best competitors in the history of the sport."

Sharapova is known for on-court "grunting", which reached a recorded 101 decibels during a match at Wimbledon in 2005. During her second round match in Birmingham in 2003, Sharapova was asked to tone down the level of her grunt after opponent Nathalie Dechy complained to the umpire, with Sharapova's response saying that her grunting was "a natural instinct." Monica Seles suggested that grunting is involuntary and a part of tennis. When questioned by the media about her grunting, Sharapova urged the media to "just watch the match." Her defensive game has been worked on by her new coach, and this has reflected in her results, making consecutive semi-finals at premier mandatory events on the tour. Later in her career, Sharapova also added drop shots to her repertoire, making for a more unpredictable game style.

Coaches

Sharapova has had multiple coaches throughout her career including: Robert Lansdorp, Yuri Sharapov, Michael Joyce from 2004–11, Jimmy Connors in 2013, and Sven Groeneveld 2013–2018. Thomas Högstedt from 2011–13, 2018–present  Sharapova and Thomas Högstedt have resumed working together ahead of the 2018 WTA Tour clay court season.

Personal life

Relationships

Sharapova briefly dated television producer Charlie Ebersol in 2008. In 2011, she was engaged to Slovenian professional basketball player Sasha Vujačić, with whom she had been in a relationship since 2009. On August 31, 2012, Sharapova confirmed that the pair had ended the engagement and separated earlier that year. In 2013, she began dating Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov. Sharapova and Dimitrov ended the relationship in July 2015. Sharapova began dating Paddle8 president and co-founder Alexander Gilkes in January 2018.

Citizenship

Although a United States resident since 1994, Sharapova still prefers Russian citizenship. The reason she prefers to keep Russian citizenship is because "it is about the family environment, it is about the rich culture. Just life experiences that I look back to and I know that for so many years I was shaped into the individual I was from those experiences. And not necessarily simply the country, but the people, the mentality and the toughness and that never giving up attitude".

Autobiography

Sharapova's autobiography, Unstoppable: My Life So Far was published on September 12, 2017, by Sarah Crichton Books.

Sugarpova

Sugarpova is a candy line created by Maria Sharapova and candy veteran Jeff Rubin, founder of international retailer IT'SUGAR. According to the Sugarpova website, "Sugarpova is a premium candy line that reflects the fun, fashionable, sweet side of international tennis sensation Maria Sharapova." A portion of all proceeds goes to the Maria Sharapova Foundation, Sharapova's charity. Sugarpova was launched worldwide in 2013. In February 2016, Sugarpova announced that it had partnered with Polish company Baron Chocolatier to make Sugarpova Premium Chocolates. Sugarpova also plans to extend its range to lifestyle products.

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

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	2004	Wimbledon	Grass	Serena Williams	6–1, 6–4
Winner	2006	US Open	Hard	Justine Henin	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	2007	Australian Open	Hard	Serena Williams	1–6, 2–6
Winner	2008	Australian Open	Hard	Ana Ivanovic	7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	2011	Wimbledon	Grass	Petra Kvitová	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	2012	Australian Open	Hard	Victoria Azarenka	3–6, 0–6
Winner	2012	French Open	Clay	Sara Errani	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	2013	French Open	Clay	Serena Williams	4–6, 4–6
Winner	2014	French Open (2)	Clay	Simona Halep	6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–4
Runner-up	2015	Australian Open	Hard	Serena Williams	3–6, 6–7(5–7)

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

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	2004	WTA Tour finals	Hard (i)	Serena Williams	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	2007	WTA Tour finals	Hard (i)	Justine Henin	7–5, 5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	2012	WTA Tour finals	Hard (i)	Serena Williams	4–6, 3–6

(i) = Indoor

Junior Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 2 finals (2 runners-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	2002	Australian Open	Hard	Barbora Strýcová	0–6, 5–7
Runner-up	2002	Wimbledon	Grass	Vera Dushevina	6–4, 1–6, 2–6

Awards

WTA Awards

2003

• Russian Cup Newcomer of the Year
• Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Newcomer of the Year

2004

• WTA Player of the Year
• WTA Most Improved Player of the Year

2005

• ESPY Best Female Tennis Player
• Prix de Citron Roland Garros
• Russian Cup Female Tennis Player of the Year

2006

• Russian Cup Female Tennis Player of the Year
• Whirlpool 6th Sense Player of the Year

2007

• ESPY Best Female Tennis Player
• ESPY Best International Female Athlete

2008

• ESPY Best Female Tennis Player
• Russian Cup Team of the Year (as part of the Fed Cup team)

2010

• WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player
• WTA Humanitarian of the Year
• WTA Most Fashionable Player (On Court)
• WTA Most Fashionable Player (Off Court)
• WTA Most Dramatic Expression

2012

• ESPY Best Female Tennis Player
• Medal of the Order For Merit to the Fatherland 2nd Class (April 28, 2012) – for her philanthropic activity
• Medal of the Order For Merit to the Fatherland 1st Class (August 13, 2012) – for her outstanding contribution to the development of physical cultures and sports at the XXX Olympic Games in 2012 in London (Great Britain)
• Russian Cup Female Tennis Player of the Year

2016

• Order For Merit to the Fatherland (February 5, 2016)