Maria Sharapova was born in April 1987 in Nyagan, Russia. She was a Russian tennis player who was one of the game’s leading players in the early 21st century and the winner of five Grand Slam titles.
Her Early Career
Maria started playing tennis as a young child and in 1993 she nabbed the attention of Czech-born American tennis star Martina Navratilova. Going a suggestion by Navratilova, Sharapova and her father moved (1994) to Florida in the United States where she quickly earned a scholarship to a tennis academy. In 2001, at the age of 14, Maria turned pro.
The State Of Tennis At The Time
At the time, women’s tennis was changing into a power game, which suited Maria’s dominating style of play and her size. She ultimately reached a height of 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 metres). In 2003 Maria played in every single Grand Slam event, with her best finish coming in at Wimbledon, where she got to the fourth round. That very year she won her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) titles, at Tokyo as well as at Quebec City.
Maria Signed An Endorsement Deal At 11
Maria is the first and possibly the only athlete to have signed her first endorsement at the age of 11, making her far too young to even consider wagering on the Australian Open odds and other events she went on to play in. Usually athletes get endorsement deals when they reach certain level, but not in the case of Maria as she was spotted early on, at the age of 11, when she signed a deal with Nike.
Maria Loves London
Being a sportsperson, Maria has travelled all around world during her vast career and she is bound to have a soft spot for a lot of places. One of those cities is London which she says is one of her favourite cities. Maria has shown a lot of endearment towards Londoners and has said that she finds the British accent to be “sexy”. As a matter of fact, Maria garnered international fame in London by winning the Wimbledon in 2004 when she was 17.
She Is The First Russian To Win A Wimbledon Title
Maria became the fourth Russian to win a Grand Slam and the first to win at Wimbledon, when she defeated Serena Williams in straight sets. She was 17 years and 75 days old when she accomplished this feat.
Maria Was The Most Searched Athlete On Yahoo In 2005 And 2008
Maria had talent and she was gorgeous, she ruled the tennis courts from 2005 to 2008, and off it, there were many modelling assignments as well. She shot for many magazine covers and that made her the most searched athlete in 2005 and 2008 on Yahoo.
Maria Has Been A Goodwill Ambassador For UNDP Since 2007
Maria has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 14th February 2007. From the time of her appointment as a goodwill brand ambassador, she has frequently donated to Chernobyl-related projects, having donated $210 000 to the UNDP Chernobyl-recovery project as well as $100 000 to other Chernobyl-related projects. The reason that the tennis diva has a very soft spot for Chernobyl is because her parents’ homeland was Gomel which was only 132 kilometres away from Chernobyl where one of the world’s biggest nuclear disasters took place in 1986. Fearing the after-effects of the disaster, Sharapova’s parents fled Gomel and then moved to Nyagan, Western Siberia.
