Best Known As: Sports Figure

Gist:  Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (, Mariya Yur?evna Shara'pova [pronounced Sha-RA-po-va]; born April 19, 1987) is a former World No. 1 Russian professional tennis player and three time Grand Slam singles champion. She is currently ranked World No. 49.

When Sharapova was seven, 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 graduating rapidly through the junior and then 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, but was defeated in all five Grand Slam semifinals she competed in during this period. She eventually won her second Grand Slam title at the 2006 US Open.

Starting in 2007, Sharapova began to suffer from a right shoulder injury, which forced her to withdraw from numerous tournaments during the season. It was partly due to this that she dropped out of the top five on the WTA world rankings for the first time in three years in October 2007. Although she won her third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open at the beginning of 2008 and returned to the World No. 1 position later in the year, her shoulder problems eventually resurfaced, with Sharapova ultimately undergoing surgery for the injury in October 2008. Sharapova did not return to the sport until May 2009, having been out for ten consecutive months, and as a consequence had dropped out of the top 100 on the rankings. Since returning, Sharapova's standing has recovered to World No. 49.

Sharapova's public profile extends beyond tennis. She has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in Sports Illustrated. Sharapova was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo! in both 2005 and 2008. In July 2008, as a result of her success both on and off court, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete, earning $26 million. Sharapova is on track to repeat this feat again in 2009; despite playing few matches due to injury Sharapova made $22 million between June 2008 and June 2009. 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.

Life Facts:  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. 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.

At the age of six, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navrátilová, who recommended professional training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. 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. 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.

Sharapova was defeated in the third round of the Australian Open by seventh seed Anastasia Myskina. 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.

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 and the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, both of which were Tier I events. 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. 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.

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.

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.

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Sharapova was the top seed at the Australian Open due to top-ranked Justine Henin's withdrawal. Sharapova was two points away from defeat in the first round against Camille Pin before eventually winning 6?3, 4?6, 9?7. She went on to make the semifinals, where she defeated fourth seed Kim Clijsters 6?4, 6?2 in order to reach the final of the tournament for the first time. However, there, she was overpowered by Serena Williams, ranked World No. 81 at the time, losing 6?1, 6?2. By reaching the final, Sharapova recaptured the World No. 1 ranking. She held it for seven weeks before surrendering it back to Henin after failing to defend her title at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, losing in the fourth round to Vera Zvonareva, after struggling with a hamstring injury. The following fortnight, Sharapova defeated Venus Williams in three sets in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami before suffering her second comprehensive defeat of the year by Serena Williams, 6?1, 6?1.

A shoulder injury also forced Sharapova to miss most of the clay court season for the second consecutive year. Her only tune-up for the French Open was the Istanbul Cup, where she lost in the semifinals to Aravane Rezaï. Despite her lack of preparation, she reached the semifinals of the French Open for the first time in her career (having saved match points against Patty Schnyder in the fourth round) but she then lost to Ana Ivanovi? 6?2, 6?1.

On grass, Sharapova reached her second final of the year at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, United Kingdom, but lost there to Jelena Jankovi?. At Wimbledon, Sharapova was defeated in the fourth round by the eventual champion Venus Williams 6?1, 6?3. This was Sharapova's earliest exit at Wimbledon since 2003.

Sharapova won her first title of the year at the Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego, retaining her title by defeating Schnyder in the final. As a result, she clinched the US Open Series for the first time in her career. It was Sharapova's earliest exit at a Grand Slam singles tournament since the 2004 US Open where she lost in the same round.

Following the US Open loss, Sharapova did not play again until the Kremlin Cup in Moscow in October, where she lost her opening match to Victoria Azarenka. Shortly after this, she fell out of the top five on the world rankings for the first time since 2004. She qualified for the eight-woman year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships only because Venus Williams withdrew from the tournament, so in doing so she qualified last after ninth ranked Slovak, Daniela Hantuchová. Despite having not previously won a match in two months, Sharapova topped her round-robin group after winning all three of her matches against World No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, World No. 9 Daniela Hantuchová 6-4, 7-5 and a 6?1, 6?2 win over Ivanovi?. She then defeated Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinals. In the final, Sharapova lost to World No. 1 Henin 5?7, 7?5, 6?3, in a match that lasted 3 hours and 24 minutes.

Sharapova ended the year with a win-loss of 40-11 and ranked World No. 5, her fourth consecutive year-end finish in the top five. However, for the first time since 2004 she did not finish the year as the top-ranked Russian (the honor instead being held by Kuznetsova) and for the first time since 2002, she won just one singles title.

Career Facts:  Because she predicates her game on power, Sharapova's preferred surfaces are the fast-playing hard and grass courts, and she is not as well-suited to the slower clay courts. and once described herself as like a "cow on ice" after a match on clay. Her limitations on this surface are reflected in her career results. The French Open is the only Grand Slam singles title she has not yet won, though she reached the semifinals there in 2007. She won her first Women's Tennis Association tour title on clay during her eighth year as a touring professional, after previously winning 18 titles on other surfaces.

in 2005.]]

Sharapova started the season at the Australian Open, where she defeated fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the second Grand Slam semifinal of her career. However, there, she lost to the eventual champion Serena Williams 2?6, 7?5, 8?6, having held match points in the third set. In February, at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Sharapova defeated top-ranked Lindsay Davenport in order to win a Tier I title for the first time in her career. Sharapova also won her next tournament three weeks later, the Qatar Total Open in Doha, defeating Alicia Molik in the final. Sharapova reached the top three on the world rankings for the first time as a result of this success.

In the semifinals of the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Sharapova was thrashed by Davenport 6?0, 6?0, the first time she had failed to win a game in a match. The following fortnight, she defeated former World No. 1s Justine Henin and Venus Williams to reach the final at the Tier I NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, where she lost to Kim Clijsters. As a result of this, Sharapova continued her progress on the world rankings, rising to a career-high of World No. 2.

Sharapova made the semifinals of a clay-court tournament for the first time at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, ultimately losing to Patty Schnyder. Sharapova then made the quarterfinals at 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 in Birmingham, United Kingdom, defeating Jelena Jankovi? 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 well beaten by eventual champion Venus Williams 7?6(2), 6?1.

Going into the JPMorgan Chase Open, Los Angeles, Sharapova convincingly won her second round against Maria Kirilenko after having a bye, but then struggled in the next against Anna Chakvetadze in three tough sets. She was then scheduled to play Daniela Hantuchová in the quarterfinal, but due to an injury sustained in her previous match she withdrew to recover and prepare for the upcoming US Open.

A back injury World No. 1 Davenport sustained at Wimbledon prevented her from playing tournaments during the summer hardcourt season, which meant she could not earn new ranking points to replace those that were expiring from the previous year. Sharapova, although also injured for much of this time, 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 in New Haven, Connecticut.

As the top seed at the US Open, Sharapova lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Clijsters 6?2, 6?7(4), 6?3. 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 during the fall due to injury, she again relinquished the ranking to Davenport after six weeks. To conclude the year, Sharapova failed to defend her title at the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Los Angeles, defeating Davenport in one of her round-robin matches but ultimately losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Amélie Mauresmo.

Sharapova's win-loss for the year cam to 53-12 and also finished the year as World No. 4 for the second year, and as the top-ranked Russian for the first time, having won three titles. She was the only player to reach three Grand Slam semifinals, having lost at all four Grand Slams to the eventual champion.

Sharapova was seeded fifth at the Australian Open. There, she defeated former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the second round, before later defeating the current World No. 1 Justine Henin in the quarterfinals 6?4, 6?0, ending the latter's 32-match winning streak. Sharapova then beat third seed Jelena Jankovi? 6?3, 6?1 in the semifinals to reach the final for the second consecutive year. There, she defeated fourth seed Ana Ivanovi? 7?5, 6?3 to win her third Grand Slam title. She became the first female Russian ever to have won the Australian Open and did so without losing a set.

in 2008.]]

After the Australian Open, Sharapova extended her winning streak to 18 matches before finally losing for the first time in the season. against Israel In the final, Sharapova defeated Dominika Cibulková.

In May, Sharapova regained the World No. 1 ranking because of Henin's sudden retirement from professional tennis and request to the Women's Tennis Association that her own ranking be removed immediately. As the top-seeded player at the French Open of being knocked out by Evgeniya Rodina in the first round, before eventually winning. Sharapova ultimately lost to 13th-seeded and eventual runner-up Dinara Safina She relinquished the World No. 1 ranking as a result of this loss.

Sharapova's dip in form continued at Wimbledon, where she lost in the second round to World No. 154 Alla Kudryavtseva.

At the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada in August, Sharapova withdrew from the tournament due to a shoulder injury, after defeating Marta Domachowska in her first match there. A MRI scan then revealed that Sharapova had been suffering from a rotator cuff tear since April. This injury prevented Sharapova from playing again during the year, missing the Beijing Olympics, the US Open, and the WTA Tour Championships. In October, after a failed attempt to rehabilitate the shoulder, Sharapova had surgery to repair the tear.

Due to her long absence, she failed to play at least 40 matches in a year with a win-loss of 32-4 and three titles. She finished the year ranked World No. 9.

Arguably, the combination of her tennis success and physical beauty have enabled her to secure commercial endorsements that greatly exceed in value her tournament winnings. In April 2005, People named her one of the 50 most beautiful celebrities in the world. In 2006, Maxim ranked Sharapova the hottest athlete in the world for the fourth consecutive year. She posed in a six-page bikini photoshoot spread in the 2006 Valentine's Day issue of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, alongside 25 scantily-clad supermodels.[

In a poll run by Britain's FHM magazine, she was voted the seventh most eligible bachelorette, based on both "wealth and looks."

Sharapova used the Prince Tour Diablo for part of 2003 and then used several different Prince racquets until the US Open. She gave the racquet she used in the 2004 Wimbledon final to Regis Philbin when taping Live with Regis and Kelly. Sharapova began using the Prince Shark OS at that tournament and had a major part in the production of the Shark racquet. She then switched to the Prince O3 White racquet in January 2006. Because of Sharapova's various shoulder injuries, she switched to the Prince O3 Speedport Black Longbody in July 2008.

In June 2007, Forbes magazine listed her as the highest-paid female athlete in the world, with annual earnings of over US$23 million, the majority of which was from endorsements and sponsorships. In a later interview, she said, "You know, one of the greatest things about being an athlete and, you know, making money is realizing that you can help, you know, help the world, and especially children, who I absolutely love working with."

Sharapova has also been depicted in many tennis-related video games, along with such players as Daniela Hantuchová, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, and Anna Kournikova. Some of the titles are Top Spin (Playstation 2 version), Top Spin 2, Smash Court Tennis 3, Virtua Tennis 3, and Top Spin 3. She has also recently been featured in Virtua Tennis 2009 and she will be featured in Grand Slam Tennis by EA Games.

Upon hearing that Sports Illustrated had named her in 2006 as the world's best-paid female athlete, Sharapova said, apparently only a little tongue-in-cheek, "It's never enough. Bring on the money. There's no limit to how much you can make."