Maria Sharapova

• 1. A Girl From Nyagan

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  In 1987, a baby named Maria Yuryevna Sharapova entered the world in Nyagan, Russian SFSR. Her parents Yuri and Yelena had fled Gomel to escape radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986. The family moved to Sochi when Maria was three years old. Her father befriended Aleksandr Kafelnikov, whose son Yevgeny would become Russia's first world number one tennis player. Aleksandr gave four-year-old Maria her first racquet in 1991. She practiced regularly with her father at a local park. A veteran coach named Yuri Yutkin saw her play and noted her exceptional hand-eye coordination. In 1993, six-year-old Maria attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navratilova. Navratilova recommended professional training with Nick Bollettieri at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Bollettieri had previously trained Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, and Anna Kournikova. Money was tight for the family. Yuri Sharapov borrowed money so he and his daughter could travel to the United States. They arrived in 1994 without speaking English. Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years. They arrived in Florida with savings of US$700. Yuri took various low-paying jobs to fund lessons until she was old enough for the academy. Initially she trained with Rick Macci. In 1995, IMG signed her and agreed to pay an annual tuition fee of $35,000. This allowed her to enroll at the academy at age nine.

• 2. The Wimbledon Upset

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  Sharapova won the Eddie Herr International Junior Tennis Championships in November 2000 at age thirteen. She received the Rising Star Award for players of exceptional promise. Her professional debut came on the 19th of April 2001, her fourteenth birthday. She played her first WTA tournament at the Pacific Life Open in 2002. By September 2003, she captured her first WTA title at the Japan Open Tennis Championships. At Wimbledon that year, she defeated 11th seed Jelena Dokić to reach the fourth round. Seeded 13th and aged 17 at Wimbledon in 2004, she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal. There she defeated fifth seed Lindsay Davenport. In the final, Sharapova upset top seed Serena Williams to win her first Grand Slam singles title. The victory made her the third-youngest woman to win the Wimbledon title. It also made her the second Russian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title. Media called it the most stunning upset in memory. Interest in her grew so much it was dubbed Maria Mania. She entered the top 10 rankings after the win. Later that year she won three consecutive titles in Asia. In October she defeated Venus Williams en route to the Zurich Open final. She then debuted at the year-ending WTA Tour Championships. There she won two of her three round-robin matches. In the final she defeated an injured Serena Williams after trailing 4, 0 in the final set.

• 3. Shoulder Tears And Surgery

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  A shoulder injury forced Sharapova to miss most of the clay-court season for the second consecutive year in 2007. An MRI scan revealed she had been suffering from a rotator cuff tear since April 2008. This forced her out of all tournaments for the rest of the season including the Beijing Olympics and the US Open. In October 2008, after a failed attempt to rehabilitate the shoulder, she had surgery to repair the tear. She did not attempt to defend her Australian Open title as she continued to recover from surgery. Her ranking dropped to world number 126 by May 2009. Playing her first singles tournament in nearly ten months, she made the quarterfinals of the Warsaw Open in May 2009. During the summer grass-court season she played in Birmingham losing in the semifinals to Li Na. At Wimbledon she was upset in the second round by Gisela Dulko in three sets. The loss made her ranking go down to No. 32. By virtue of winning the Tokyo title later that year, she finished at world number 14. In 2013, a collarbone injury caused her to withdraw from the Brisbane International before it began. A shoulder injury also caused her to withdraw from the US Open prematurely ending her season. Another recurring shoulder injury meant she had not played since August 2013 when she made her comeback at the Brisbane International in 2014.

• 4. The Meldonium Ban

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  Sharapova failed a drug test at the 2016 Australian Open testing positive for meldonium. This substance had been banned effective the 1st of January 2016 by the World Anti-Doping Agency. On the 8th of June 2016 she was suspended from playing tennis for two years by the International Tennis Federation. Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko implied Sharapova was targeted due to political crisis in Russian-American relations. On the 4th of October 2016 the suspension was reduced to 15 months starting from the 26th of January 2016. The Court of Arbitration for Sport found she committed no significant fault. They ruled she took the substance based on a doctor's recommendation with good faith belief it was appropriate and compliant with rules. She returned to the WTA Tour in April 2017 at the Stuttgart Open. Her first match of the comeback came on the 26th of April against Italian Roberta Vinci which she won in straight sets. In an on-court interview she said the arena had been a stage for her since she was young. She waited for this moment for a long time. French Federation president Bernard Giudicelli announced she would not receive a wildcard for the main draw or qualifying draw of the 2017 French Open.

• 5. Return And Final Years

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  Sharapova received wildcards to enter the China Open and Tianjin Open both held in China. In her opening match at the China Open she prevailed in a three-hour three-set match against Sevastova. In the second round she defeated Ekaterina Makarova moving back into the top 100 for the first time before her suspension. In the third round she lost to Simona Halep in straight sets marking her first loss after seven consecutive victories. Sharapova then remained in China for the Tianjin Open winning the tournament without dropping a set. The result saw her eventually climb rankings into the top 60. She recorded her first opening round loss since 2013 with a straight-sets loss to eighth seed Magdaléna Rybáriková. In 2018 she returned to the Australian Open losing to Angelique Kerber in straight sets in the third round. Her run ended with a straight sets loss to world number 3 Garbiñe Muguruza in the quarterfinals of the 2018 French Open. This was her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2016 Australian Open. She exited Wimbledon with a three set loss to Vitalia Diatchenko despite being up a set and serving for the match. This marked her worst Grand Slam result since the 2010 Australian Open. She ended the season ranked 29 due to right shoulder injury withdrawals.

• 6. Business And Branding

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  Sharapova has been featured in modeling assignments including a feature in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She appeared in many advertisements including those for Nike Prince and Canon. She became 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. Forbes reported she was the highest-paid female athlete in the world for 11 consecutive years. She earned 285 million dollars including prize money since turning professional in 2001. In June 2011 Time named her one of the 30 Legends of Women's Tennis Past Present and Future. In March 2012 Tennis Channel named her one of the 100 Greatest of All Time. In 2018 she launched a new program to mentor women entrepreneurs. Her business ventures extended beyond tennis into fashion and confectionery.

• 7. Legacy And Recognition

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  She won 36 WTA Tour-level singles titles including five major titles. Sharapova also won the 2004 WTA Tour Championships. She is one of ten women to achieve the career Grand Slam in singles. She reached number 1 in the world rankings on the 22nd of August 2005 at age 18. This made her the first Russian woman to top the singles rankings. Her reign lasted only one week before Davenport reclaimed the top ranking. She became world number 1 again after winning the 2012 French Open. During that tournament she defeated Sara Errani for her fourth career Grand Slam title. She completed the Career Grand Slam with the French Open victory making her only the tenth woman to do so. Sharapova won an Olympic silver medal in women's singles at the 2012 London Olympics. She was seeded third in the singles draw. Facing rival Serena Williams in the final she lost but still secured the silver medal. In 2025 she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Her win-loss record in junior competition stood at 47, 9 across three junior singles tournaments and five runner-up finishes.