Maria Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987 in
Nyagan, Russia to Yuri and Yelena Sharapova.
When she was two years old, her family moved to
Sochi (also in Russia, near the Black Sea). She became enamored by
the game at age four, and has played ever since,
in fact, she was part of an exhibition in Moscow
with tennis legend Martina Navratilova when she
was six year’s old.
At the ripe young age of nine, she moved to the
United States to study tennis at Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy in Bradenton,
Florida. She came with her father, and had to
leave her mother behind in Russia for two years
do work out finances and many issues with
receiving visas.
In 2001 she joined the junior circuit where she
won the Sacramento, Hilton Head and Pilsen
titles, with a record of 25-3.
In 2002 she had a record of 26-3 and won the
Vancouver, Peachtree and Gunma titles. She also
played three matches in the professional tour
(record of 1-2). She did well enough to be
ranked 186 on the WTA charts.
IN 2003 She joined the professional tour with a
record of 34-11 while winning the Quebec City
and Japan Open titles. Her ranking improved to
place her at #32 on the WTA charts.
In 2004 she did even better, winning a few
titles, including the coveted Wimbledon's
singles title (the others were Birmingham, Seoul
and the Japan Open) and had an overall 54-15
record.
Maria begins this season ranked #2 in the world.
A
repeat of Wimbledon was not in the cards for
Sharapova in 2005. She failed to defend her
title there by a semi-finals loss to
Venus
Williams (6-7 and 1-6)
In
August 2005, she was ranked #1 by the WTa for
the first time in her professional career!
She
has leant her name to a sports designer watch in
August 2005, the TAG Heuer
Formula 1 Diamonds, which she helped design.
Maria
lost in the semi-final match at the U.S. Open,
but was still ranked #1. She finished 2005
ranked at #4.
In
2005 Men's
tennis champ Andy Rodick and Sharapova came
public about their dating each other.
In
2006, Sharapova only made made it to the semi
finals of the Australia Open. However, she won
the U.S. Open in September of that year.
She
started out 2007 with a trip to the finals in
the Australia Open, but lost to
Serena Williams
-- however, getting to the finals was enough to
get her rank back up to #1.
2008
started with her third Grand Slam title with a
win at the Australia Open, having defeated both
Lindsay Davenport and Justine Henin on her way
to the win. She won the Bausch & Lomb
Championships later that year, but after a huge
upset at Wimbledon against 154th ranked Alla
Kudryavtseva, and shoulder injuries, she took to
the sidelines to rest and recuperate for a
little while.
She
sat out of the Australian Open in 2009 to
continue healing her shoulder, but did play at
Wimbledon and lost in her second round.
She played decently during the mid-year
matchups, and eventually had her first win of
the year at Tokyo. At the end of the year,
due to her mild successes, she was able to move
back up to #14 in the rankings -- all the way up
from 126th at the beginning of the year.
The
year 2010 did not start off well for Sharapova,
losing in the first round at the Australian
Open. She had many ups and downs during
the year, but made it to the 4th round at
Wimbledon and way beat after a well fought match
by Serena Williams. She also made it to
the fourth round of the US Open losing to
Caroline Wozniacki.
In
October 2010, Maria Sharapova and
Sasha Vujačić (a
Slovenian Professional basketball player)
announced that they were engaged.
She
did well at a number of smaller tournaments to
begin 2011, and then made it to the fourth round
of the Australian Open. Soon afterwards
she made it to the semi-finals of the BNP
Paribas Open (losing to Wozniacki). She
also made it to the semifinals at the French
Open losing to Li Na. Later in the year, she won
the Western & Southern Open. She then made
it to the third round of the U.S. Open (although
she did not make it to the finals, due to losses
of other top seeds, she was ranked #2 after the
Open was finished). She suffered an ankle
injury at a later competition, and due to its
results, and withdrawal from other competitions,
she ended her year ranked at #4 - her first top
5 finish since 2007.
Due
to her ankle injury, her first tournament of
2012 was the Australian Open, where she made it
to the Finals, but lost to Victoria Azarenka
3-6, 0-6.
Hobbies and Interests include: dancing (jazz),
watching movies (favorite = Pearl Harbor),
reading (Sherlock Holmes, Russian music and
Russian food and eating desert.
Statistics:
Year
Level
Win-Loss
2001
Junior
25-3
2001
Challengers
0-1
2002
Junior
26-6
2002
Challengers
26-3
2002
WTA
1-2
2003
Challengers
4-1
2003
WTA
34-12
2004
WTA
55-15
2005
WTA
53-12
2006
WTA
11-3
2007
WTA
8-2
2008
WTA
32-4
2009
WTA
31-9
2010
WTA
33-11
2011
WTA
43-14
2012
WTA
6-1
(as of 1/30)
Total
WTA
418-105
For full
Maria Sharapova statistics, see
Wikipedia .
Biography by Ian Ripley,
PopStarsPlus.com, Sr. Staff Writer
This biography may be copied in part
or in whole for non commercial purposes online or in hard copy and must
contain: (1) the name of the author, (2) the text "copied with
permission from PopStarsPlus.com" and (3) a link to the page that
contains the original biography.
Maria Sharapova Contact Information: Click the following link to
Contact
Any Celebrity
