MARIA SHARAPOVA PROFILE

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova born April 19, 1987 is a former World No. 1 Russian professional tennis player. In a career marred by serious injury, Sharapova has won 22 WTA singles titles, 3 WTA doubles titles and 3 Grand Slam singles titles, consisting of the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open. She was also runner-up at the 2007 Australian Open. She has also won the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in 2004. Since her shoulder injury in 2008, she has not recovered her championship form.

The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her World No. 1 in singles on 4 separate occasions. She regained this ranking for the fourth time on May 19, 2008. She became the World No.1 for the first time on Aug 22, 2005. She is currently (as of January 2011) ranked World No. 13.

Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 when, at age 17, she upset two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title. She entered the top ten of the WTA Rankings with this win. Despite not winning a major in 2005, Sharapova briefly held the number one ranking, and reached three Grand Slam semifinals, losing to the eventual champion each time. She ultimately won her second major at the 2006 US Open defeating then-World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo in the semifinals and World No. 2 Justine Henin in the final. Sharapova's 2007 season was plagued with a chronic shoulder injury, and saw her ranking fall out of the top 5 for the first time in two years. She ultimately won her third Grand Slam at the 2008 Australian Open, defeating Henin in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanović in the final. After reclaiming the number one ranking in May 2008, Sharapova's shoulder problems re-surfaced, ultimately requiring surgery in October and forcing her out of the game for nearly ten months. Sharapova returned in May 2009 and was ranked No. 126 in the world due to her extensive lay-off. Since her comeback, Sharapova has won 3 singles titles (bringing her career total to 22) and improved her ranking.

Sharapova's public profile extends beyond tennis, as she has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Also she has been featured in many advertisements including Nike, Prince, Canon and many more, also being the face of many fashion houses, primarily Cole Haan. Sharapova was the most searched-for athlete on Yahoo! in both 2005 and 2008.Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Project Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme.

Sharapova became engaged to her boyfriend, NBA basketball player Sasha Vujačić, after they had been dating for nearly a year.

Early life

Sharapova was born in 1987 to Yuri and Yelena, ethnic Belarusians, 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 win two Grand Slam singles titles and became Russia's first ever World No. 1 tennis player. Aleksandr gave Sharapova her first tennis racket at the age of four, whereupon she began practicing regularly with her father in a local park. She took her first tennis lessons with veteran Russian coach Yuri Yutkin, who was instantly impressed when he first saw her, noting her "exceptional hand-eye co-ordination."

At the age of seven, Sharapova attended a tennis clinic in Moscow run by Martina Navrátilová, who recommended professional training at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida, which had previously trained players such as Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova. With money tight, Yuri was forced to borrow the sum that would allow him and his daughter, neither of whom could speak English, to travel to America, which they finally did in 1994.Visa restrictions prevented Sharapova's mother from joining them for two years. Arriving in Florida with just $700 to his name, Sharapova's father took various low-paying jobs, including dish-washing, to fund her lessons until she was old enough to be admitted to the academy. In 1995, she was signed by IMG, who agreed to pay the annual tuition fee of $35,000 for Sharapova to stay at the academy, allowing her to finally enroll at the age of 9


PERSONAL INFORMATION
Full Name:Maria Yuryevna Sharapova
Country: Russia
Residence: Bradenton, Florida, USA
Date of birth: April 19, 1987 (1987-04-19) (age 23)
Place of birth: Nyagan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height: 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Turned pro: April 19, 2001
Plays: Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money: US$13,840,094

Singles
Career record: 356 – 85 (81.0%)
Career titles; 22 WTA
Highest ranking; No. 1 (August 22, 2005)
Current ranking: No. 13 (31 January, 2011)

Grand Slam results
Australian Open W (2008)
French Open SF (2007)
Wimbledon W (2004)
US Open W (2006)
Other tournaments
Championships W (2004)

Doubles
Career record 23–17
Career titles 3
Highest ranking 41 (June 14, 2004)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 2R (2003, 2004)
US Open 2R (2003)