Maria Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987 in Nyagan, Russia. She has eclipsed the popularity of another Russian tennis player, Anna Kournikova. Sharapova has won two Grand Slam singles titles. The first was when she became the third youngest player ever to win Wimbledon, at age 17, in 2004. She won her second grand slam title in 2006. At the end of that year, she was the world's highest-paid female athlete. Personal life Sharapova's father, Yuri Sharapov, brought Maria to the United States to attend the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida when she was 7 years old. In 2004, a year after reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon as a wild card, Maria Sharapova became the third-youngest Wimbledon women's champion (after Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis) and second-youngest in the open era by defeating Ai Sugiyama (5-7, 7-5, 6-1) in a quarterfinal, Lindsay Davenport (2-6, 7-6, 6-1) in a semifinal, and two-time defending champion Serena Williams (6-1, 6-4) in the final. She also became the first Russian to win that tournament. At the U.S. Open a few months later, she lost to French player and two-time Grand Slam champion Mary Pierce. Maria Sharapova ended 2004 with a victory at the season-ending WTA Championships, defeating an injured Serena Williams (4-6, 6-2, 6-4) after coming back from 0-4 in the final set.
Poster
If you love how Maria Sharapova plays an outstanding game and would like to find out how to improve and revolutionize your game, Brent Abel is highly recommended. Go to his site, WebTennis.net.  Brent Abel is highly recommended to: Dramatically improve your tennis strokes... - serve - one-handed backhand groundstroke - forehand groundstroke - two-handed backhand groundstroke - forehand and backhand volleys - returns of serve for singles & doubles - overhead - lob - drop shot Understand the simple yet essential keys to footwork. Develop the necessary mental skills for practice and competition Be more focused on court positioning - Finally understand exactly how superior court positioning in your singles and doubles strategies can have an enormous effect on challenging your opponents. Get fitter and learn simple exercises for tennis specific injury prevention, greatly reduce the risk of tennis elbow, rotator cuff, and other tennis related injuries Learn to become an "all-court" tennis player instead of just being a one-dimensional predominantly baseline player Enjoy this beautiful game throughout your lifetime. Go to WebTennis.net. From June 2004 until her Wimbledon semifinal appearance in 2005, Sharapova won 22 straight matches on grass, including consecutive Birmingham titles and the Wimbledon championship. She reached the semifinals of the 2005 Australian Open, where she held three match points against Serena Williams before losing 2-6, 7-5, 8-6. Defending her Wimbledon title in 2005, Sharapova reached the semifinals without losing a set but then was well beaten by a rejuvenated Venus Williams (7-6, 6-1). Sharapova rose to the No. 1 ranking on September 12, 2005 (after holding it briefly before), despite losing in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Sharapova kept the No. 1 ranking for six weeks before relinquishing it to Davenport following the 2005 Zurich Open. At the 2006 Australian Open, Sharapova lost in the semifinals to Justine Henin-Hardenne 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, the only match of the year that she lost after winning the first set. Sharapova claimed her first title of 2006 and eleventh of her career at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, a Tier 1 event at which she was the third seed. At the 2006 French Open Maria Sharapova reached the fourth round without having played any of the clay-court tune-ups, before slosing to Dinara Safina 7-5, 2-6, 7-5. For the second consecutive year, Sharapova was defeated in the semifinals of Wimbledon, losing to eventual winner Amιlie Mauresmo 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Sharapova entered the 2006 U.S. Open seeded third after Clijsters dropped out of the tournament with a wrist injury. Favoured to reach the final, she defeated Mauresmo, the top-ranked player in the world, in a semifinal 6-0, 4-6, 6-0. Sharapova then prevailed over Henin-Hardenne in the final 6-4, 6-4 to win her second Grand Slam title. She then defeated fourth-seeded Clijsters 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals to reach her first Australian Open final and gain the opportunity to win the only Grand Slam singles title that a Russian woman had not yet won. However, Serena Williams, ranked No. 81 in the world, beat Sharapova easily 6-1, 6-2. Maria Sharapova then reached semifinals of the French Open for the first time in her career. She defeated Patty Schnyder in the fourth round after being down match point, then beat fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze in the quarterfinals. In her semifinal match she fell to Ana Ivanović with a lopsided score of 6-2, 6-1. Sharapova couldn't duplicate her earlier success at Wimbledon, falling victim to eventual champion Venus Williams, in the fourth round. Sharapova was subdued by Williams' dominant serve and crashed out in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.
Awards 2003 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Newcomer of the Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 Endorsements Honda,Land Rover, Motorola , Gatorade ,Tropicana - orange juice,TAG Heuer, Nike, Prince Sports, ,Canon Maria Sharapova's endorsements have earned her considerably more than she has won in tournament play. In June 2005, Forbes magazine listed her as the highest-paid female athlete in the world, with annual earnings of U.S. $18 million.
In 2006, Maxim magazine named Sharapova the hottest athlete in the world for the fourth consecutive year. In a poll run by Britain's FHM magazine, Sharapova was voted the seventh most eligible bachelorette. Voting took into consideration both "wealth and looks." Maria Sharapova's first racquet (before she entered the professional circuit) was one given to her by a family friend. Sharapova used the Prince Tour Diablo for part of 2003 and then used several different Prince racquets until the U.S. Open. Sharapova began using the Prince Shark MP 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, and this is currently the racquet that Maria Sharapova uses.
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