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| Profile |
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| | Name : | Maria Sharapova
| | Nick name : | Siberian Siren, The Queen of Screams
| | Best Known As : | 17-year-old singles champion of Wimbledon 2004
| | Profession : | Tennis Player
| | Date of birth : | April 19, 1987
| | Place of birth : | Nyagan, Russia (Siberian Region)
| | Nationality : | Russian
| | Height : | 5'9"(1. 75m)
| | Weight : | 51 Kgs
| | Hair : | Blonde
| | Father : | Uri Sharapova
| | Mother : | Yelena
| | Education : | Sharapova studies via correspondence on the internet with the Keystone High School home schooling program and has a liking for sociology learnt tennis from the Nick Bollettieri Sports Academy in Bradenton, Florida, USA.
| | Debut in Tennis : | 2001 - Debuted at ITF/Sarasota-USA
| | Coach : | Robert Landsdrop, Michael Baroch and her father
| | Started to play tennis : | At the age of 4
| | Person to recognise her talent : | Martina Navratilova
| | First Tennis Racquet from : | Yevgeny Kafelnikov
| | Strength : | Mental strength and determination to win.
| | Friend : | Maria Kirilenko
| | Favourite Books : | Sherlock Holmes and Pippi Longstocking series
| | Favourite Food : | Russian
| | Favourite Movie : | Pearl Harbour
| | Loves to buy : | Shoes
| | Likes : | Singing and Jazz dancing
| | Endorsement deals with : | Nike, NEC and Prince.
| | Wimbledon Prize Money : | £560,500.
| | Her Grunt : | Went as much as 86.3 decibels during Wimbledon 2004
| | Style of play : | Right handed
| | About Serena Williams : | "She's a very strong girl. She's not a very easy opponent. "
| | Her coach about her : | "This teenager is just raw talent. Maria is an amazing player. She has no fear. She goes for every shot; she almost plays from instinct. She came from a background of adversity, and that is what drives her."
| | Facts : | * The first Russian to win a Wimbledon singles title, third-youngest women's champion in history
* Ranked number - 8 in the WTA ranking.
* Earns £1 million through contracts with Nike and Prince.
* In 2003, profiled in W magazine and USA Today, named one of the "coolest girls" in America by YM magazine.
* IMG, the sports management company, agreed to sponsor Maria and put up the $35,000 US per year it costs to stay at the Bollettieri Academy.
* Though born in Siberia her family lived in Sochi, Russia before moving to USA.
* Her father had only $700 when he moved from Russia to USA.
| | Address : | Bradenton, Florida USA
| | Quotes : | "It's always been my dream to come here(Wimbledon) and win but it was never in my mind that I would do it this year." | | |
| Biography |
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Maria was born April 19, 1987 in Nyagan, a town in western Siberia, where her parents, Yuri and Yelena, had fled from Belarus a year earlier to avoid radiation from Chernobyl. Still too close to the disaster site, her family left their home as refugees again when she was two-years-old. The Sharapovs (Maria uses the feminine Sharapova) settled for a while in the Black Sea town of Sochi, known then as a resort village and home of Russian tennis light, Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Yuri had been an engineer in Nyagan. But as the family bounced from on home to the next, he did anything he could just to keep them together. |
| [ Full Biography ]
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