The shot to fame and success for the World No. 2, Maria Sharapova has definitely not been as clean and smooth as her tennis shots. There were times when she never saw her parents for months and slept in a dorm. There were times when her father had to work day and night to pay her coaching fees.She fought through all the troubled times and emerged a champion!
#1 Her birth!
The little Masha was born in Nyagan, Siberia. Her parents had escaped from Gomel, Belarus in 1986 to avoid the repercussions of the Chernobyl disaster. They moved to Nyagan, where Elana, delivered the baby on 19th April, 1987. Sharapova is the only daughter of Elana Sharapova and Yuri Sharapova. After the delivery, the couple and the kid settled in Sochi, home to Russian tennis star, Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
#2 The beginning of the saga!
She was four when she was introduced to tennis when her father’s friend, Kafelnikov, gave her an old tennis racquet. She was very enthusiastic about tennis and she studiously practiced with this old racquet by hitting the ball on the side of her house.
#3 Those good times!
This is a rare picture of Masha with her grandmother, Tamarain Sochi.
#4 The star in the making!
Maria Sharapova, year 1991, with mother Elena, second left, grandmother, first from the right, and a female relative in Sochi, Russia.
Maria’s father wanted her to take up tennis. This is what her grandmother remembers from that time and she says, “I knew by then that Yury was a fan of tennis.”
#5 Her first step towards the big league
Maria was attending a tennis exhibition in Moscow when Martina Navratilova noticed an immense potential in this little kid. She later suggested Yuri to put Masha under the training of Nick Bollettieri at his academy in Bradenton in the United States.
Even though Yuri could not speak proper English, he moved to the U.S with his little daughter so that she could polish her skills.
#6 Her struggles
Her father did odd jobs to pay her training fees. On the other hand, Elena was unable to come to the U.S due to Visa restrictions. In the year 1995,she was signed byIMG, who agreed to pay the annual tuition fee of $35,000 for Sharapova to stay at the Academy. She was later allowedto finally enroll into the academy at 9.
I didn’t see my mum for two years and I barely saw my dad for one year. I was living in a dormitory by myself and sacrificed a lot of things, says Maria about her struggle.
#7 The first win!
She finally earned her first trophy when she won the Angela Maria Lopera in October 2000. The 13-year old girl quickly gained a second title being the G16 Singles Winner at Eddie Herr International Junior Championships in only a month of her first win. She turned professional on April 19, 2001 and her debut was at the ITF event in Sarasota on April 29.
#8 Going Pro!
By 2003, Maria was winning major titles and caught everyone’s attention when she clinched her first WTA singles titles at the Japan Open in October 2003. After competing at Australian Open, Tokyo Pan Pacific Open, and WTA Championship in Memphis, Maria’s rank quickly rose to 22nd in the world.
Maria became the third youngest woman to win the Wimbledon singles title in the Open Era.
#9 There was no looking back!
Sharapova completed a career Grand Slam when she won the French Open in 2012.
#10 Tennis superstar
And today, she is truly the STAR!Sharapova has won 33 WTA titles including five Grand Slam titles so far. She has a candy line named after her called Sugarpova.
As they say, to become a champion, one has to go through all the pains and struggles in order to taste that sweet, sweet success. And in this case, the Sugarpova success!
