Love lasted 28 years

Starting to practice with a racket at the age of 4, until she announced her retirement, Sharapova had a long journey of 28 years, including 19 years of playing top professional tennis, winning 5 Grand titles. Famous Slam, and an impressive WTA Finals championship.

From her first Grand Slam title – winning Wimbledon 2004, crowned at the age of “breaking the buffalo horn” at the age of 17, to her last Grand Slam – winning the French Open 2014, with an impressive victory over Simona Halep, Sharapova is “a solid wall” against the dominance of the “Williams sisters – Serena and Venus”, alongside Justine Henin (retired), or Kim Clijsters (who just unexpectedly returned).

Even her series of consecutive losses against Serena (from 2005 to 2019, experiencing 19 consecutive defeats), also shows that Sharapova is still very brave every time she faces “the biggest opponent of her life”. career”, despite the disastrous defeat!

Maria Sharapova is a talented beauty of the tennis world

Talking about Sharapova, people talk about beauty, talent, courage, resilience and the ability to make money. Signing her first financial cooperation contract with Nike and IMG, when she was just 11 years old, step by step, the “once-blonde Queen of Russian tennis” created a sparkling empire of money, not just her own. for her name, but also for the WTA Tour system, for the tournaments she attends, and for the brands she represents.

The prize money she earned during her professional career was 38.8 million USD. That is, just behind the Williams sisters, she is the female tennis player with the largest prize money in the history of the WTA – if compared to male players, she is only behind Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Pete Sampras.

The amount of money she signed a sponsorship contract with Nike is worth 70 million USD (for 8 years). The amount of money she earned from the social network Facebook was approximately 30 million USD (with 15 million followers, only “slowing down” when Sharapova was banned from competing for doping).

Participating in side events, friendly competitions and performances cost from 500,000 USD or more. The amount of money earned from her own Sugarpova candy brand also reached 20 million USD…

Beauty and more

It is not natural for Sharapova to have such a “huge” income. Because like Federer, Sharapova is considered a symbol of modern professional tennis, with images appearing regularly at the global level.

She is “the most advanced version of beauty”, drawn from Gabriela Sabatini, Anna Kournikova, and later Ana Ivanovic. That symbol, not only due to her external beauty, her shiny blonde hair, her long legs. If it’s just like that, how is she any different from Kournikova? That symbol is not simply because it reflects “a beauty who knows how to win a Grand Slam”.

If it were just like that, would she be any different from Sabatini and Ivanovic, who have won a single Grand Slam title?

Iconic because of her talent of winning many Grand Slams. The symbol is because of her professionalism every time she steps on the court, so much so that Sharapova once confided that she is afraid of making friends with other tennis players, because she is afraid of compromising her feelings when competing against each other. That symbol is because of the fierce fighting spirit, with intense shots. That symbol is because of the courage, no matter how much he knew he would lose to Serena, he gritted his teeth and stepped out there, facing the truth. That symbol, also because of the sentiment of remembering her homeland, and even though many Russians do not recognize her, many say: “Sharapova is actually an American”, she still wants to represent Russia in the arena. Fed Cup, Olympic arena, and glory.

That beauty icon, at one point, became “less beautiful” when she was accused of using the banned substance meldonium, becoming the target of public opinion and many Western tennis players, many of them , carries a “political” connotation.

But it was also her reaction that made many people feel admired. Even when WADA had not yet announced the incident, Sharapova held her own press conference, admitted her mistake, and apologized to the public. In the entire professional tennis industry, is there anyone brave enough to do this?

Then when her racket suspension ended, she returned, determined to prove to the world that today’s success had nothing to do with meldonium. Unfortunately, times have changed, professional tennis is faster, stronger and has less beauty.

As for Sharapova, with her sore shoulder, she understands her time is over. A talented beauty said goodbye. What about other talented beauties? Eugenie Bouchard? It’s broken. Elina Svitolina? Still lacking in beauty. Belinda Bencic? Still very young. So, who knows, Sharapova is the ultimate beauty icon of the WTA.