Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova has said she has no plans to quit tennis in favour of a lucrative career in modelling.
The 19-year-old world number two said she was still hungry to win on the court even though she earned an estimated €15million in endorsements, including the promotion of fashion products, last year.
‘I’m happy with the way my career is going at the moment,’ said Sharapova, who is in Hong Kong for a weekend invitational warm-up tournament ahead of the Australian Open.
‘I’m working hard on my game and I can hardly say that for the modelling,’ Sharapova added.
The 2004 Wimbledon and reigning US open champion said she was still determined to extend her list of tennis titles and that she had not even considered retiring.
‘I can’t tell you how I may feel in the future you never know, I may wake up in the morning and not want to play anymore,’ she said.
‘But at the moment I want to play and when that feeling goes, that’s when I’ll stop.’
Sharapova dismissed suggestions she was now more famous as a model than as a tennis player.
‘I have won two grand slam tournaments. I think it’s all a matter of perception and opinion,’ she said. ‘I have been a tennis player since I was four years old.’
Sharapova takes on the cream of women’s tennis, including world number five Kim Clijsters and 2004 US Open Champion Svetlana Kutznetsova, in the Watson’s Water Champions Challenge, beginning onThursday.
