Maria Sharapova is one of the most successful female tennis players of all time. This comes not only from “Masha”‘s victories on the field, but also from the support of a professional team.
In February 2020, Maria Sharapova decided to end her remarkable tennis career, after realizing that her body had reached its limit. After 4 years, the Russian former world number 1 still makes many people talk about him. I don’t know when women’s tennis will witness such a successful player, both in terms of expertise and the ability to build an image and create a brand.
Sharapova has built an image in the same way as Tiger Woods, a golf legend
To know how that success came about, we need to go back in time to “Masha”‘s teenage years. Sharapova’s 2004 Wimbledon championship came as an “explosion” that made a big splash in world tennis, officially bringing the 17-year-old Russian girl into the limelight.
Just 1 year later, Sharapova rose to No. 1 in the world. She reached this position every tennis player desires on August 22, 2005, when she was just 18 years old. At that time, Sharapova’s team was fortunate to have an expert in image making, which was Max Eisenbud. They worked together for 23 years, watching Sharapova lift the Grand Slam title five times.
In the 2000s, women’s tennis had Sharapova or Serena Williams and many other legends, but in golf, Tiger Woods is the name that attracts more attention than any other colleague. If Sharapova has Max Eisenbud to build her image, then with Tiger Woods, the silent character behind the American golfer’s success is Mark Steinberg.
According to Mark Steinberg, Tiger Woods spends 3 weeks of the year doing a series of shoots and taking photos for the media strategy and image promotion. And Sharapova also used a similar amount of time.
Max Eisenbud plays an important role in Sharapova’s brand success
Max Eisenbud revealed on Andy Roddick’s online postcast: “When we sat down to discuss, we realized there was a 16-day gap that did not affect Sharapova’s training and competition. Mr. Yuri told me: ‘Make a lot of money in those 16 days.’ And we designed media campaigns, filmed and took photos to bring Sharapova’s image to the public. them during that period”.
But there is an important principle that young tennis players can easily ignore today. It is the professional factors and results that are always given top priority. Max Eisenbud affirmed: “The important thing is how to maximize income but still help Sharapova win. That is our greatest success”.
