Maria (Masha) Sharapova was born on April 19, 2007 in Nyagan (Siberia), Russia.
Her parents, Yuri and Elena, moved from Belarus to Siberia to avoid the effects of Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
When Maria was very young, the family relocated to the city of Sochi. Masha started playing at the age of 4.
Sharapova's dad was good friends with the father of Yevgeny Kafelnikov (best Russian player at the time). Kafelnikov gave a tennis racket to Sharapova as a gift.
When Maria was 6, she participated in an exhibition match with Martina Navratilova. She saw natural talent in young Maria. And Navratilova strongly advised Sharapova's dad to register Masha in Nick Bollettieri's academy in Florida.
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Moving to the United States - Maria and her dad Yuri decided to move to Florida with a hope of training with the best. They only had family savings of $700. Maria's mother, Elena, didn't join them because she couldn't get American visa for 2 more years...
As she recalls, they arrived to Florida at 11 o'clock at night time. Their friend, who was supposed to meet them, never showed up.
She stayed at a cheap hotel overnight. And in the morning they went to the Nick Bollettieri's tennis academy. They didn't know a word in English. Luckily, there was a Russian-speaking woman there. Yuri begged her to ask administration to take a look at his daughter.
Sharapova got accepted. Coach Bollettieri saw a great tennis player in her right away.
They spend most of their money on tennis lessons and equipment. Yuri took any odd jobs possible to provide for both of them. He mostly worked as regular laborer at construction site.
Masha turned pro in 2001 at the age of 14. Her first victories came in 2003.
When Sharapova first appeared on the tennis scene, a lot of people believed that Maria would become just like another Russian, Anna Kournikova. They thought that Sharapova would be more of a party girl than a tennis player. But Masha proved all the skeptics wrong.
First major success came in 2004 when Sharapova beat Serena Williams at the Wimbledon at the age of 17. Maria then won the US Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008.
According to Forbes magazine, Masha Sharapova was the world's highest-paid female athlete in 2006 making $21 million that year.
Sharapova lives in Florida and Southern California most of the time. But she says that she will only represent Russia while playing competitive tennis.
Maria Sharapova made the Forbes list of the 100 most influential celebrities. In 2007 Maria was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme, and then she donated $100,000 to Chernobyl recovery projects.
Sharapova also started her own charitable organization devoted to kids -- MARIA (stands for Motivate, Address, Realize, Initiate, Achieve).
Masha models part-time at IMG modeling agency. Recently Maria was offered to model full-time, but she declined.
She has many endorsements: Canon, Colgate, Palmolive, Nike, TAG Heuer, Gatorade, and others.
As far as her love interests, Maria was linked romantically to tennis players Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick. But she keeps her love life very private.
