Maria Sharapova

After Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova is definitely the second most popular female tennis player in the world today. She was born Maria Yuryevna Sharapova in 1987 to Yuri and Yelena in Siberia, Russia. She first held a tennis racket at the age of four and she began practicing with her father regularly at the local park.

In 1994, She and her father moved to Florida so hat she can attend the Nick Bollettierri Tennis Academy. In 2002, she became the youngest player to reach the French Open and Wimbledon finals. She is formerly World Number 1 and she is currently ranked Number 3 in the WTA rankings. She is the world’s highest paid female athlete. She is currently coached by her father Yuri and Michael Joyce.

Maria Sharapova started 2007 by joining the Australian Open as the top seed where she faced and lost to Serena Williams in the finals. By reaching the finals, she grabbed the number 1 WTA ranking which she held for seven weeks until she was defeated again by Williams in the fourth round in Indian Wells. She reached the semifinal round of the French Open and lost to Ana Ivanovic. She bowed out of Wimbledon in the fourth round to the eventual winner Venus Williams.

Her first title of the year 2007 came in the US Open Series where she defeated Schnyder in the finals. She was upset out of the US Open in the third round by Agnieszka Radwanska. She rested for six weeks after the US Open. Her next tournament was the Kremlin Cup where she lost her opening match to Victoria Azarenka. Because of this, she fell out of the top five in the WTA rankings. She played in the WTA Tour Championships and was defeated in the finals by World Number 1 Henin. 2007 ended with Maria Sharapova ranked number 5.

2008 looks promising for Maria Sharapova. She won the Australian Open title without losing a single set. She also won the Tier I Qatar Total Open in Doha. Her first loss came in the Tier I Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California. She also had to withdraw from the Sony Ericsson Open due to a shoulder injury.

In the Bausch and Lomb Championships in Florida, she won her first clay title by defeating Dominika Cibulkova. In her next tournament she suffered her fourth consecutive loss to Williams in the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup. She had to withdraw from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in the semifinals due to a calf injury.

She regained the World Number 1 ranking because of Henin’s retirement from professional tennis. In the French Open, she lost to the eventual runner up Dinara Safina in the fourth round. Because of a shoulder injury sustained during the French Open, she withdrew from the DFS Classic. She suffered her earliest exit in Wimbledon with a defeat in the second round to Alla Kudryavtseva. Maria Sharapova intends to compete in this year’s Rogers Cup, Beijing Olympics and the US Open.

Comments page 1 of 1 Click here to add a comment Your Name: Image verification: Message:   Maria giver Posted 384 days ago Great tennis player, also, id go her so hard that she would scream like on the court <1>