Sharapova's turbulent childhood

Sharapova was born on April 19, 1987 in the small town of Nyagan, eastern Siberia, Russia. Her parents are Belarusian. Mr. Yuri and Mrs. Yelena moved to Russia before their only daughter was born because they feared the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion in their homeland of Belarus in 1996.

One-year-old Maria Sharapova poses with her grandmother in Siberia. Although she only spent a short time there as a child, Sharapova said in an interview that she was happy and proud to be from Siberia.

In 1989, the Sharapova family moved to the seaside city of Sochi. Here, the ‘Russian Doll’ poses with her grandmother (in blue), mother (in white in the middle) and a relative in Sochi. This is where Sharapova first learned about tennis after following her father to the tennis court. The then-4-year-old girl had her first tennis lessons with former Russian tennis coach Yuri Yutkin – who was immediately impressed when he saw Sharapova hitting the ball, noting the girl’s rare hand-eye coordination while half the size of a racket.

In 1993, Sharapova attended the tennis training center in Moscow run by the legendary Martina Navratilova. Martina Navratilova also recognized Sharapova’s talent and advised Mr. Yuri to send his daughter to the US to pursue a tennis career, and the beauty’s parents decided to listen. A year later, with $700 in savings and no knowledge of English, Mr. Yuri and his only daughter went to the US to pursue their dream of becoming famous. Due to visa problems, Sharapova’s mother could not go with her father and daughter, and it was two years later that she was able to go to the US to reunite with her family.

Sharapova’s father had to work many jobs so that his daughter could continue learning to play tennis until she was old enough to be accepted into the IMG training academy and receive a scholarship. Recalling the time away from her mother, the tennis queen shared in her autobiography: ‘I was often very lonely. I missed my mother so much. My father worked hard so he didn’t see his daughter often. There were also times when he tried to come home early to see me before I went to bed. In the photo, the Sharapova family reunited in the US after Yelena was allowed to move to the land of the stars and stripes.

Little Sharapova shows off her achievements after training at the IMG academy. However, the beauty’s memories at this time are of being bullied by her seniors. “Russian Doll” often goes to bed early at 8pm but is woken up by her older friends at 11pm and forced to clean her room. However, it was her troubled childhood that made her strong and resilient. ‘I learned to take care of myself, I never thought about giving up because I knew what I wanted. When you start from nothing and have nothing, you will be more hungry and determined. I had to endure more ridicule and insults than that to pursue my dream,’ the blonde beauty said.

Sharapova started competing professionally at the age of 14 and quickly rose through the ranks. In the photo, the 15-year-old girl beamed as she won the runner-up position in the 2002 Australian Open junior women’s singles. Sharapova did not expect that 6 years later she would win the same tournament but at a higher level, winning the third Grand Slam of her career.

Ten years after arriving in the US, Sharapova repaid her parents’ sacrifices by winning the 2004 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Serena Williams in the final. The blonde became the third youngest player in history to win Wimbledon, after Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis. Sharapova admitted that she was naive at the time, still collecting stamps, and did not understand the impact of the victory until she was older.

The new Wimbledon king celebrates his success with his father – Mr. Yuri. In her farewell letter to her career on February 26, the beauty wrote: “When I was 6 years old, I crossed the ocean to Florida with my father. The world was so big at that time, the plane, the airport, the big America. Everything was as vast as the sacrifice of my parents.”

Sharapova shot to stardom after her sensational victory in the 2004 Wimbledon final. With her pretty face and tall, model-like figure, the “Russian Doll” received many advertising offers. Success on the court also went hand in hand with opportunities to earn money off the court. Before the doping scandal broke in 2016, Sharapova held the position of the world’s richest female athlete for 11 years.

Returning from a 15-month suspension, Sharapova is a shadow of her peak years, constantly suffering from injuries. Since the beginning of 2020, the beauty has only played two matches and lost both. The last match of Sharapova’s career was a defeat to Donna Vekic in the first round of the Australian Open.

On the afternoon of February 26, Sharapova announced her retirement in an article published in two fashion magazines, Vogue and Vanity Fair. ‘I have devoted my life to tennis and tennis has also given me a life. I will miss it every day. I will miss training and the daily routine: waking up at dawn, tying my left shoe before my right and closing the court gate before hitting the first ball of the day. I miss my team, my coaches. I will miss the moments sitting with my dad on the practice bench, the handshakes whether they win or lose and also the colleagues who pushed me to be the best version of myself whether they knew it or not. Looking back, I realize that tennis is my mountain and the path I have taken has been full of challenges but the view from the top is wonderful. After 28 years and 5 Grand Slam titles, I am now ready to conquer another mountain,’ the beauty’s letter read.