Negative starting point
Having achieved a lot of success on the tennis court, Sharapova is often asked about the motivation that helped her have a fighting spirit that is more than others. Sharapova shared that since she was a child, she has always been thirsty for victory, thirsty for success at all costs because she and her family started from “zero”. Sharapova said that her family had to start from nothing.
Sharapova is not exaggerating. In fact, saying that the Sharapova family started from “zero” does not fully reflect their difficult beginnings. It is probably more accurate to say that they started from “negative numbers”. Negative temperature and negative money.
Sharapova’s mother Yelena was pregnant with her daughter in Gomel, Belarus, during the panic over the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. To protect her unborn child from the risk of illness from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Yelena and her husband Yuri decided to move to Nyagan, in western Siberia, for safety. They were too poor to dream of a less remote refuge. Sharapova was born in Nyagan on April 19, 1987.
Yuri had to work hard at the Tyumen oil field in the harshest conditions (temperatures could drop to -40 degrees Celsius) to earn money to support his wife and children. After 4 years of hard work and saving, Yuri was able to afford to move his wife and children again. This time they went to Sochi, where life was much less harsh than in Nyagan.
When her godfather was busy, Yuri played tennis to relieve stress. After a few times of getting bored of watching her father play tennis outside, 4-year-old Sharapova took her racket and went to the court to hit the ball to relieve her boredom. Although she was not yet steady in holding the racket, Yuri’s 4-year-old daughter surprised the tennis coach there, Yuri Yudkin, with her talent. Yudkin took the initiative to ask to coach Sharapova in tennis.
Thanks to her parents’ guidance, Sharapova pursued a tennis career since she was a little girl.
Yudkin once shared: “I have never seen a child as promising as Sharapova. At the age of 4 and a half, she grasped everything I taught her very quickly and accurately. With Sharapova, I never had to instruct her twice.”
When Sharapova was 6 years old, through the introduction of teacher Yudkin, Sharapova went to Moscow to participate in a tournament held at the tennis school of tennis legend Martina Navratilova. Sharapova’s talent beyond her years quickly caught Navratilova’s eye. Navratilova advised Yuri to send Sharapova to study at the famous Nick Bollettieri tennis academy in the US to have the best training conditions.
Although it sounded good, Yuri couldn’t immediately follow Navratilova’s advice. “The broker didn’t move forward” because he didn’t have the money. It took another year, after borrowing $1,000 from his family, for Yuri to be able to take Sharapova to the US to pursue his dream of “making Sharapova a tennis star.”
Extraordinary efforts
Upon arriving at the Nick Bollettieri Academy, Yuri and Sharapova were met with a cold shower. They were told that Sharapova (then 7 years old) was too young to qualify for a scholarship. They advised Yuri and Sharapova to go home and return later, when Sharapova was older.
Not giving up easily, Yuri still applied for Sharapova to study at Nick Bollettieri Academy as Navratilova advised. If she could not get a scholarship, she would pay the tuition. Even though he could only speak a few words of English, Yuri still tried to find enough jobs to earn enough money for his daughter’s tuition. He did not mind washing dishes in restaurants or working as a construction worker at construction sites.
Due to financial and visa constraints, Yelena could not immediately move to the US to follow her husband and children. For two years, Sharapova could only communicate with her mother through letters. Only occasionally could they call each other.
The more difficult it was, the harder Sharapova practiced. At the age of 9, Sharapova was awarded a scholarship. At the age of 10, Sharapova won the U14 tournament. Sharapova’s journey to stardom began brightly from there.
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First good racket
Sharapova’s family was poor, so Sharapova started playing tennis with a “fake” racket. Sharapova was lucky enough to get her first good racket, which was given to her by Aleksandr, the father of former world number 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Aleksandr was a friend of Sharapova’s father.
Sharapova’s “collection” of lovers
Compared to many other female tennis players, Maria Sharapova has caused more noise when going through countless different love affairs. The first name is tennis player Juan Carlos Ferrero. After knocking on Ferrero’s heart, the 1m88 tall beauty continued to venture further into the love world. The partners that Sharapova has paired with are also very diverse such as singers, businessmen, showbiz program producers. We can “name” a series of lovers of this tennis player such as Adam Levine, Andy Roddick, Charlie Ebersol, Sasha Vujacic, Grigor Dimitrov…
Serena’s husband mocks Sharapova
 Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams’ husband, made fun of Sharapova when she met Serena at the 2019 US Open. Specifically, Alexis wore a T-shirt with the words DARE, which stands for Drug Abuse Prevention Education. Through this, Alexis wanted to mock Sharapova, who was suspended in 2016 for testing positive for banned substances.
Sharapova’s first time spending money on partying
 “The first time I was really excited about money was after winning Wimbledon,” the former world number one confided. “I personally treated myself to a long vacation at a luxury hotel, to make up for the hard days of traveling from Florida to Los Angeles to participate in the tournament.”
“Advertisers come to me not just for my beauty”
 That was Maria Sharapova’s rather straightforward statement in the Daily Mail. According to Sharapova, most of the big brands came to her after she had already established her position in the world of tennis. At the same time, sponsors always set the criteria on popularity, instead of beauty when signing contracts.
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